Society

RECORDING & RESOURCES—Neuropaz 2026: Hard Truths & Paths Forward

By and
February 27, 2026

In February 2026, Behavioral Scientist partnered with the peace science organization Neuropaz to host an online event exploring the latest work and thinking at the intersection of behavioral science and peace and conflict.

The theme of Neuropaz 2026—hard truths and paths forward—reflects the many roadblocks that characterize this line of work, including funding cuts to research and aid agencies, technologies that amplify outrage, and politicians who prioritize power over peace. Neuropaz 2026 brought together leading scientists, practitioners, policymakers, and funders to face these obstacles head-on. Through open, candid conversations about what stands in our way, we hoped to illuminate new paths forward.

Below, you’ll find all the recordings from the event, plus a curated selection of further reading and resources from each of the speakers.

— Evan Nesterak, Editor-in-Chief, Behavioral Scientist and Andrés Casas, Founder, Neuropaz

Neuropaz 2026 — Hard Truths and Paths Forward: Peace as a Scientific Challenge

WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION

Andrés Casas and Evan Nesterak introduce the event and provide an overview of the program. They also show a brief video about the life and work of Emile Bruneau (to whom the event is dedicated).

* * *

REFLECTIONS ON BUILDING PEACE

In recognition of the tenth anniversary of the historic peace agreement in Colombia, Neuropaz presents Juan Manuel Santos, president of Colombia from 2010-2018 and leader of the peace process, with the inaugural Neuropaz Lifetime Achievement Award. President Santos joins Andrés Casas for a conversation to reflect on the decade since the agreement and share how he continues his work toward peace through Fundación Compaz.

Further Reading & Resources from President Juan Manuel Santos:

  • Santos, J. M. (2016). “Peace in Colombia: From the Impossible to the Possible.” Nobel Prize Lecture. (English | Spanish)
  • Santos, J. M. (2021). The Battle for Peace: The Long Road to Ending a War with the World’s Oldest Guerrilla Army. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas. (English | Spanish)
  • Fundación Compaz website (English | Spanish; Instagram; LinkedIn)
  • Open Library of the Colombia Peace Process (English | Spanish)
  • Santos, J. M. “La historia no contada del proceso de paz.” Podcast. (Link)

* * *

BUILDING PEACE IN COLOMBIA 10 YEARS AFTER THE HISTORIC PEACE AGREEMENT

In this session, Andrés Moya and Felipe De Brigard explore two lines of applied research that emerged after the 2016 Peace Agreement. The two cases are powerful illustrations of how behavioral science is being applied to help build peace and prevent conflict in Colombia and beyond.

Further Reading & Resources from Andrés Moya:

  • Semillas de Apego website (Link)
  • Sánchez-Ariza, J., Cuartas, J., & Moya, A. (2023). The mental health of caregivers and young children in conflict-affected settings. AEA Papers and Proceedings, 113, 336–341. (Link)
  • “Rompiendo el Ciclo” | “Breaking the Cycle.” (2025). Semillas de Apego. (Link)
  • Andrés Moya’s LinkedIn (Link)

Further Reading & Resources from Felipe De Brigard:

  • Memory & Forgiveness website (Link)
  • Imagination and Modal Cognition Lab website (Link)
  • Love, S. (2024). “Must you forget to forgive? A scientist tests the relationship.” Psyche. (Link)
  • “Forgetting and Forgiving | Dr. Felipe De Brigard.” (2022). John Templeton Foundation. (Link)

Further Reading & Resources from Andrés Casas:

  • “Pathways for Peace.” (2023). Pirata Films. (Link)
  • “Evaluating How Movies Build Support for Peace: An RCT in Cinemas.” (2022). Gusano Films. (Link)
  • Casas, A. & Hameiri, B. (2022). Giving peace a chance: Lessons from translational research in Colombia. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 28(3), 284–291. (Link, open access)
  • “Hope.” (2019). Season 1, episode 6 of Why We Hate. Amblin Television and Jigsaw Productions. (Link)

* * *

SOCIAL GRAVITY

Betsy Levy Paluck introduces the concept of social gravity— “a fundamental force of human social life that pulls people toward common ideas or behaviors in their social worlds”—and describes how it influences our behavior in contexts of peace and conflict.

Further Reading & Resources:

  • Betsy Levy Paluck’s website. (Link)
  • Nesterak, E. (2024). Betsy Levy Paluck, The Art of Psychology No. 1. Behavioral Scientist. (Link)
  • Paluck, E. L. (2009). Reducing intergroup prejudice and conflict using the media: A field experiment in Rwanda. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96(3), 574–587. (Link, open access)

* * *

UNDERSTANDING BEHAVIOR DURING AN ACTIVE CONFLICT

What is the value in understanding human behavior during an active conflict? And how do you do it? We explore these questions through work happening at three key levels: the individual, the community, and the institutional. We hear about individual interventions happening in Syria, research on the spread of hate in online digital communities, and why a behavioral perspective is key to building democratic institutions that last.

Further Reading & Resources from Mareike Schomerus:

  • Schomerus, M. (2023). Lives Amid Violence: Transforming Development in the Wake of Conflict. New York, NY: Bloomsbury Academic. (Link)
  • Schomerus, M. (2016). “Seeking answers in times of crisis: navigating current pitfalls of conflict research and practice.” ODI Global. (Link)
  • Rigterink, A. S. & Schomerus, M. How does recalling violent conflict affect pro-social behaviour? Evidence from a lab-in-the-field experiment in Uganda. Journal of Peace Research. (Forthcoming)
  • Buell, S., Schomerus, M., Sharp, S. (2020). “The mental landscape of post-conflict life in northern Uganda.” ODI Global. (Link)
  • Mareike Schomerus’ LinkedIn (Link)

Further Reading & Resources from Greg Power: 

  • Power, G. (2024). Inside the Political Mind The Human Side of Politics and How It Shapes Development. London, UK: Hurst Publishers. (Link; insert code POWER25 to get 25% discount)
  • Power, G. (2024). For Decades, a Behavioral Blind Spot Has Plagued Political Development. Behavioral Scientist. (Link)
  • Power, G. “Politics, as usual.” Substack. (Link; due to start in March)
  • Greg Power’s LinkedIn (Link)

Further Reading & Resources from Britt Titus: 

  • Airbel Impact Lab website (Link)
  • “Seeds of Trust: What Behavioral Science Teaches Us in Syria.” (2025). International Rescue Committee & Busara. (Link)
  • Titus, B., Stege, M., Schmidt, R., & De Filippo, A. (2026). “SCOPE: Behavioral Science for Wicked Problems.” International Rescue Committee & sistemaFutura. (Link)

Further Reading & Resources from Helena Puig Larrauri: 

  • Build Up website (Link)
  • Digital Peacebuilders Guide (Link)
  • “Peace in the digital age.” (2025). ICIP & Build Up. (Link)
  • Larrauri, H. P., Grazier, M., & Costa Cots, R. (2025). “Addressing Digital Harms in Conflict.” Build Up. (Link)

* * *

SCHOLARS REFLECT ON PAST AND ONGOING VIOLENCE

How do scholars who are personally connected to contexts of past and ongoing violence experience, navigate, and rethink their work? In this panel, scholars from regions affected by violence share their reflections.

Further Reading & Resources from Oksana Myshlovska:

  • Tadevosyan, M. (2024). Peacebuilding in Politically Challenging Environments: How Do Local Peacebuilders Navigate Muddy Waters in the South Caucasus? International Negotiation, 29(1), 139-163. (Link)
  • Myshlovska, O. (2024). Providing meaning to violence: Multiple mobilizations and dynamics of conflict escalation from November 2013 until February 2014 in Ukraine. Nationalities Papers, 52(4), 735-760. (Link)
  • Kyselova, T. (2020). Mapping Civil Society and Peacebuilding in Ukraine: Peacebuilding by Any Other Name. SSRN. (Link)
  • Fisher, R., Tadevosyan, M., Cuhadar, E. (2023). “Track 2 Dialogues.” United States Institute of Peace. (Link) 

Further Reading & Resources from Yasemin Gülsüm Acar:

  • Acar, Y. G., Uluğ, Ö. M., & Solak, N. (2025). The impact of authoritarian regimes on research: Insights from research, researchers, and participants. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 31(4), 444–451. (Link; open access; summary)
  • Acar, Y. G. (2018). Academics are fired, jailed, and blacklisted. Baltic Worlds. (Link)
  • Moss, S. M., Uluğ, Ö. M., & Acar, Y. G. (2019). Doing research in conflict contexts: Practical and ethical challenges for researchers when conducting fieldwork. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 25(1), 86–99. (Link; open access)

* * *

COULD BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE PREVENT A WAR?

What would it take to use behavioral science to prevent war? This panel features a discussion between researchers, practitioners, and technologists who each have a role to play in a) discovering new solutions and testing them in the field, b) paying for those solutions, and c) driving down costs through better technology for targeting, forecasting, and scaling.

Further Reading & Resources from Salma Mousa:

  • Hultman, L., & Mousa, S. (2025). From ceasefire to cohesion: An integrated review of peacemaking and peacebuilding. Economic Policy, 40(124), 931-967. (Link)
  • Keep an eye out for funding calls from ReCIPE, a research initiative that focuses on how public policies can mitigate and prevent conflict.

Further Reading & Resources from Dave Levin: 

  • Hala Systems website (Link)
  • Stamm, E. (2025). “Optimal would mean not to drop bombs on your own citizens.” Verve Ventures. (Link)
  • Dadouch, S. (2018). Air strike warning app helps Syrians dodge death from the skies. Reuters. (Link)

Further Reading & Resources from Catherine Thompson: 

  • Peace and Security Funders Group website (Link)
  • Thompson, C. & Fuhrmann, I. (2026). Peace Is Worth It: So What Can Funders Do Right Now? Inside Philanthropy. (Link)

Further Reading & Resources from Josh Martin: 

  • Peace Per Dollar (Center for Effective Global Action, University of California, Berkeley, Link)

* * *

INNOVATIONS IN PEACE FUNDING

Peace funding stands at a crossroads. Bilateral donors have substantially reduced their investments in peace and other foreign aid. At the same time, new pools of capital are entering the development space, often prioritizing interventions with clear, quantifiable outcomes. How do we make the case for investing in peace when the field sits between competing funding paradigms? What innovative models might provide a path forward? How do we bridge traditional peace funders, emerging capital sources, and practitioners to fund what matters most, even when impact is hardest to prove?

Further Reading & Resources from Håvard Mokleiv Nygård:

  • The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) website (Link)
  • Weintraub, M., et al. (2023). Introducing the Mapping Attitudes, Perceptions and Support (MAPS) dataset on the Colombian peace process. Journal of Peace Research. (Link; open access)
  • Nygård, H. M., Hegre, H., & Landsverk, P. (2021). Can We Predict Civil War? PRIO. (Link)

Further Reading & Resources from Leslie Wingender:

  • Peacebuilding, Humanity United website (Link)
  • Wingender, L. (2022). Peacebuilding in Colombia: There is a Future if There is Truth. Humanity United. (Link)
  • Prada Ramírez, M. P., & Wingender, L. (2025). Listening and Preparing the Society to Engage: The Case of the Colombian Truth Commission and Its Legacy Strategy. International Journal of Transitional Justice, 19(1), 174-182. (Link)
  • Apgar, M. et al. (2024). Rethinking rigour to embrace complexity in peacebuilding evaluation. Evaluation, 30(3), 408-433. (Link)
  • Wingender, L. & Méndez, M. L. (2023). What about the Middle? Thinking Systematically about Localization. Negotiation Journal, 39(4), 507–529. (Link)

Further Reading & Resources from Zezhen Wu: 

Further Reading & Resources from Nessa Kenny: 

  • “Peace & Recovery.” Innovations for Poverty Action. (Link)
  •  “Governance, Crime, and Conflict Initiative Evidence Wrap-up.” (2021). Innovations for Poverty Action. (Link)

* * *

REFLECTIONS ON HARD TRUTHS

James Robinson reflects on the hard truths he’s faced over the course of his career. What has he learned, why has he changed his mind, and where does he think he’s going next?

Further Reading & Resources from James Robinson: 

  • Robinson, J. A. “Paths towards the Periphery.” Nobel Prize Lecture. (Link)
  • Acemoglu, D. & Robinson, J. A. (2020). The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty. New York, NY: Penguin Books. (Link)
  • Falconi, J. L. & Robinson, J. A. (2021). The Political Economy of Latin America: New Visions. Working Paper. (Link)

* * *

CONCLUSION AND GOODBYE

Andrés Casas and Evan Nesterak bring Neuropaz 2026 to a close.

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Evan Nesterak

Evan Nesterak is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Behavioral Scientist.

Andrés Casas

Andrés Casas is a behavioral and decision scientist based in Colombia. He is the founder of Neuropaz, an international conference focused on peace and behavioral science. He is also the principal investigator for the World Values Survey in Colombia. Previously he was a researcher at the Peace & Conflict Neuroscience Lab at the University of Pennsylvania. He holds masters degrees in behavior and decisions sciences as well as philosophy, and he is dual Ph.D. researcher in neuroscience and conflict resolution and management.

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