Reaching 50: Jeff Beatty of Quaker Peace Studies Trust

‘A success against all odds.’

The Quaker Peace Studies Trust was set up in 1972 to support the creation of a chair in Peace Studies at the University of Bradford, and for ‘financing research into, and the teaching of, peace studies’. This was two years after Friends decided to part-fund a Peace Studies Centre in the UK. Thanks to the generosity of Friends, an appeal raised the necessary £75,000 match funding in ten weeks. This allowed the university to appoint Adam Curle, who arrived from Harvard, as the first professor of Peace Studies in the UK, in 1973.

Quaker support for the department has ‘enabled Peace Studies to flourish over the past 50 years’, according to Paul Rogers, the emeritus professor of Peace Studies. He joined the department in 1979 and led it in the 1990s, a period when it was under attack from the Thatcher government.

As the current head of the department, Prathivadi Anand, in an interview with the Guardian, said that the centre has been a success against all odds, and will continue to be so. Echoing the title of Sidney Bailey’s 1993 Swarthmore Lecture ‘Peace is a process’, he said ‘Peace is a quest. The human condition and all the challenges we have such as climate change and food insecurity, are going to need action for the next 20, 30, 40 or more years. These are not short-term, fashionable issues. The nature of programmes and research will change in a dynamic world, but issues like peace and its resolution date back to Aristotle and Plato, and we’re still talking about them today. I have no doubt our department will still be carrying out vital research and educating the leaders of tomorrow in another 50 years.’

There have been various events to mark this fiftieth anniversary year of the department, which is now part of the Department of Peace Studies and International Development. These have included a host of events, including one at the House of Lords.

The trust supports a range of activities that enhance student experience by supporting exchanges, offering bursaries for those who need them, and key co-curricular activities such as visits to Northern Ireland. It also supports an annual Adam Curle lecture, which this year was given by Irene Santiago, a powerful voice for peace.

Trustees depend on the generosity of Friends to enhance student work, research and enrichment. In recent years the range of these activities has increased thanks to a substantial legacy, which is largely spent. Trustees intend to launch another appeal to coincide with a major three-day event in Bradford in 2024, to celebrate fifty years since the first students arrived. Donations by Friends over many years have helped to spread the message that Friends are immersed in the quest for ‘peace long term’. 

Jeff is the clerk to Quaker Peace Studies Trust trustees. For more info see www.quakerpeacestudiestrust.org.

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