UQ professor recognised as ‘Agent of Peace’

A founding professor of The University of Queensland’s Peace and Conflict Studies will be honoured on the 2017 International Day of Peace.

The Brisbane Peace Festival will be held on Thursday, 21 September, at St John’s Cathedral in Brisbane City to commemorate the date.

Adjunct Professor Ralph Summy will be one of two Brisbane ‘Agents of Peace’ acknowledged at the festival by the Rotary Peace Centre, alongside the late Mr Ritchie Yorke, acclaimed producer and journalist.  

Current Head of School for the School of Political Science and International Studies, Associate Professor Richard Devetak said Adjunct Professor Summy had laid the foundations for a program that continues to be valued to this day.

“The contributions made to the area of Peace and Conflict Studies by Adjunct Professor Summy have been invaluable and highlight the calibre of dynamic and innovative teachers who work at UQ,” Dr Devetak said.

“Ralph taught at UQ for more than 30-years and contributed to our ability to become one of the world’s leading research and teachings areas in political science and international studies.”

The UQ School of Political Science and International Studies consistently ranks at the top of Australian institutes and within the world’s top 100.

“We are honoured that one of our founding professors will be recognised as an ‘Agent of Peace’ and many of our current students and staff will be attending the ceremony in Brisbane to celebrate him,” Dr Devetak said.

“Ralph’s influence on the program continues to be felt with the recent opening of the Graduate Centre in Governance and International Affairs, a unique collaborative learning hub for postgraduate and honours students within the school, where Peace and Conflict studies is a core area.”

The Peace Festival will feature a Songs of Peace musical performance and an audio-visual presentation to showcase the lives of John Lennon and Yoko Ono and their contributions to a peaceful world through their War Is Over! peace campaign.

The peace festival will commence at 5pm and will be followed by the Sixth Annual Brisbane International Peace Lecture at 7pm at the same venue.

Media: Diana McCluskey, d.mccluskey@uq.edu.au, +61 7 3443 1325; UQ communications, communications@uq.edu.au, +61 7 3365 3439.