Having completed the study unit, the student will have a comprehensive understanding of the field of violence prevention, including recent research and practical applications. Students will be able to connect the theoretical and applied knowledge from the public health approach to violence prevention with the perspectives offered by peace and conflict research.

"Violence is a preventable disease" stated a 2002 Report by the World Health Organization. The accumulation of evidence in the field of violence prevention suggests that we may already know enough to drastically reduce the levels of violence globally. The adoption among the Sustainable Development Goals of several targets focused on significantly reducing all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere call for applying and further expanding existing knowledge. This course will present the socio-ecological model used in the public health approach to stopping violence before it happens through the exploration of existing evidence-based prevention programs.

Active participation and an essay is required.

Christie, Daniel J., and Evans Pim, Joám, Eds. (2012). Nonkilling Psychology. Honolulu: Center for

Donnelly, Peter D., and Ward, Catherine L., Eds. (2015). Oxford Textbook of Violence Prevention: Epidemiology, Evidence, and Policy. New York: Oxford University Press.

Global Nonkilling. Available online: http://www.nonkilling.org

Gilligan, James (1997). Violence: Reflections on a National Epidemic. New York: Vintage.

Grossman, Dave (2009). On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society. New York: Bakc Bay Books.

WHO (2002). World Report on Violence and Health. Geneva: World Health Organization. Available at: http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/world_report/en/

WHO (2009). Violence Prevention: the Evidence. Geneva: World Health Organization. Available at: http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/4th_milestones_meeting/publications/en/

WHO (2014). Global status report on violence prevention. Geneva: World Health Organization. Available at:

The course is only for the degree students of the Global Society framework within the School of Social Sciences and Humanities. Priority is given to the students of MDP in Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research.