Coventry’s RISING Global Peace Forum goes virtual as a result of the latest COVID-19 lockdown

RISING Global Peace Forum

Steve Killelea, The Global Peace Index, RISING 2019. Photography by Tia Bryant and Georgia Bond.


Thursday 05 November 2020

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Press Team
press.mac@coventry.ac.uk


Organisers of the internationally-recognised event, taking place from 11-13 November, have decided to move the whole event online in light of the Government’s new restrictions.

The annual forum, now in its fifth year, was due to have been held as a ‘virtual hybrid’ event at Coventry Cathedral and with an online live-stream to reach its global audience - with only UK-based speakers and around 50 delegates in physical attendance.

The revised plan means the whole event will now take place fully online and without any face-to-face gathering in the Cathedral.

The Forum will also be the main event in the run-up to the 80th anniversary of the bombing of the Cathedral in 1940 on November 14, which led to the City of Peace and Reconciliation status.

This year’s RISING Global Peace Forum has so many great speakers lined up that we were determined not to let the Covid-19 lockdown prevent us from sharing their inspiring ideas. It has a more important role than ever in promoting peace at a time of huge global uncertainty and by being held online, will be more accessible and therefore able to attract a larger audience from around the world.

Professor Mike Hardy, Chair of RISING

Speakers include writer and broadcaster Afua Hirsch, who has recently fronted BBC Two’s Enslaved with Samuel L Jackson, Judge Shira Scheindlin, who famously ruled on police use of stop and search in the US, commentator Will Self, and Daniel Bruce, CEO of Transparency International UK.

Professor Sir David King, former Government Chief Scientific Adviser and Special Representative for Climate Change, will also deliver the Lord Mayor’s Peace Lecture on the environment and COVID-19 on November 12.

The Forum is free to access - to register, click here. Your registration will confirm your place and you will receive details of how to log on and join RISING closer to the event.

RISING is a partnership between the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations at Coventry University, Coventry Cathedral and Coventry City Council.

For more information, visit www.rising.org or email RISING@coventry.ac.uk.