Tampere Peace Day 2025: Reclaiming Peace in the Age of Militarism
Date: November 27th
Time: 10:15-17:00
Followed by reception
Location: Tampere University, A210 Main Building (Päätalo)
Address: Kalevantie 4 33100 Tampere
The third annual Tampere Peace Day is centered around the theme of Reclaiming Peace in the Age of Militarism. With this theme, we encourage participants to critically examine approaches to envisioning, promoting, and mediating peace in a world where the restraints on violence are diminishing and muscles matter more than values. It also invites reflection on the potential future roles of various types of peacebuilders and their capacity to adapt within an increasingly militarized environment, where civil society engagement faces growing challenges.
This year, the event will be organized jointly by Tampere Peace Research Institute (TAPRI), Tampere University, CMI – Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation (CMI), Finn Church Aid (FCA) and the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission (Felm).
Please find the programme of the day below.
More information about our speakers can be found here .
Programme of Tampere Peace Day 2025
10.15-10.30 Welcome Remarks (Room: Main building, A210)
Liisa Häikiö (Dean of Faculty of Social Sciences at Tampere University) and Marko Lehti (Research Director of TAPRI – Tampere Peace Research Institute)
10.30-12:00 Keynote Session (Room: Main building, A210)
– Keynote Address 1: “Peace, Power, and Polycrisis: Lessons in Critical Hope” by Julia Palmiano Federer, Senior Researcher at the Center for Security Studies at ETH Zürich
– Keynote Address 2: “Understanding the Layers in Peacemaking – From Multilateral to Transactional, and the Challenge of Militarization” by Harri Ohra-aho, Major General (Ret.) and Senior Advisor at CMI – Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation
– Facilitated dialogue with keynote speakers
– Open questions to keynote speakers
Moderated by Matthias Wevelsiep (Finn Church Aid)
12.00-13.00 Lunch Break
13.00-16.00 Parallel Roundtable Sessions: (with coffee break 14.15-14.45)
The roundtable session features four parallel discussions. Each roundtable explores one overarching theme through focused questions. Designed to foster collaborative dialogue, each session includes a facilitator, an inner circle of invited experts, and an outer circle of participants who may also engage.
Session I – Rethinking practices and agencies of peace mediation within fragmented world (Room: Linna K103)
This roundtable examines changing practices and norms in peacemaking amid an increasingly pluralistic mediation environment. The discussion will address the re-emerging role of states as principal mediation actors, new diplomatic approaches in varied geopolitical settings, and the impact of these changes on civic society’s agency for peace. Drawing on recent conflicts, such as those in Ukraine and Gaza, the discussion considers the growing prevalence of unconventional and autocratic-led mediation initiatives and the kinds of peace they produce. The session also asks how local agencies can be strengthened in settings where civil actors faces authoritarian restrictions, exploring pluralization of methods and differing understandings of peace and their effects on mediation outcomes.
Facilitated by: Katariina Mustasilta, Senior Research Fellow at FIIA – the Finnish Institute of International Affairs
Invited experts: Karin Aggestam (University of Lund), Isabel Bramsen (University of Lund), Yasmeen Al-Aryani (Sanaa Centre for Strategic Studies / TAPRI), Eemeli Isoaho (ETH Zürich), Jusaima Moaid-azm Peregrina (University of Granada), Isak Svensson (University of Uppsala), Armenak Tokmajyan (Carnegie Endowment / TAPRI)
Session II – Culture of preparedness and militarization in the Nordics (Room: Linna 6020)
This roundtable will engage with war as a process, rather than a singular event through the exploration of war preparedness and the militarisation of civilian societies across the Nordics. Participants will discuss ideas such as preparedness, resilience, and militarisation as they unpack the ways in which the everyday lives of civilians in the “peaceful states” of the Nordic region are becoming increasingly coopted as part of war preparedness efforts. In so doing, this section/roundtable challenges the idea that war and peace exist in entirely separate spaces and instead ask how the mundane processes of militarisation affect resilience and coherence of Nordic societies and narrows the ability to envision peace into the future.
Facilitated by: Louise Ridden (TAPRI – Tampere Peace Research Institute)
Invited experts: Victoria Basham (Cardiff University), Oscar Larsson (Swedish Defence University), Johanna Pettersson Fürst (Uppsala University), Leena Vastapuu (TAPRI – Tampere Peace Research Institute)
Session III – Peace Education in Practice: Learning for a Non-Violent World (Room: Virta 120)
This roundtable explores the role of peace education, creative and non-violent practices in peacebuilding amidst the growing challenges of militarism and polarization. Through dialogue and shared reflection to concrete cases and examples of peacebuilding initiatives grounded in education, creativity, and participatory approaches will be presented and the participants invited to join the discussion. The first part focuses on the role and practices of peace education in fostering cultures of peace, with a critical grasp of European peace education work. In the second part of the roundtable the discussion will highlight non-violence and resistance in the everyday, through examples of artistic expressions.
Facilitated by: Eeva-Liisa Kiiskilä (Peace Education Institute Finland)
Invited experts: Seng Bu (TAPRI – Tampere Peace Research Institute), Angel Iglesias Ortiz (TAPRI – Tampere Peace Research Institute), Riikka Jalonen (Peace Education Institute Finland), Juulia Järvenpää (Plan International Finland), George Kurian (teacher, filmmaker, journalist), Elina Lehtomäki (University of Oulu), Anita Rapp (Nansen Center for Peace and Dialogue), Ilaria Tucci (Tampere City / TAPRI)
Session IV – Beyond relief and reconciliation: reinforcing humanitarianism and peacebuilding in a shrinking space (Room: Virta 113)
This roundtable explores how humanitarian and peacebuilding efforts can reinforce one another, even amid growing challenges of greater politicization, access constraints, and diminishing resources. What types of collaboration between humanitarian and peace actors can be built on shared principles and complementary goals? How can humanitarian principles support sustainable peace? How can peacebuilding approaches enhance access, effectiveness, and protection within humanitarian work? Bringing together practitioners and thinkers from both communities, the discussion will highlight practical experiences and create opportunities for mutual learning at the nexus of humanitarian and peacebuilding efforts.
Facilitated by: Sarah Stroup (Middlebury College & Finnish Institute of International Affairs)
Invited experts: Tobias Denskus (Malmö University), Felicity Gray (Nonviolent Peaceforce), Riina Isotalo (Felm), Sarah Schiffling (HUMLOG Institute)
16.15-16.45 Plenary Session – Concluding the roundtable discussions (room: Linna K104)
The facilitators of each session discuss what the roundtable conversations included.
Facilitated by Tarja Väyrynen (TAPRI – Tampere Peace Research Institute)
16.45-17.00 Concluding Remarks and Closing of the Event (Room: Linna K104)
17.00 – 19.00 Reception – Hosted in the lobby of Linna Building at Tampere University
If you have questions about the event, please feel free to contact Marko Lehti, Research Director of TAPRI, at marko.lehti@tuni.fi or TAPRI Intern Annika Termonen, at annika.termonen@tuni.fi