Violence Studies - A research agenda

Violence between individuals (“interpersonal violence”) such as homicide or assault, is a high-priority issue for the general public, for policy makers, and for academics. While “violence” has an intuitive meaning for many, academic perspectives on the nature of violence vary considerably. In this Lorentz Workshop, we ask if and how these different perspectives can be integrated. We believe that, to better understand violence, we must step outside of disciplinary boundaries and establish Violence Studies as a research field in its own right. The workshop will take the first steps in establishing this research field. Given the fact that patterns of violence are strongly regional, this workshop will have a specific focus on violence in Europe.

In short, this workshop aims to bring together prominent international experts on the topic of Violence to begin to outline the field of Violence studies in Europe. The workshop will consist of interactive sessions and activities in which we will discuss what this novel research field might look like, its benefits and drawbacks, and the key questions it should tackle.