Graduate Student Research Experiences: Peace and Justice in Ireland

During the 2025 summer season, JMU College of Education graduate education students, Lauren Herberling (Ed.D.), Lisa Peregoy (Ed.D.), and Abigail Tucker (M.A.), took part in the second cohort of the Just Peace Leadership Institute (JPLI) in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The Just Peace Leadership Institute is a culturally immersive program designed to foster peace education and equity-leadership techniques for a group of graduate students, educators, and educational leaders through conversations, workshops, and cultural experiences. 

Developed by JMU’s Dr. Ed Brantmeier and  Dr. Monica Smith-Woofter and customized with faculty partners from Belfast, Northern Ireland, JPLI was formed to explore contemporary issues as part of a process of immersing leaders in the context of others regarding conflict at the national, local, and school level. Dr. Brantmeier describes the JPLI as an opportunity to promote connectedness and understanding, “Students see similarities between them, so they feel like they’re not alone. They can connect with a community across the pond that are struggling with different issues.” It is an extra opportunity for College of Education (COE) graduate students to gain a new experience abroad.

Herberling, Peregoy, and Tucker, along with the rest of the cohort, participated in insightful conversations and workshops with fellow graduate students and educational leaders from Belfast. While visiting local museums, going on a political walking tour of historic West Belfast, and participating in thoughtful reflection, the students discussed how leadership for social justice and peace education is currently handled in their respective cultures and contexts and how they could integrate it into their professions.

Peregoy describes her experience with JPLI as immersive, “Just being part of this first cohort of students, has been empowering because it aligns with a lot of what I believe, as far as education.” Being surrounded by other educators, seeing peace education through different lenses and exploring the cultural differences in education and conflict brought new perspectives to the participants, “We are so immersed in our own culture that we don’t even know that these things are happening around us.”

Once the JPLI concluded, Herberling was inspired to share what she had learned with others. Together with Peregoy and Tucker, the students wrote their experiences in an autoethnographic research manuscript titled: “Among the Jeggy Nettles: Teaching Peace in Turbulent Times.”

The research manuscript covers each student’s experience and their methods of integrating the lessons on peace education within their own institutions. Tucker explains, “At the end of the experience we talked about how we are going to share this information with people and embed it in our own schools.” The manuscript will be published by “The Virginia Association of Teaching and Learning Journal,” November 2025.

Herberling, Peregoy, and Tucker’s takeaways from the JPLI and their research are that having a cultural and immersive experience with fellow educational leaders from another country has given them new perspectives and ideas to make a difference in their respective schools. Herberling reflects on the trip saying, “One of the things you don’t really acknowledge with graduate school is the opportunity for an immersive experience like this. It wasn’t even on my radar. If it’s graduate school or if you’re a distance student, there’s still all kinds of things to get involved with and bring you to the program.”

Herberling, Peregoy, and Tucker advise students to take a chance on new experiences and not to be afraid of leaning on their professors and mentors. “I would highly recommend jumping in, just trying it, because we picked a smaller journal, I thought this was my chance to lead a team and to get a manuscript out there. Was it terrifying? Yes, but I think graduate students may forget their voice, so they should definitely use it and just start small and lean on their mentors.” Herberling said.