My name is Christalla Yakinthou, I'm a Birmingham
Fellow with the Department of Political Science
and International Studies (POLSIS) and also
with the Institute for Conflict, Cooperation
and Security (ICCS). I've been at Birmingham
for a year, I have the privilege of doing
a lot of research, I work specifically on
transitional justice and conflict transformation
so I look at how does a country or society
deal with the legacy of violence after war.
I look specifically at the middle east, north
Africa and the Mediterranean region so what
I look at is the legacy of violence and particularly
this contestation about formulas for solutions
verses what people want in country so I do
a lot of research around Cyprus, Turkey, Greece,
what's happening in Tunisia and the post revolution
societies and how things get stuck and I work
on the ground with civil society and non-governmental
organisations as well as with law makers in
country to think about what does it look like,
do you need a truth commission, what kind
of legislative framework do you need and what
are people asking for so that experience that
I have in the countries that I've work in
is brought back to Birmingham and infuses
into the broader teaching profile particularly
with the institute where we have a lot of
specialist expertise in conflict and conflict
transformation. So students from me will learn
about the complexity of conflict and how it's
really not about applying a formula it's about
understanding what happens in a society and
thinking about what is the legacy that violence
gives to us and how do we move past that so
it's not a text book understanding of conflict
and post conflict but real grounded experience
that then transfers into teaching programmes.
