On October 14, 2026, the Peace Innovation Initiative hosted Building the DNA of Peace: Peace Innovation Across Health and Human Rights, a conversation on how peace innovation moves from research into real-world practice.
PII helped establish the Global Center of Peace Innovation at the University for Peace (UPEACE) and, together with UPEACE, designed the DNA of Peace Fellowship, a PhD program that began with health, the most basic level of peace. This conversation brought that work to life through two members of the UPEACE community, moderated by Jordan Parrish of PII.
Dr. Michelle Helman, Impact Advisor and one of the inaugural DNA of Peace Fellows, shared her research identifying healing as a building block of peace, and how she is applying a collaborative design model with partners across the Americas.
Irfan Pullani, UPEACE alumnus and lawyer, spoke about agency and participation, from a $1 million clean water initiative reaching communities across Africa and South Asia to youth peace leadership programs, and why peace, like development, cannot be imposed.
Together, they explored what peacebuilding actually requires, what they wish more people understood, and why youth are not the future of peace, but the present.
Watch the full conversation below.
OCTOBER 14, 2026
On October 14, 2026, the Peace Innovation Initiative hosted Building the DNA of Peace: Peace Innovation Across Health and Human Rights, a conversation on how peace innovation moves from research into real-world practice.
PII helped establish the Global Center of Peace Innovation at the University for Peace (UPEACE) and, together with UPEACE, designed the DNA of Peace Fellowship, a PhD program that began with health, the most basic level of peace. This conversation brought that work to life through two members of the UPEACE community, moderated by Jordan Parrish of PII.
Dr. Michelle Helman, Impact Advisor and one of the inaugural DNA of Peace Fellows, shared her research identifying healing as a building block of peace, and how she is applying a collaborative design model with partners across the Americas.
Irfan Pullani, UPEACE alumnus and lawyer, spoke about agency and participation, from a $1 million clean water initiative reaching communities across Africa and South Asia to youth peace leadership programs, and why peace, like development, cannot be imposed.
Together, they explored what peacebuilding actually requires, what they wish more people understood, and why youth are not the future of peace, but the present.
Watch the full conversation below.
On October 14, 2026, the Peace Innovation Initiative hosted Building the DNA of Peace: Peace Innovation Across Health and Human Rights, a conversation on how peace innovation moves from research into real-world practice.
PII helped establish the Global Center of Peace Innovation at the University for Peace (UPEACE) and, together with UPEACE, designed the DNA of Peace Fellowship, a PhD program that began with health, the most basic level of peace. This conversation brought that work to life through two members of the UPEACE community, moderated by Jordan Parrish of PII.
Dr. Michelle Helman, Impact Advisor and one of the inaugural DNA of Peace Fellows, shared her research identifying healing as a building block of peace, and how she is applying a collaborative design model with partners across the Americas.
Irfan Pullani, UPEACE alumnus and lawyer, spoke about agency and participation, from a $1 million clean water initiative reaching communities across Africa and South Asia to youth peace leadership programs, and why peace, like development, cannot be imposed.
Together, they explored what peacebuilding actually requires, what they wish more people understood, and why youth are not the future of peace, but the present.
Watch the full conversation below.