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Dr Brandon Hamber is
the Research Co-ordinator of INCORE,
a United Nations Research Centre for the Study of Conflict
at the University of Ulster. He is also a Senior Lecturer
at the University.
He was born in South Africa and currently lives in Belfast.
In South Africa he trained as a clinical psychologist and
holds a Ph.D. from the University of Ulster. He was also co-founder
of the Office
of Psychosocial Issues
based at the Free University, Berlin. He
was also a Research
Associate of the Belfast-based
think-tank, Democratic
Dialogue (2001-2006) and
an Honorary Fellow at the School of Psychology at the Queen's
University in Belfast (2001/2002).
Prior to moving to Northern Ireland, he co-ordinated the Transition
and Reconciliation Unit
at the Centre
for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation
in Johannesburg. He is is a Board member of the South African-based
Khulumani
Victim Support Group. He works mainly in the area of violence,
reconciliation, transitional justice and trauma, and co-ordinated
the Centre's project focusing on the South
African Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
He was a visiting Tip O'Neill Fellow in Peace Studies at INCORE
in 1997/1998. He was also the recipient of the Rockefeller
Resident Fellowship (1996) and was a visiting fellow at the
Centre for the Study of Violence in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
He has consulted to a range of community groups, policy initiatives
and government bodies in Northern Ireland and South Africa.
He has undertaken consulting work and participated in various
peace and reconciliation initiatives in Liberia, Mozambique,
the Basque Country and Sierra Leone, among others.
He has lectured and taught widely, including, on the International
Trauma Studies Programme at Colombia University, New York;
the Post-War and Reconstruction Unit, University of York;
the Psychosocial Training Programme with the Group for Community
Action, University of Madrid, and at the University of Ulster.
He has written extensively on the South African Truth and
Reconciliation Commission, the psychological implications
of political violence, and the process of transition and reconciliation
in South Africa, Northern Ireland and abroad. He edited the
book entitled ast
Imperfect: Dealing with the Past in Northern Ireland and Societies
in Transition, which
was published by INCORE/University of Ulster. He is completing
another book entitled Treating Transitional Societies:
Justice, Reconciliation, and Mental Health to be published
by Springer in 2008.
Other present
and past areas of research and interest include community
psychiatric and psychological care, human rights and mental
illness, violence prevention strategies and mental health
policy development.
He
also enjoys writing poetry and short stories. His creative
work has been published in New Contrast and one of his short
stories was selected for the WriteAgain online workshop sponsored
by Penguin Books. Currently, he is seeking publication of
a collection of short stories called Cachaça Days.
He is also a regular columnist for Polity and Engineering
News writing the column Look South.
Qualifications: BA
(Hons) MA (Clin. Psych) Ph.D.
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