Paul Heidebrecht
Director of the Centre for Peace Advancement
Paul Heidebrecht is working with Build Up, an international peacebuilding organization, to co-create the Build Peace annual conference taking place this fall in Waterloo. This annual gathering brings together peace practitioners, technologists, academics, activists, and artists from dozens of countries to explore emergent challenges to peace in a digital era, and peacebuilding innovations to address these challenges.
“Build Peace is not a typical academic conference,” explained Paul. “It is structured around short talks, hands-on workshops, and curated plenary sessions that aim to spark ideas and deepen connections that will advance peace in concrete ways far beyond the conference. A secondary outcome we are aiming for is to build connections at the University of Waterloo between those working at the intersection of peace, technology, and the arts.”
Paul has been inspired by past Build Peace conferences in Nairobi and Barcelona where he co-facilitated a forum for founders of PeaceTech start-ups from around the world. “I have learned so much from the work that others are doing at the intersection of peacebuilding and technology, and this has informed the programs and initiatives I lead in the Centre for Peace Advancement,” said Paul.
