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From Conflict to Capacity: Cultivating Entrepreneurial Mindsets in Graduate Education to Build Human Security in Higher Education
No full textOrganizational conflict within higher education institutions often arises not only from structural barriers or resource constraints but also from a lack of adaptive problem-solving and collaborative thinking among students and future professionals. As universities face increasing tensions—from generational divides to institutional rigidity—there is an urgent need to rethink how we prepare graduate students for leadership and innovation in complex systems.
This paper presents an interdisciplinary framework for integrating entrepreneurial mindset development into graduate curricula as a proactive strategy for enhancing human security in higher education environments. An entrepreneurial mindset—characterized by a growth orientation, agile thinking, and resilience in the face of failure—equips students with the tools necessary to navigate organizational tensions creatively, ethically, and with a focus on sustainable impact.
Drawing on practices from conflict resolution, business innovation, and education, this model empowers students to view conflict as an opportunity for change, reframe challenges as design problems, and act purposefully in uncertain environments. Emotional intelligence and collaboration are highlighted as essential skills that enhance team-based innovation and responsible risk-taking.
Examples from instructional settings, student feedback, and workshop-based programming demonstrate the transformative effects of entrepreneurial mindset coaching on student engagement, problem-solving abilities, and leadership development. By fostering agency, adaptability, and community-oriented innovation, this approach not only helps students reduce conflict but also assists in building healthier, more secure institutions and societies.
This presentation contributes to peace education and conflict resolution by proposing that the entrepreneurial mindset is not just a business tool, but a peacebuilding practice that is essential for human security in today’s interconnected world
Supporting Positive Peace on Campus: Cultural Intelligence as a Tool for Conflict Resolution in University Settings
No full textAbstract
In the modern workplace, cultural intelligence (CQ) and conflict resolution skills are essential for success. This study examined the role cultural intelligence plays in resolving conflicts within university settings. Using a phenomenological approach, it explored the lived experiences of 12 university staff working in administrative, management, or counseling roles as they applied cultural intelligence for communication, negotiation, and conflict resolution. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to analyze the findings. The study applied Ang and Earley’s four-factor model of cultural intelligence to help structure the interpretation of the findings, and Bennett’s developmental model of intercultural sensitivity as an additional lens for understanding participants’ experiences. Preliminary results point to the importance of building trust in cross-cultural relationships. Key components of effective, CQ-informed conflict resolution include inclusive communication and decision-making, ongoing self-awareness, intentional communication choices, and flexibility in adapting approaches to diverse cultural contexts. The findings also highlight that maintaining order and ensuring the safety and well-being of all involved may require the confident use of authority in certain situations. This study underscores the need to integrate cultural intelligence training into professional development programs to enhance intercultural competence among university staff. Ultimately, the research aims to contribute to the advancement of cross-cultural skills training and empower individuals and organizations to achieve greater success in intercultural communication and conflict resolution.
Keywords: Cultural intelligence, intercultural communication, intercultural competence, conflict resolution, university staff, self-awareness
AWARENESS OF PREDATORY JOURNALS AMONG PHYSIOTHERAPIST IN NIGERIA: A result of an online cross-sectional survey
Get PDFObjective: The open access publication has made it easier for low-quality journals to take advantage of new authors and those from developing countries. Therefore, this study is set to determine Nigerian Physiotherapist awareness of predatory journals (PJs).
Methodology: For this study, an online survey was used, and participants were recruited through a Google form shared via email and social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Twitter. The data was analyzed using frequency and percentage, and a chi-square test was used to see if there was a connection between demographic factors and awareness of predatory journals.
Results: The results showed that most participants were between 21-30 years old (82%), male (72.1%), had an undergraduate degree (91.8%), and had 1-5 years of work experience (82%). However, only a few participants were aware of Beall’s list (8.2%), open access (14.8%), or predatory journals (31.1%).
Conclusion: In conclusion, the study found a low level of knowledge about predatory journals among the participants. However, they did show some awareness of the signs of predatory journals. The study suggests using social media to raise awareness among participants
App-Based Mindfulness Training to Improve Sleep in People with Chronic Back Pain: A Single-Arm Feasibility Study
Get PDFBackground: App-based mindfulness training is a potentially effective intervention to improve sleep for people living with back pain with a considerable decrease in cost and increased accessibility when compared to other interventions. The aim of this study was to determine if app-based mindfulness training is a feasible intervention to improve sleep in people with chronic back pain. Methods: The design was a single-arm feasibility study using repeated measures over a six-week period. Participants were Australian residents aged 18 years or older, experiencing back pain for at least 12 weeks preceding the study, and self-reported sleep disturbance. Primary outcomes were the acceptability of and adherence to the intervention. 35 participants were screened for eligibility. Seven were eligible and provided consent. Results: Despite high acceptability of the intervention at baseline (15.4 out of 20) five of the seven participants did not complete the study, with feedback indicating they did not find the intervention as useful or acceptable as initial acceptability scores suggested they might. Conclusion: There is a need for studies with more supportive participant recruitment and retention strategies to conclusively determine if mindfulness training is a feasible intervention to improve sleep in people with chronic back pain. Patient or Public Contribution: People living with chronic pain were participants in this study. They provided feedback on the intervention to inform future study designs on how the intervention could be tested successfully in larger populations
Increasing Awareness of Burnout and Developing an Action Plan to Reduce Stress for Graduate Health Profession Students Through an Interactive Workshop
Get PDFPurpose: Healthcare students can experience stress and burnout before becoming practicing clinicians. Increasing education about your level of stress and understanding what burnout is are important factors in preventing burnout. Method: A 90 minute interactive workshop was developed and implemented for graduate health profession students to meet three objectives: 1) increase foundational knowledge about burnout and its impact on different health professionals, 2) assess student’s level of burnout and apply strategies to mitigate their stress, and 3) create and share a plan on how they would incorporate stress reduction strategies and/or reduce their level of burnout. Results: In total, 349 graduate health profession students participated in this workshop over two academic years. In the post workshop survey, students reported an increase in confidence in understanding what burnout is, that they could identify the signs and symptoms of burnout, and that they had an action plan of strategies to complete when they felt stressed. Additionally, students reported that this workshop was a valuable learning experience. Conclusion: This interactive workshop was positively received by the health profession students and improved their ability to understand, recognize, and respond to stress and burnout. Health professional programs need to incorporate well-being activities and strategies into their curriculum to prevent and reduce burnout as they prepare to become future healthcare practitioners
How Does the Existence of Nuclear Weapons Constitute a Threat to Human Rights and the Possibility of Achieving a Nonkilling Global Society?
No full textA non-killing society envisions a human community, from local to global, where the killing of humans and the threats that come with it, the creation of weapons designed for human destruction, and ideological justifications for killing are absent. This paradigm, coined and advocated by Glenn D. Paige, rests on the belief in humanity\u27s capacity for nonkilling behavior. In line with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which asserts in Article 3 the right to life, liberty, and security for all, the concept of nonkilling challenges the dominant norms established by the existence of nuclear weapons. The emergence of nuclear bombs in August 1945 represented a glaring contradiction to the principles of the UDHR. Nuclear weapons, as the events of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 illustrate, can cause indiscriminate killing, in flagrant contradiction with the affirmation of the right to life contained in this declaration. Today, the existence of approximately 13,000 nuclear warheads held by nine nuclear states poses an existential threat to humanity. This project aims to explore the interaction between the non-killing philosophy and the right to life as articulated in the UDHR. It will assess the extent to which the proliferation of nuclear weapons undermines this fundamental right and threatens the principles of the non-killing paradigm. The analysis will highlight the urgent need for coordinated action by using materials related to human rights, non-killing peace studies, and nuclear disarmament. The findings will serve as a unifying force for activists and scholars in nuclear disarmament, human rights advocacy, and nonkilling scholars. By advocating for the elimination of nuclear weapons, they seek to advance all aspects of human rights, particularly the right to life, and pave the way for the realization of a peaceful and nonkilling global society. Eliminating nuclear weapons represents a critical step toward achieving this vision
The Phenomenon of Sectarian Violence in Kurram Agency-Pakistan: A Consequence of Misinterpretation of Religious Education and Foreign Involvement
No full textCertainly, sectarianism predates the history of mankind. It takes on various forms in every community. Sectarianism can be a complicated problem in any country. In different communities and cultures, it takes on different forms and intensities. Pakistan has been the most severely affected by sectarianism, which has hindered the nation\u27s progress and unity. The purpose of this study is to look at how sectarian violence in Kurram Agency is triggered by an incorrect interpretation of religious instruction and Foreign Involvement. Research methods. Using a questionnaire that was structured, primary data about religious education and Foreign Involvement as well as its connection to sectarian violence was gathered. Through the use of the proportionate allotment approach, a sample size of 650 participants was selected at random from Kurram Agency. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and structure equation modeling (SEM) were used to establish the degree of significance in the association between the study variables. Exploitation of sectarian fault lines, foreign actors, particularly those from neighbouring countries and other international entities, have attempted to exercise influence within Pakistan. Likewise, misinterpretation of religious literature by both sects also triggered sectarians’ violence. Planning policies for the institutionalism of religion can benefit from this empirical research. Nevertheless, it is imperative that all religious madrassas have a policy for formal registration. The current study emphasizes the need for a proper curriculum and the prohibition of extremist literature in madrassas. It could be advantageous in this sense for religious education to be uniform, incorporating modern education into their curricula. Additionally, attention must be directed towards the development of Pakistan\u27s impoverished regions along with intensive efforts to promote religious tolerance and dialogue
Constructive Dialogue; Promise and Limitations
No full textAs Coser [1] and others have theorized, conflict is not only normal and inevitable, it actually is necessary for the social system as it exerts pressure for justice, equity, innovation and creativity. However, the clash of values and interests between or among individuals and groups vying for power, status and distributive justice can be, destructive and deadly. Managing conflict non-violently remains the foremost challenge of conflict resolution and peacebuilding. However practitioners and scholars have struggled with the competing imperatives; pacification of conflicts can easily perpetuate subjugation and exploitation while confrontation can lead to destruction, death and trauma.
The traditional toolkit of negotiation, mediation, facilitation aims for parties to reach agreement but hardly do they resolve all the mistrust, animosity, structural imbalances and competition that lie at the heart of many conflicts. This presentation seeks to explore one under examined and underutilized intervention that holds promise but also has limitations in that endeavor; facilitated dialogue also known as constructive dialogue.
Facilitated dialogue can provide a platform for parties to, at the very least, hear each other and get to know what the other’s concerns, hurts and desires are. It may even open the way to negotiation and mediation. But it too is fraught with challenges and dysfunctions. Parties may have no interest in hearing the other or engaging with them. Even when parties do participate, they may do so for tactical reasons rather than commitment to resolution and furthermore dialogue takes a long time.
Despite the challenges however, facilitated dialogue is worth more exploration. At the very least it enables parties to know where each stands and opens the space for acknowledging the power positioning that is so integral to negotiation. The objective of discursive intervention is transformation of realities that instigate and propagate violence into understandings that might engender peaceful resolution based on joint constructions or reconstructions of the parties’ realities. In the presentation, we will seek to offer a definition of facilitated dialogue as an efficacious method for conflict intervention with particular characteristics and methodological pathways. The promises and the challenges of the method will also be explored.
[1] Coser, Lewis A. Social Conflict and the Theory of Social Change. The British Journal of Sociology Vol. 8, No. 3 (Sep., 1957
The Role of Film and Media in Cultivating Hope: A Conflict Resolution Platform
Get PDFThe Role of Film and Media in Cultivating Hope: A Conflict Resolution Platform: The role of film is that it not only provides humans with a visceral experience when we watch atrocities of war and injustices to innocent humans, but films also provide humans with a pause to consider alternatives as we reimagine conflict from a different trajectory with a future that includes peace and conflict transformation. This session will allow participants to gain insight into how to approach films and media from the positive side in that they offer people an opportunity to learn and that people themselves have the agency to support the change they want to see. Films/movies/media can spawn peace by leveraging a movement, resistance, or perhaps a full revolution. The session will display excerpts of powerful films/movies/media that derive from actual footage or real stories of conflict that have inflicted the lives of many innocent people, including our most vulnerable populations. The session will make a case that films/movies/media can provide a platform to teach peace, conflict resolution, and conflict transformation when done to inspire change and peacebuilding. The session will provide films/movies/media as sources for helping each person understand that it is the time to take a stand to support respect, empathy, diversity, equity, belonging, and inclusion. Participants will learn how film and media are powerful tools that can sustain meaningful peace and lead to violence de-escalation. Also, participants will learn about film\u27s power to mobilize individuals, grassroots activism, peace, and resistance to violence. The session will cover the influence of media on the masses through movements for positive change, constructing alternatives to violence, and promoting connections through films and media. The session will allow participants to reimagine conflict with hope, peace, conflict resolution, and conflict transformation by experiencing the impact of films
Exploring the Thermal Sensitivity of Mitochondrial Function of a Model Cnidarian: Developing Approaches to Evaluate Metabolic Disruption Between Host and Symbiont
No full textSymbiotic relationships, particularly endosymbioses, involve a complex suite of interactions between host and symbiont. In the anemone A. pallida, symbiont-host interactions occur in specialized gastrodermal host cells known as symbiosomes, which house endosymbiotic algae. Our current understanding of symbiont-dependent energetics relies heavily on analyses of carbon flux and whole-organism performance. However, the influence of environmental temperature on energy transfer efficiency and the performance of symbiotic partners under thermal stress is poorly resolved. Studies of ectotherms across various taxa indicate that substrate flux and oxygen consumption rates poorly estimate energy balance and flow in organisms whose body temperature fluctuate on a frequent basis, as is the case with any organism living in coastal ecosystems. More accurate indicators are needed to assess cellular energy transduction in these organisms.
Since oxygen-driven energy transfer relies on the efficiency of mitochondrial ATP production, a detailed analysis of mitochondrial performance can provide a more appropriate and accurate indicator of energy flow and balance in these organisms. The primary objectives of our project is to assess the mitochondrial energetics of A. pallida as a function of temperature. To our knowledge, this study represents the first attempt to address specific hypotheses about the consequences of changes in body temperature to the mitochondrial energy transduction efficiency in cnidarians and will provide the basis for predicting effects for other biotrophic symbioses such as reef-building corals, where the consequences of climate change on host energy budget are unknown and potentially significant