Dr Michalis S Michael was awarded with a peace prize in Constantinople-Istanbul for his work at La Trobe University’s Centre for Dialogue on the peaceful resolution to the Cyprus problem.
Both Michael and the Centre were honoured by the Journalist and Writers Foundation, beating 1179 projects to take out a $50,000 top prize.
As deputy director of the Centre, Dr Michael has researched a number of areas of conflict resolution and interfaith dialogue.
His project “Dialogical Roadmap towards resolving the Cyprus conflict” took out the top prize, an award that supports innovative and significant conflict resolution and peace-making projects focusing on preventing, managing and resolving violent conflicts and promote post-conflict peace-building.
To get through, Dr Michael had to go through a four-step process that ended with an interview with an international jury in Istanbul.
Dr Micahel said the award rightly honours the work the Centre of Dialogue does for international conflict and resolution.
“This award is yet another international recognition of the world-class work that the Centre for Dialogue does in the areas of peace-building and conflict transformation by combining research, policy development and community engagement,” he said.
Dr Michael hopes with the award, funding won’t be cut for the Centre. With the prize money he hopes to implement many of the Centre’s projects.
“Obviously as academics we are humbled by such an honour, but we also feel somewhat vindicated by the recognition we often receive overseas especially during these times when the sort of research and community work we do is under threat,” he says.
“This award encourages and motivates my project team to move from planning to the implementing phase.”
