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The University of Winnipeg

Conflict and Resilience Research Institute Canada (CRRIC)

Conflict and Resilience Research Institute Canada (CRRIC) is a research think-tank based in Winnipeg, MB. CRRIC research teams are composed of a group of scholars, experts and development practitioners committed to making a difference in applied social studies through knowledge translation in peace and justice, human rights research and humanitarian action inside and outside Canada. CRRIC conducts time-sensitive peacebuilding policy dialogues, as well as develops programs and intervention strategies to advance safety-net supports, and capacity building and resilience formation. CRRIC’s priorities are: homeless street children; political, ethnic and environmental refugees; child workers in sex trade and hazardous workplace settings; immigrants and refugees, stateless and displaced people; and other marginalized social groups including Indigenous communities globally. CRRIC offers practicum training for graduate students who aspire to seek employment in human rights, peacebuilding, and conflict resolution sectors.

Purpose and Objectives:

  • Administer action research to experiment, pilot and evaluate development of conflict interventions.
  • Partnering with grassroots NGOs to oversee, and record and documents accountability, transparency and good governance of CRRIC-mediated development interventions.
  • Promote policy dialogues and civil society engagement for the promotion of peace and justice.
  • Advancement of in-depth social research that benefits communities in Manitoba, Canada, and overseas.
  • Provide need-based intellectual think-tank support to government and non-government organizations on conflict transformation, human security, human rights, and peacebuilding.
  • Design and deliver ‘safety-net programs and projects that establish sustainable livelihood and ‘quality of life’ for conflict-stricken people/groups and carry out philanthropic activities within the scope of relief of poverty.

Selected Publications: 

  • 2022 (forthcoming) - Rohingya Crisis and the Two-Faced God of Janus: What Lies Ahead, editor and contributor, Lexington Books, an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield, USA.
  • In January 2021, CRRIC published The Rohingya Crisis: Analyses, Responses, and Peacebuilding Avenues. Publisher: Lexington.
  • 2018 Community-Focused Counter-Radicalization and Counter-Terrorism Projects: Experiences and Lessons Learned was written by CRRIC’s executive director, Dr. Kawser Ahmed, alongside Patrick Belanger, and Susan Szmania. Publisher: Lexington.
  • 2017 - Grassroots Approaches to Community-Based Peacebuilding Initiatives: Theory and Praxis on the Front Lines, Hardback: ISBN 978-1-4985-6206-5Oct, eBook: ISBN 978-1-4985-6207- 2Oct. (Lexington Books, Maryland, US).
  • Forthcoming book chapter titled: The Changing Landscape of Violent Extremism (VE) in Bangladesh: A View from the Mezzanine at The Palgrave Handbook of Global Social Problems, edited by Rajendra Baikady, Sajid SM, Jaroslaw Przeperski, Varoshini Nadesan, M Rezaul Islam and Gao Jianguo.
  • A book chapter on Western Sahara and MINURSO in the ‘Peace Issues in the 21st Century Global Context’, published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017.
  • 2021- Educating Rohingya Children in Emergencies: A Reflection from the Field, in Evolving Multicultural Education for Global Classrooms, editors, Richard Gordon, Kawser Ahmed, Miwako Hosoda, IGI Global Press. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-7649-6; ISBN13: 9781799876496|ISBN10: 1799876497|EISBN13: 9781799876519|ISBN13 Softcover: 9781799876502
  • 2021 - Ahmed, K. & Romaniuk, S. N. Canada’s Security Governance Structure and Agencies: Implications for Human Security, Civil Society, and Charities, (forthcoming), in Romaniuk, S. N., et al. (eds.), Counterterrorism and Civil Society: Post-9/11 Progress and Challenges. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
  • 2019 - Canada’s Cyber Security in A Globalized Environment: Challenges and Opportunities, in press, Global Handbook of Cybersecurity, Routledge. Editors, Scott N. Romaniuk and Mary Manjikian. ISBN 9780367024239.
  • 2018- Peacebuilding Projects as a Conflict Transformation Tool: A Meso-level Perspective from Winnipeg. In Conflict Transformation, Storytelling and Peace-building: Research from the Mauro Centre for Peace and Justice, (editors Drs. Laura Reimer, Katerina Standish and Chuck Thiessen), Lexington books, USA. Hard cover, 978-1-4985-6417-5, 978-1-4985-6418-2, eBook.

CRRIC hosted seminars and panel discussions Rohingya Crisis in 2018-2019:

  • Rohingya Crisis : Policy and Advocacy Options (February 13, 2019) – a joint collaboration with Menno Simons College, CMU. Held at the University of Winnipeg, Eckhardt-Gramatte Hall.
  • Two years of Rohingya crisis : mapping a sustainable conflict transformation strategy (November 28, 2019) - St Paul’s College, University of Manitoba
  • Movie Screening – I am Rohingya (September 10, 2018)
  • MB School Students’ Participatory Peace Paintaing Icebreaker-Gordon Bell High School (November 20, 2018 and September 2019), Peace 365 events organized by Rotary International.
  • Rohingya Crisis, Brown Bag lectures (October, 2018 and 2019), AVM University of Manitoba, and Wilfred Laurier University, Waterloo, ON, (September 2019).
  • CRRIC Dialogue on Rohingya Conflict – (May, 2018), St Paul’s College, University of Manitoba CRRIC’s Transformative Dialogue (TD) Project in Webinar format (see below).  

After the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 which resulted in limiting outdoor activities, CRRIC launched a TD with the focus on reaching in and reaching out, building awareness about social conflict issues, bringing ‘people together for change, and deep listening to people’s stories and experiences. Watch and learn more about CRRIC webinars here.