The 2026 CIES Presidential Keynote speaker, Monisha Bajaj, and Edward Brantmeier co-edited the influential 2011 Special Issue “The Politics, Praxis, and Possibilities of Critical Peace Education.” This panel revisits that landmark publication and explores key trends and tensions in peace education since then – particularly the role and relevance of critical, decolonial, and postcritical approaches within contemporary comparative education. The session also reflects on the contributions of the Peace Education Special Interest Group (SIG), which since its founding in 2005 has been a vital space for dialogue, mentorship, and critical engagement around education for peace, justice, and social change. Featuring six leading voices in the field, the panel highlights new insights and innovations across research, pedagogy, policy, and practice, while considering how the SIG and the field might continue evolving to address shifting global challenges and possibilities for critical and transformative peace education today.

Invited Speakers
Edward Brantmeier 
Earth Care, Global Citizenship, and Critical Peacebuilding for Future Generations 
Edward Brantmeier is a Professor in the Learning, Technology, and Leadership Education Department and Director of Global Engagement Research-Special Projects in the College of Education at James Madison University. He has worked in teacher education and university faculty development in a variety of roles over the past twenty-five years. In 2009, he was a Fulbright-Nehru Scholar of peace studies at the Malaviya Center for Peace Research, Banaras Hindu University, India. Currently, he is Editor of the Journal of Peace Education. 

Hilary Cremin
What possibilities might emerge from ‘rewilded’ peace education? 
Hilary Cremin is Head of the Faculty of Education at Cambridge University. She researches, writes and teaches about peace education and conflict transformation in schools and communities. She is concerned with big questions about the future of education and peacebuilding, and works with her graduate students to consider new directions for the field. She is author of Positive Peace in Schools and Rewilding Education.

Kathy Bickmore
Constructive Conflict Education for Just Peace Amid Digital Media Escalation of Hatreds
Kathy Bickmore is Professor of Education in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto. In 2022-2023, she was the William Lyon Mackenzie King Visiting Professor of Canadian Studies at Harvard University. She is an internationally-renowned scholar in comparative education, peace-conflict in schools, and citizenship education.

Tejendra Pherali
Can we research ‘peace education’ without challenging social injustices?
Tejendra Pherali is Co-Research Director of Education Research in Conflict and Crisis (ERICC), the former Chair of British Association for International and Comparative Education (BAICE) and on the Editorial Board of Compare. Over the past decade, he has developed research and teaching programmes in the field of education, conflict and peace at University College London. He is Founder and Editor of the open-access journal Education and Conflict Review.

Hakim Mohandas Amani Williams
We are More than Enough: Pluriversal Micro-Revolutions
Hakim Mohandas Amani Williams is the inaugural Daria L. and Eric J. Wallach Professor of Peace and Justice Studies and Associate Professor and Chair of Africana Studies at Gettysburg College. He was recipient of a Fulbright Global Award and Spencer Grant to research decolonial peace and justice education in Jamaica, Brazil, Ghana and USA. He is co-editor of Disrupting Hierarchy in Education: Students and Teachers Collaborating for Social Change (2024). He is past Co-Chair of the CIES Peace Education SIG. 

Organizer & Moderator
Kevin Kester is Associate Professor of Comparative International Education and Peace/Development Studies at Seoul National University, where he is Director of the Education, Conflict and Peace Lab. He is author of The United Nations and Higher Education: Peacebuilding, Social Justice, and Global Cooperation for the 21st Century. He is past Co-Chair of the CIES Peace Education SIG.