Recherche
Huit thèmes de recherche, portés par des départements et mis en œuvre par des programmes.
Transformation des conflits
Most conflicts we work on are not wars. They are disputes over water, land, jobs, public space, recognition and the way decisions are made, and they can harden or soften depending on how people handle them.
Conflict transformation starts from the idea that tension is information. It shows where institutions are not listening and where communities lack a place to bargain. Handled early and locally, the same tension can become a reason to cooperate; left alone, it deepens distrust between citizens and between citizens and the state.
What we do
- Dialogue and mediation formats that bring communities and institutions to one table with an agreed agenda.
- Locally led problem-solving, where residents define the problem, test small solutions and report what worked.
- Research and training that give young people the tools of facilitation, negotiation and conflict analysis.
Questions we ask
- Which local tensions are most likely to escalate, and what early signals precede them?
- What makes a dialogue produce decisions rather than only conversation?
- How do mediation practices travel between neighbouring communities?
Environnement et climat
Water, heat and waste are daily pressures in Tunisian towns and a growing source of friction. They are also among the clearest reasons for neighbours and institutions to cooperate.
Climate stress rarely causes conflict on its own. It sharpens existing inequalities between regions, between rural and urban residents, and between generations. Our work looks at how environmental pressure turns into tension, and how small, practical, locally owned solutions can turn it back into cooperation.
What we do
- Mapping civil-society organisations that work on climate, so that groups in the same region can find each other and coordinate (Mo.S.Ca.Clim. Kairouan).
- Climate communication that takes gender into account, developed with local partners and tested with young people.
- Awareness workshops and community actions, such as clean-up campaigns led by young scouts.
Questions we ask
- Where do water, heat and waste problems already produce open disputes?
- Which local organisations can carry climate solutions beyond a single project cycle?
- How should climate messages be framed so that they reach women and young people?
Jeunesse et dialogue intergénérationnel
Young people are the largest group affected by decisions on jobs, migration and public space, and the group with the fewest formal channels to influence them.
Intergenerational dialogue puts students, faculty, municipal staff and elders around the same table. The aim is not consensus for its own sake but a shared list of priorities that every group has helped to write, and a way to check later whether they were followed.
What we do
- Youth focus groups that turn findings into policy asks, pilot actions and monitoring tools, as in the work behind the 2026–2030 strategy.
- Campus and municipal dialogue formats, with safe channels for reporting concerns.
- Skills programmes such as L2E (Learn to Earn) that link training to employability and confidence.
Questions we ask
- What do young people in different regions actually ask of their municipalities and universities?
- Which skills most improve employability in the Monastir and Kairouan regions?
- How can youth participation be measured without turning it into a tick-box exercise?
Paix numérique et IA
Digital tools can deepen polarisation or open conversation. The difference lies in how they are designed, who steers them and what they are for.
Online spaces are where many young people first meet political disagreement. Digital peace work looks at how dialogue apps, campus media labs and artificial intelligence can support mediation, fact-based discussion and civic participation, and where they create new risks.
What we do
- The Digital Peace Incubator: webinars, research and youth challenges, with academic partners such as the University of Sousse.
- Public discussions on AI for Peace, including an open webinar held on 24 May 2024.
- Prototypes and guidance for dialogue and mediation tools that protect users and their data.
Questions we ask
- What design choices make a dialogue tool less likely to inflame debate?
- How can AI assist mediators without replacing their judgement?
- What safeguards do young users expect from civic technology?
Culture pour la paix
Culture, art and heritage shape how communities remember, imagine and talk to each other. They are often the first space where people from different groups meet.
The Cultural Studies Department explores how cultural practice contributes to peace, in line with the international agenda on culture led by UNESCO. TIPCS follows the MONDIACULT 2025 process and has hosted discussion on the UNESCO expert report on culture and peace.
What we do
- Research and public conversation on culture as a path to peace, with invited scholars.
- Cultural activities that bring different generations and neighbourhoods together.
- Documentation of local heritage as a shared reference point for dialogue.
Questions we ask
- Which cultural practices already bridge divides in Tunisian towns?
- How can heritage work include young people as authors rather than audiences?
- What can local cultural projects learn from the international culture-and-peace agenda?
Genre
Gender shapes who is heard in a conflict, who bears its costs and who is invited to resolve it. The Gender Studies Department works across all programmes rather than alone.
Gender-responsive research asks different questions and reaches different answers. It checks who attends the workshop, whose organisations are mapped, whose language is used in a campaign and who gets the credit afterwards.
What we do
- Gender-responsive climate communication, developed with partners in Kairouan and Monastir in 2023.
- Gender checks on programme design, participation and communication.
- Support for women-led organisations in the mapping and consortium work of our programmes.
Questions we ask
- How do climate and water pressures affect women and men differently in the regions where we work?
- What barriers keep women from leading local dialogue?
- How should gender be measured across a programme portfolio?
Migration et mobilité
Irregular migration across the Mediterranean is a human tragedy and a policy failure. Safe, legal and informed pathways are part of the answer.
Many young people consider leaving because they see few prospects at home. Migration and mobility work looks at both sides: the conditions that push people to take dangerous routes, and the lawful alternatives that exist if people have the language, documents and information to use them.
What we do
- Ponte Legale verso l’Italia: Italian language, personal development and legal procedures as a safe alternative to irregular migration.
- A short video series on Mediterranean geopolitics, Minutae geopolitanae®, with an episode on migrant crossings of the central Mediterranean in 2023.
- Research on mobility pathways between Tunisia and Europe.
Questions we ask
- Which legal pathways are realistic for young Tunisians, and what stops people using them?
- How do families and communities decide about departure?
- What do returnees and host communities need?
Gouvernance et société civile
Strong civil society depends on organisations that can find each other, share what they know and be held to account by the people they serve.
Associations in Tunisia work under Decree-Law 2011-88, a framework that gives them freedom to form and operate. How well they use it depends on their capacity, their relationships and their access to information. Mapping and strengthening organisations is a first step toward coordinated local action.
What we do
- Mapping of civil-society organisations active on climate in the Kairouan region, presented at a press conference in May 2023.
- Consortium building with partner associations, including a memorandum of agreement signed in Monastir on 26 July 2023.
- Work on the legal framework for associations, to be published as a library of texts in Arabic, French and English.
Questions we ask
- Which organisations are active in a region, and what do they need to work together?
- How do associations report to members and to the public?
- Where does the legal framework help or hinder small associations?