The International Academy for Religion and Peace Studies (IARPS) is an institution committed to advancing global peace through the systematic, empirical integration of religion, contemplative practice, ethical leadership, peace studies, and sustainable development. This comprehensive ten-year strategy (2026–2036) charts an incremental, phased course from institutional foundation to fully recognized global university status.
IARPS occupies an entirely unique structural niche: we are the premier global institution bringing together rigorous, state-of-the-art academic research, practitioner-focused field training, proactive interreligious dialogue, and institutional contemplative practice as a unified, empirically verified methodology for peacebuilding. While maintaining an administrative, diplomatic office in Berlin, Germany to engage seamlessly with United Nations and European Union policy frameworks, our primary operations, main campus, and spiritual center of gravity are located in Vietnam. This dual-rooting explicitly empowers IARPS to amplify Global South perspectives and historic Asian contemplative traditions that mainstream Western academic canons routinely sideline.
The strategy unfolds methodically across three highly integrated phases:
- Phase 1 — Foundation (2026–2028): Establish full international legal standing, construct the core 5-to-10-hectare diplomatic campus in Mê Linh (Hanoi), launch foundational program lines, and recruit world-class founding faculty.
- Phase 2 — Growth (2029–2032): Scale operations to accredited degree-granting tracks, launch five specialized International Schools, operationalize peer-reviewed flagship journals, and expand the global partner ecosystem to 50+ anchor organizations.
- Phase 3 — Influence (2033–2036): Formalize the institutional transition into a globally recognized university, execute a 20-to-50-hectare campus expansion, operationalize the historic 1,000-hectare Yên TỠWorld Peace Park for global cultural diplomacy, and directly shape international multilateral peace policy.
Vision and Mission
Vision Statement
To become the world’s leading university operating at the intersection of religion, peace studies, and sustainable development—a sacred and elite academic space where advanced scholarship meets profound practical application, effectively bridging the gap between elevated spiritual ideals and earthbound geopolitical realities to shape a more just, compassionate, and harmonious world.
Mission Statement
IARPS educates, convenes, researches, and advises through four fundamental institutional commitments:
- To produce rigorous, peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary research detailing the precise intersections of religion, peace, contemplative traditions, and sustainable development.
- To train the next generation of global peacebuilders, ethical civil servants, and interreligious practitioners through educational programs that seamlessly integrate objective analytical knowledge, field practice, and inner spiritual cultivation.
- To act as a global “Bridge”—a physical and spiritual conduit connecting distinct religions, disparate nationalities, traditional academic structures, and complex policy-making bodies.
- To harness the transformative potential of contemplative traditions—specifically King Zen (Trúc Lâm) studies and meditation—as practical, neuroscientifically validated methodologies for inner and outer peacebuilding.
Strategic Positioning and Unique Value
IARPS does not replicate traditional academic peace-studies frameworks, which are predominantly secularized, Western-centric, and theoretical. Instead, the Academy establishes a disruptive value proposition built upon four unique pillars:
- The Religion–Peace–SDG Nexus: While secular programs overlook spiritual networks, IARPS structurally maps the direct contribution of religious communities to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), opening massive avenues for multilateral funding and systemic field-level impact.
- The Practitioner-Scholar “Bridge” Model: Our curricula are explicitly architected for active religious leaders, diplomats, NGO executives, and community mediators. By utilizing stackable, blended, and short-cycle executive credentials, we turn academic theories directly into immediate, field-ready conflict de-escalation.
- King Zen Meditation as an Operational Tool: We treat meditation not merely as a subject of historical study, but as an applied cognitive methodology. King Zen frameworks (rooted in non-attachment, deep listening, and ego-detachment) are taught as rigorous operational tools for emotional regulation during high-stakes geopolitical negotiations.
- Global South Centering with Western Access: By basing our physical infrastructure in Hanoi, Vietnam, and maintaining our policy liaison node in Berlin, Germany, IARPS facilitates genuine East-West knowledge exchange, allowing Global South monastic and indigenous frameworks to systematically enrich Western policy paradigms.
Core Values: The Six Strategic Pillars
In alignment with the core philosophical architecture proposed by Bao Ngoc Tiên, all institutional, academic, and administrative behaviors of IARPS are strictly anchored upon Six Strategic Pillars:
- Respect: Deep, unyielding reverence for the internal logic, textual history, and spiritual validity of all religious, cultural, and philosophical traditions.
- Understanding: Cultivating rigorous, active empathy and intellectual curiosity to systematically bridge deep structural, ideological, and historic divides.
- Dialogue: Championing radical, agenda-free, and deep communicative engagement as the primary antidote to dogmatic entrenchment and structural conflict.
- Cooperation: Actively prioritizing inter-institutional partnerships, cross-border research networks, and multi-faith alliances over institutional silo-building.
- Service (Phụng Sự): Explicitly dedicating the fruits of advanced academic research and inner spiritual practice to the practical, observable betterment of vulnerable human communities.
- Peace: The foundational conviction that sustainable, outer, structural peace in international relations is fundamentally unattainable without the cultivation of inner spiritual transformation.
GOVERNANCE
Office of the President, Board of Trustees, Academic Senate, Global Advisory Council, Executive Leadership Team, and Student Council.
Responsibilities include strategic leadership, academic quality assurance, research excellence, international partnerships, financial sustainability, and institutional development.
Board of Founders and Directors
Prof. Dr. White Cloud – Founding President of IARPS, providing visionary leadership, global representation, and guidance on peace, interreligious dialogue, and institutional development.
Prof. Dr. Friedrich Willenskraft – Founding Co-President of IARPS, responsible for academic leadership, research, governance, strategic planning, international partnerships, and organizational development.
Structure of the Scientific Council
The Scientific Council serves as the supreme academic authority of the Academy, responsible for safeguarding academic freedom, approving research benchmarks, making faculty appointments, and managing the publication standards of all official journals. To fulfill its core mandate as a strategic “Bridge” connecting diverse civilizations, international diplomatic networks, and multi-faith institutions, the Council is structured with 7 to 11 members divided into three core divisions:
- Academic Senate Leadership
Chaired by the President/Chancellor or the Provost (Vice President for Academic Affairs).
Composed of the designated Deans and Directors of the Five International Schools.
Responsible for ensuring intra-institutional synergy, strict budgetary compliance, and curriculum cross-accreditation with European and international higher education frameworks. - Global Research & Academic Pluralism Council
Composed of senior, internationally renowned tenure-track professors from leading Western academic institutions (Europe and North America) to secure elite international standards and robust validation.
Features a mandatory, structural representation of leading scholars from the Global South (representing Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia). This explicitly de-monopolizes the traditional Western secular academic canon, introducing genuine civilizational pluralism into active research. - Contemplative & Spiritual Masters Council
Composed of fully realized Zen Masters, monastic elders, and scholars deeply embedded in the text, history, and practice of King Zen (the Trúc Lâm Zen tradition).
Includes accredited spiritual guides and masters from parallel world contemplative lineages (such as Sufi dhikr, Christian centering prayer, Buddhist Vipassana, and Jewish hitbonenut). This ensures that scientific data collection regarding neuroscientific mindfulness is permanently anchored in authentic human lineage and regular practice