Cross-Cultural Conflict and Dispute Resolution (3cr.)
Ireland and Northern Ireland (U.K.), with a history of conflict and ongoing reconciliation, provide the perfect backdrop for the study of conflict and dispute resolution, exploring the theoretical and historical impact cultural differences have on conflict and dispute resolution processes.
Places you will visit during the Ireland program
Learn more about the O’Neill in Ireland program
June 9 - June 25, 2025
V482/V582 – Cross-Cultural Conflict and Dispute Resolution (3cr.)
Program Director: Gary Branham
This three-credit hour course integrates theories of conflict and dispute resolution with an analysis of differences in dimensions of culture including religion, values, identity, worldviews and language. Applied learning will focus on cross-cultural conflicts between individuals, within organizations, and between nations with emphasis on “The Troubles” of Northern Ireland. You will be exposed to a variety of ways culture impacts communication, negotiation and other dispute resolution processes. Additionally, you will look at the reconciliation process and the key challenges in transforming personal, social and structural relationships that have been damaged or destroyed by conflict.
IU Bloomington Undergrads: See how this course counts towards your major/minor at O'Neill here.
- Dublin City University - Talks on "The Troubles" with former public officials, militants, and scholars
- Glendalough, a sixteenth century monastic settlement in the Wicklow Mountains
- Belfast - Talks with former militants, practitioners in reconciliation, and scholars; excursions to the physical remains of the conflict, including the "peace walls," memorials, murals and other sites of historical significance during "The Troubles"
- Hop on and hop off tour of Dublin
- Experience Gaelic Games Program - opportunity to learn about Irish culture through Gaelic games and Irish folk dancing
- Spend several days exploring Londonderry.
- Cliffs of Moher Tour from Galway
- Giant's Causeway Tour from Belfast
While in Dublin, you will receive room and board at the Glenomena Residence Hall on the campus of University College Dublin (UCD). Located in the heart of the campus within a short walk of the central college facilities, the apartments are formed around a series of interconnected courtyards and provide the ideal combination of secure privacy within a woodland setting. You will be grouped into six en-suite bedroom apartments with shared kitchen/living areas. All bedrooms are comfortably furnished with work station, study lamp, generous storage and wireless internet.
While in Galway you will be staying at University of Galway.
During your time in both Londonderry and Belfast you will stay in a double-occupancy hotel room. Breakfast will be provided each morning at the hotel.
All O’Neill International programs are academic, credit-bearing courses that take place abroad. As such, your bursar will be charged two amounts for participation in this program:
- Program Fee for O’Neill in Ireland (made in two payments)
- Tuition for the course (3 credits at your normal IU-Bloomington tuition rate)
2025 Program Fee: $2,200
The Program Fee for this program includes:
- Lodging for 2 weeks in Ireland
- Site visits and guest speakers
- Cultural excursions
- Several meals
- International health insurance
The Program Fee will be charged to your IU Bloomington Bursar account in two installments:
- A $550 non-refundable pre-payment will be charged shortly after you confirm your participation in the program
- The remaining balance will be charged in March prior to departure
Tuition: 3 credits paid at your IU-Bloomington tuition rate
Students will pay for 3 credit hours of tuition based on their student status (resident/non-resident, graduate/undergraduate, etc.) on the Bloomington campus.
Additional Costs
Students will pay for their own flight to and from Ireland, meals that are not included in the Program Fee, and other personal incidentals.
Scholarships
The O’Neill International Office offers several scholarships to support students studying abroad. The O’Neill International Equal Opportunity Scholarship is a need-based award available to help O'Neill students from IUB and IUI to be able to study abroad. Please visit our scholarship page for eligibility requirements and application deadlines. Other need and merit-based scholarships are available on a competitive basis. Students are encouraged to apply widely to all scholarships they are eligible for. Please email us at oio@iu.edu if you want help navigating different funding resources.
The program will be open to undergraduate students with a GPA of 2.75 or higher and graduate students in good academic standing. Students from across IU will be considered, and the instructor will review student applications and make the final decision on admission to the program.
During the application period (November 1 - December 8) an "Apply Now" button will be available at the top of this page. You will need to submit the online application by 11:59pm on December 8.
Please review our detailed application instructions!
If you have any issues or questions throughout the application process, contact us via email: oio@iu.edu
Studying abroad gives students a perspective that they just can't get in the classroom.
—Gary Branham, O’Neill in Ireland Program Director
Hear from students who’ve participated in the O’Neill in Ireland program
Description of the video:
00:07
I wanted to study abroad because I knew
00:10
that the world was a lot larger than
00:12
myself going abroad it was really a
00:15
great personal gain for me because I got
00:18
to do things on my own learn money
00:20
management time management I know
00:22
there's a lot of different perspectives
00:23
out there and I love meeting new people
00:24
so I knew studying abroad was a way to
00:27
hear another perspective and meet these
00:29
diverse communities traveling abroad
00:31
gives the students an opportunity to
00:33
kind of get them out of their element a
00:35
little bit gives them the opportunity to
00:37
be able to have to research things that
00:39
that they normally don't have to like
00:41
how to get around the city they're not
00:42
familiar with so it gives them an
00:43
opportunity to be innovative I was
00:48
amazing
00:49
the president was a very interesting man
00:51
he had a lot to tell us he was so nice
00:53
he gave us this amazing speech came and
00:55
individually met each of us it was great
00:58
knowing that the President of Ireland
01:00
graduated from Indiana University and he
01:03
really loved that we were from IU of
01:05
visiting there to me it was up there
01:07
with meeting the President of the United
01:08
States imagine being in the White House
01:10
of a different country it was an amazing
01:13
experience that who else can say they've
01:15
done one the coolest place that we got
01:17
to go was the truth of the Whitlam
01:19
mountains and the talent with all I've
01:22
ever wanted to do when it comes to
01:24
Ireland was go to the Wicklow Mountains
01:25
so that was just amazing for me the
01:27
Wicklow Mountains allowed me to take a
01:30
step back and just enjoy nature it was
01:33
phenomenal to have that experience
01:36
experiencing the Gaelic games is very
01:38
interesting they've been apart and
01:40
engrained in Irish culture for thousands
01:43
and thousands of years and it was so
01:44
cool to be able to be taught something
01:47
that's really a part of their history
01:48
and experience it with people who have
01:51
studied the game their whole life we
01:54
went from being immersed in all of the
01:57
the joy that is around Dublin and all of
02:00
the beauty of the glance came to you
02:03
know being able to see you know some
02:05
despair and some of the tension that
02:06
still exists that do you get to see the
02:09
green and grassy side of everything
02:11
I also got to see the deep issues that
02:14
are going on over in Ireland of course
02:16
was really special because not only did
02:18
I get to learn the conflict of Ireland
02:21
in the classroom but I also got to go to
02:23
places such as Belfast and see firsthand
02:25
what the conflict was like and how it
02:28
affects the people in those areas
02:30
I would pick Ireland and specifically to
02:32
be as a study abroad program because
02:34
they teach you about the conflict while
02:37
you're completely immersed in the
02:38
conflict one of the experience that was
02:41
really impactful I think for all of us
02:43
was in Northern Ireland and in Belfast
02:46
when we saw the peace walls and we can
02:48
see the actual physical walls and what
02:51
they represent and knowing that that we
02:53
have our own walls back here in the
02:55
United States they may not be physical
02:56
walls but we have our own walls that we
02:58
have to deal with spoke to different
03:01
people from each side of the conflicts
03:03
that have been implicated with doing a
03:05
lot of different crimes and listening to
03:07
them kind of come together and talk to
03:09
one another was unbelievable I've never
03:12
seen two people that truly used to hate
03:14
come together in such a peaceful manner
03:16
just wanting to educate studying abroad
03:18
gives students the perspective that they
03:21
just can't get in the classroom it
03:22
allowed me develop a lot Burson when you
03:24
know taught me that it's okay to step
03:26
out of comfort zone and I try to do that
03:29
a lot more now any opportunity that can
03:30
Ireland is such a great easy Society and
03:34
place to kind of just push yourself into
03:37
and it's a very good stepping stone if
03:40
you want to study abroad what stands out
03:42
the most from my experience is just the
03:44
friendships I made we had a lot of fun
03:45
together with a group of kids I was with
03:47
I wasn't expecting to make these lasting
03:51
friendships my hope is that the students
03:52
will come back and be able to apply the
03:54
concepts that we learned about
03:56
cross-cultural conflict in the
03:58
organizations that they're going to be
03:59
involved in here in the United States