CPHS Activities

Berlin, Germany – On September 24, 2025, Dr Jiyar Aghapouri, Associate Professor of
International Studies & Director of the Center for Peace and Human Security
(CPHS) was the
invited speaker at the International Workshop “Locating Diaspora in Kurdish Studies:
Migration, Identity, and the Politics of Knowledge,”
hosted by the Berlin Institute for Empirical Integration and Migration Research
(BIM) at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and funded by the Einstein Foundation
Berlin.

Duhok, Kurdistan Region – On September 16, 2025, the Center for Peace and Human
Security (CPHS) at the American University of Kurdistan (AUK)
opened its Fall 2025 Lecture Series with a talk by Bonnie Miller, Professor of
Social Work and Psychology, licensed psychotherapist,
and Director of Action for Community Empowerment in Syria (ACES).

On April 20, 2025, AUK hosted Conflict Resolution in a Divided World, a workshop led
by Dr. Jack Williams,
President of the Institute for Global Negotiation and Adjunct Professor at Sciences
Po Paris.
The session introduced students to core strategies in negotiation, diplomacy, and
conflict management.

The Kurdistan Foundation recently launched a Model United Nations (MUN) training in
Duhok,
highlighting the vital role of youth in diplomacy and peacebuilding.
Participants explored global conflicts, examining their implications for Kurdistan
and the broader region.

As part of its Monthly Lecture and Seminar Series, the American University of
Kurdistan’s Center for Peace and Human Security (CPHS) hosted a webinar featuring
key representatives from the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce. The distinguished speakers, Mr. Steve Lutes, Vice President of
the Chamber’s Middle East Affairs Division, and Ms.
Jenna Artuso, Manager of the Chamber’s Middle East Affairs Division, shared their
insights on fostering connections between U.S.
companies and the Kurdistan Region, with a focus on encouraging investment and
strengthening the capacity of the local private sector.

Dr. Jiyar Aghapouri, Director of the Center for Peace & Human Security (CPHS) and
Assistant Professor of International Studies at the American University of Kurdistan
(AUK),
co-authored a significant report with the London School of Economics & Political
Science (LSE) titled “Gender,
Justice and Security: Structural Challenges, Feminist Innovations, and Radical
Futures.”

The American University of Kurdistan’s Center for Peace and Human Security (CPHS)
hosted its April Lecture Series, on Wednesday, April 24, 2024, featuring Dr.
Fereydoon Rahmani, an associate professor at Toronto’s York University and a
visiting adjunct professor of international studies at AUK.
The lecture series provides a valuable space for scholars, experts, and students to
explore critical issues and contribute to the pursuit of knowledge across the
discipline.

Duhok, Kurdistan Region – February 25, 2023 – The American University of Kurdistan
(AUK) hosted the Japanese Ambassador to
Iraq, Futoshi Matsumoto, on February 19 as part of a lecture series sponsored by the
University’s Center For Peace and Security (CPHS).
The lecture was titled “Japan’s Modernization and its Lessons for the Future of
Iraq.”

The American University of Kurdistan’s Center for Peace and Human Security (CPHS)
continued its series of guest lectures on various political, economic, and
environmental topics, with a presentation by Prof.
David Romano, Missouri State University on January 30.
The lecture was titled “Kurdistan Region’s Relations with Neighboring Countries”.

The American University of Kurdistan successfully collaborated with partners to
host the fourth Middle East Peace and Security (MEPS) Forum from November 19 to 21
in Duhok, titled
“Renewal, Revision, and Resiliency: The Future of the Middle East.”

Duhok, Kurdistan Region – October 29, 2023 – The American University of Kurdistan’s
(AUK) Mustafa Barzani Building hosted an art exhibit and cultural programming titled
“Halabja in the Golden Days,” which was organized by the UK-based Gulan Charity in
partnership with AUK’s Center for Peace and Human Security (CPHS).

On April 3, the Center for Peace and Human Security (CPHS) at the American University
of Kurdistan (AUK) hosted a seminar featuring the Austrian political scientist and
author Dr. Thomas Schmidinger.
His talk, “The Complexity of Conflicts in Shingal after the Islamic State,”
culminated in interaction with an audience largely composed of AUK International
Studies students, and these same students would discuss his points during their next
classes.
So, the session would involve sufficient student engagement to count as a “seminar,”
going beyond an ordinary “lecture.”

On May 7, the Center for Peace and Human Security (CPHS) at the American University
of Kurdistan (AUK) held its second seminar of the semester.
This event featured Anna Hess Sargasyan, a Swiss-Armenian expert on conflict
resolution who regularly works with the Austrian Center for Peace.
Ms. Hess Sargasyan’s talk, “The Ongoing Conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over
Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh]: Prospects for Peace and Security,”
was relatively informal in format, with questions addressed throughout rather than
saved for the end.

Dr. Jiyar Aghapouri is the head of AUK’s Center for Peace and Human Security (CPHS).
Like most of the students and many of the other workers at AUK, he is Kurdish, but
his origins lie in Iranian Kurdistan instead of the Iraqi part.
He lived and worked in New Zealand and has citizenship of that country.
He is quite an expert on international relations generally speaking, but the Middle
East tends to be the focus of his research and teaching at AUK.
Content Writer Michael Collins interviewed him to learn more from one of AUK’s
distinguished instructors.

Duhok, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – November 22, 2022 – The American University of
Kurdistan (AUK) and its partners successfully organized the third Middle East Peace
and Security Forum (MEPS),
which took place from November 15 to 17 on the campus of AUK, and was headlined “The
Middle East in an Emerging International Order: Old Threats, New Realities?”

Duhok, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – October 10th, 2020 – The American University of
Kurdistan’s Center for Peace and Human Security (CPHS) has published
a study (After Genocide: How the Yazidi Perceive the Responsibility to Protect and
the Actions of the International Community) funded by Konrad Adenauer Stiftung
(KAS).

Duhok, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – April 29th, 2020 – The American University of
Kurdistan’s Center for Peace and Human Security has published a policy paper about
(The Kurdistan Region of Iraq and Covid-19 in Cross-National Perspective),
conducted by Dr. Paul-Philippe Pare and Dr. Kerstin Tomiak.