Timeline: 2025-2029

Funding organisation: SNSF Starting Grant

Previous associated projects : 

• A child of its time: the impact of world politics on UN peace
  missions
• Communicating about peace: UN peace missions and their mandates.

Associated website: www.peacemissions.info

BACKGROUND

This project is funded through a Starting Grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).
 

KEY EVENTS OF THE PROJECT

2025

• January: Sara Hellmüller received a SNSF Starting Grant for the entire duration of the project and joined the Geneva Graduate Institute as a Research Professor in International Relations and Political Science.January: Sara Hellmüller participated as a speaker at the Geneva Graduate Institute Alumni Event on “Frontlines of Peace Mediation in Times of Changing Geopolitics”.
• January: Sara Hellmüller participated as a speaker on a panel on “Security vs. Peace: Back to the Future?”, organized by swisspeace at the Basel Peace Forum.
• January. Sara Hellmüller participated as a speaker at an event on “Conflicts to Watch in 2025: Implications for Swiss Mediation and Dialogue Efforts”, organized by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.
• February: Margaux Pinaud joined the project as a postdoctoral researcher focusing on the development of dataset on belligerent consent. Margaux worked with Sara previously in the SNSF/Agora grant Communicating about peace, leading updates to the UNPMM dataset and the creation of various platforms to communicate the findings of the research.
• February: Sara Hellmüller gave an interview with Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS) on the crisis of multilateralism.
• February: Sara Hellmüller co-published  a book chapter with Carsten Wieland, entitled “Syria, 2012-2018: Addressing Military and Political Issues Together or Apart?”, in: Ceasefires: Stopping the Violence and Negotiating Peace, Govinda Clayton, Simon J. A. Mason, Valerie Sticher, Andreas Wenger (eds.), pp. 310-342, Washington DC: Georgetown University Press.
• March: The team recorded a podcast on peace missions for the CCDP podcast series with Fanny Badache and Bilal Salayme from Sara Hellmüller's earlier project 'A child of its time: the Impact of world politics on peacebuilding’.
• March: the team presented the project at a project launch seminar hosted by the CCDP.
• April: Sara Hellmüller gave an interview for Swiss National Radio (SRF) News Plus on Armament, Defense, and Peace.
• April: Sara Hellmüller gave an interview for Weitsichten on Switzerland at the UNSC.
• May: Sara Hellmüller participated as a speaker at an event on “Cross Perspectives on International Risks and Security”, organized by the Club Diplomatique de Genève.
• May: Sara Hellmüller co-published an article with Bilal Salaymeh, entitled “Warmakers as Peacemakers: Transactionalism in the Political Marketplace of Peace Processes” in Contemporary Security Policy.
• May: Sara Hellmüller co-published an article with Fanny Badache on “Children of their time: The impact of world politics on United Nations peace operations” in Contemporary Security Policy.
• May: Sara Hellmüller co-published a special issue with Fanny Badache on, “Children of Their Time: The Impact of World Politics on United Nations Peace Missions” in Contemporary Security Policy.
• May  The team launched V2.2. of the UN Peace Mission Mandates dataset.
• June: Avery DeMoss joined the team for 1.5 months as student researcher, to work on the dataset for the project.
• June: Sara Hellmüller taught a session on “Introduction to UN Peace Operations” at the swisspeace-SWISSINT course on Bridging Civilian & Military Efforts in Peacebuilding.
• June: Sara Hellmüller presented a book chapter at a workshop for the Inaugural World Mediation Report, organized by the Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies.
• July: David Ball joined the project as a Master’s Level Student Researcher, with a focus on database development. He is currently undertaking a Master’s degree in International Relations and Political Science at the Geneva Graduate Institute. David has developed experience in data and analysis at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the UN Development Coordination Office.
• July: Sara Hellmüller taught a session on “Rethinking Peace Processes” at the Geneva Graduate Institute’s Summer Course on Rethinking Global Governance.
• July: Sara Hellmüller taught a session on “Security Council Politics and UN Peace Engagements” at the Geneva Graduate Institute’s Summer course on the UN in a Changing World.
• July: Sara Hellmüller participated as a panelist at the screening of the film “The Veto” at the Geneva Graduate Institute.
• August: Sara Hellmüller co-published an article with Bilal Salaymeh and Fanny Badache on “Following a Middle Way: How Rising Powers Navigate Sovereignty Debates in Peacebuilding” in International Studies Quarterly.
• September: Sara Hellmüller published a co-edited book on “Women in Science”.
• September: "Thaddäus Braun joined the project as a PhD researcher. He holds a Master’s degree in Comparative and International Studies from ETH Zurich and previously worked at the Center for Security Studies (CSS), where he contributed to various research projects, including efforts that leveraged big data to analyze armed conflicts. His broader research interests include peacekeeping, conflict dynamics, and the political economy of conflict.”
• September: Julia Pickhardt joined the project as a research assistant, contributing to its overall implementation. She previously worked in conflict mediation and peacebuilding and has now commenced her doctoral research on “Belligerents’ Agency in Multipolar Mediation Set-ups”.