The Advanced Consortium on Cooperation, Conflict, and Complexity (AC4) is housed at The Earth Institute at Columbia University, a multidisciplinary research institute aimed at addressing complex global problems. AC4’s focus on the study of peace, conflict, violence, and sustainability falls solidly within the central concerns and objectives of the Earth Institute.
In 2009, Peter T. Coleman, Beth Fisher-Yoshida, and Andrea Bartoli, launched the Advanced Consortium on Cooperation, Conflict, and Complexity (AC4), along with the Masters of Science Program in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution (NECR) at Columbia’s School of Professional Studies. The consortium was established to act as a coordinating agent to facilitate multidisciplinary collaboration between existing institutes, centers, scholars, and practitioners at Columbia University. The primary objective of AC4 is to bring together people and institutions from a variety of disciplines to tackle complex problems with increasingly integrated understandings, methodologies, and solutions.
With increased staff and capacity, AC4 now conducts research, holds roundtable discussions and workshops, provides fellowships for innovative graduate research, and releases blogs and publications. AC4 has grown beyond its original iteration, adding four signature research initiatives to its roster, acknowledging that intersectional perspectives must be prioritized in order for sustainable peace to be achieved: 1.) Environment, Peace and Sustainability 2.) Women, Peace and Security 3.) Youth, Peace and Security and 4.) Complexity, Peace and Sustainability.