Mari Fitzduff

Mari Christine Fitzduff (born March 15, 1947) is an Irish-American educator, writer and academic. In 2004, she was the Founding Director of the MA Conflict and Coexistence Programme at Brandeis University, which is an international program, for experienced professionals, and so far has had students from over 70 countries.

Fitzduff helped set up the first courses in conflict resolution in both universities in Northern Ireland. She authored a training book in 1988, which could be used particularly in the conflict in Northern Ireland, called Community Conflict Skills. It has since been translated into Indonesian, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish, and other languages in countries rife with ethnic strife. It gives over 50 ways of looking at issues of justice, political choices, and bridge building.

From 1990-97 she was the Founding Director of the Community Relations Council, which was funded by both British and European funds, but was independent. It developed and funded many of the conflict resolution initiatives in Northern Ireland. From 1997-2003, she was the Director of UNU/INCORE, a joint initiative of the United Nations University and the University of Ulster, where she held a chair in conflict Resolution. UNU/INCORE conducts policy relevant international research on conflict issues around the world.

• New University of Ulster, Ph.D Social Psychology
• Queen's University, Belfast Diploma Management
• University of Ulster, MA
• University of Ulster, Diploma
• Trinity College Dublin, Diploma Education
• University College Dublin (UCD), BA

Nobody wants the final compromise to come too quickly ... because it's the end of the dream for both sides. It will have to be a perforated border as opposed to a united Ireland. And unionists will have to abandon dreams of unity forever with the motherland ... Sinn Féin will sell the compromise on the basis of its being a transitional agreement. People really are quite weary of the war.

• Public Policy for Shared Societies (ed. Fitzduff, Mari). Palgrave MacMillan Press, 2013.
• Fitzduff, Mari Christine & Stout, Chris, The Psychology of War, Conflict Resolution and Peace. 3 Vols. Praeger, 2006
• Fitzduff, Mari and Church, Cheyanne (eds), NGOs at the Table. Rowman and Little, 2004
• Mari Fitzduff, Gordon Peake, Cathy Gormley Keenan, War Lords versus Peace Lords, UNU/INCORE, 2005.
• Fitzduff, Mari. Beyond Violence: Conflict Resolution Processes in Northern Ireland. UN University Press/Brookings, 2002.
• Fitzduff, Mari. Community Conflict Skills: Anti-sectarian work in Northern Ireland, 1988.