The Kindred Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement (CPA) is a hub for innovative peace work and research located on the fourth floor of Conrad Grebel University College. The Centre contains partner organizations, an incubator for young peace initiatives, graduate student space, and a gallery. Students in MPACS take advantage of mentoring opportunities, internships, networking, and special events at the CPA.
Catalyzing interdisciplinary teams to spark innovation
Bridging theory and practice by engaging academics, activists, and artists
Building networks and pathways for high impact careers
Ways Students Get Involved:
Academics
CPA Director Paul Heidebrecht offers a popular graduate-level course that draws on the expertise and connections of Centre participants and his previous work as the director of the Mennonite Central Committee Ottawa Office in order to bridge theory and practice.
PACS 620: Thinking and Working Politically
Cultivate the knowledge, skills, and sensibility required to engage governmental policies and programs in order to bring about systemic change
Grebel Peace Incubator
The Grebel Peace Incubator supports start-up ventures who want to transform society locally or internationally. The program offers mentoring, funding, networking, and access to desk meeting space. The MPACS program is focused on the potential of civil society to advance peace, which includes the practical and theoretical skills that go hand-in-hand with social entrepreneurship. Check out some of the current initiatives in the Incubator:
Map the System
Beginning in 2018, the Centre for Peace Advancement has been coordinating the University of Waterloo's participation in Map the System, a global competition that challenges you to think differently. This is not a pitch competition, but rather a discovery process for students of any discipline who have an interest in social and environmental change.
Tackling global challenges starts with understanding a problem and its wider context by exploring, probing, and researching all of the connecting elements and factors around it.
The 2021 UWaterloo campus nominees were graduate students and went on to represent UWaterloo at the global finals.