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Educating for Peace: A Teachers' Conference for Nuclear Disarmament Education

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Are you a dedicated educator passionate about shaping a peaceful future? If you’re committed to fostering critical thinking and civic responsibility in your students, this conference is for you.

This weekend conference, organized by the Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogue, the Soka Institute for Global Solutions, the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, and EdEthics at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, seeks to bring together and empower middle and high school teachers to explore effective ways to teach students about the threats and historical legacies of nuclear weapons and instill in them a deep sense of shared responsibility and commitment to safeguarding the future of humanity’s peaceful existence. Titled “Educating for Peace: A Teachers’ Conference for Nuclear Disarmament Education,” the conference marks the beginning of a collaborative effort to bring together educators to reimagine education as a powerful tool for preventing nuclear war in the near term and achieving nuclear disarmament in the long term.

Who? Middle and high school teachers interested in bringing disarmament education into their classrooms

What? See overview and conference speakers/schedule below

When? May 9-11, 2025 (May 9 will only include an evening keynote event)

Where? Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogue (396 Harvard Street, Cambridge MA 02138)

*Keynote event on Friday will be held at Askwith Hall at the Harvard Graduate School of Education

Download conference flyer here. 

Please note that this conference is free and in-person only (meals included) with limited space. Applications are required.  PDPs will be awarded to Massachusetts-based teachers upon completion of the conference. 

Register here

Overview & Rationale

There is an urgent need to educate the public, especially young generations, to improve their knowledge of nuclear weapons and their means of action to counter the dangerous threats of nuclear weapons today. Less than 10% of US citizens have heard of “nuclear winter” (University of Cambridge’s Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, 2023). Furthermore, a survey revealed that less than 1 percent of 1,100 high school students in Washington State knew which countries possess nuclear weapons (Stover, 2019). This pervasive ignorance about nuclear weapons – sheer lack of knowledge about them, lack of imagination about their potential uses, and lack of reflection on their actual risks today – demands a critical need for making nuclear disarmament education more accessible today.

Teachers play a pivotal role in shaping the minds of future generations and empowering them to think critically on global issues. It is the teachers who can guide and invite students to understand the gravity of nuclear weapon issues and the importance of striving for a world free of nuclear threats and nuclear weapons. Teachers can inspire young students and help them realize that they – and all peoples – have their inviolable right to live and that no weapons of indiscriminate mass destruction shall deprive them of their precious lives. 

However, there exists almost no opportunity for many middle and high school teachers to gather, discuss, and collaborate on this critical topic. There are currently limited educational resources for middle and high school teachers on nuclear weapon-related topics; the conference will highlight leading scholarship in the field as well as nuclear weapon and security policy resources. We urgently need to provide teachers with the resources and support to educate the next generation on this crucial subject.

Conference Objectives

  • Build a vibrant grassroots network of educators committed to raising awareness of nuclear war through youth education.
  • Identify opportunities and resources to educate and empower middle and high school teachers to engage in constructive dialogue with students about nuclear weapon issues.
  • Carry the momentum to initiate, in the near future, a WECAN (World Educators’ Campaign for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons) movement involving educators worldwide in this cause.

Organizers

  • The Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogue
  • The Soka Institute for Global Solutions
  • The James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies
  • EdEthics at the Harvard Graduate School of Education 

Conference Session Topics (Speakers/Presenters To Be Announced)

  • The Growing Danger of Nuclear War and What We Can Do About It
  • Historical Legacies and Nuclear Justice
  • Youth Perspectives
  • Educators’ Experiences & Integrating Nuclear Disarmament into Existing Curricula

Conference Presenters (Full List Forthcoming)

  • Dr. Ira Helfand, co-founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility, past president of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (recipient of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize), and member of the international steering group of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (recipient of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize)
  • Sue Wilkins and Mary Ellen (Mel) Mahoney Bissell, GBH Educational Foundation
  • Masako Toki, Senior Project Manager and Research Associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute
  • Brennan Tierney, development consultant with Back from the Brink and 8th grade teacher at Mohawk Trail Regional School
  • Maria Udalova and Talia Wilcox, Students for Nuclear Disarmament (SND)
     

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE (Detailed Schedule Forthcoming)

Day 1: Friday, May 9, 2025, Evening Only (Location: Askwith Hall at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, 13 Appian Way, Cambridge, MA 02138)

Day 2: Saturday, May 10, 2025, 9am-5pm (Location: Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogue, 396 Harvard Street, Cambridge MA 02138)

Day 3: Sunday, May 11, 2025, 9am-4pm (Location: Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogue, 396 Harvard Street, Cambridge MA 02138)