The university that changed my life
Twenty-five years ago, Rumiko Seya came to the University of Bradford to study for a Master’s in Conflict Resolution at our famous School of Peace Studies, the first of its kind in the UK.
This week, she was back in the Great Hall to receive an honorary Doctor of the University in recognition of her significant contributions to global peacebuilding – and described the moment as a “new starting point.”
Rumiko, who is President of Reach Alternatives (REALs), an international non-profit organisation that supports people in conflict areas, said: “Receiving this honorary doctorate means a great deal to me, though I don't feel I've earned it alone.
Starting point
“This is the University where I first studied conflict resolution twenty-five years ago. In the years since, I've come to understand peace not as a finish line you cross once, but as something closer to a long-distance race - full of ups and downs, requiring constant rebalancing rather than a single victory.
“To be recognised by this University today, after that long a race, feels less like an ending and more like validation for everyone who has run alongside me - my colleagues, the people I've worked with in conflict zones, and my own family, especially my mother who supported me throughout this pathway. I see it as a new starting point, a reason to bring even more people into this work.”
It was seeing a photograph of the victims of the Rwandan civil war when she was just 17 that sparked Rumiko’s dedication and passion for peacebuilding.
Picture changed everything
She said: “I hadn't been able to decide what to do with my own life until that moment, but that photograph taught me something I had never fully understood before: that I had the right to choose how I would live, and that this right is not something everyone in the world has.
“I owed that photograph something back. So, I've spent my career since trying to help people in conflict zones reclaim that same right - the right to choose.”
Rumiko started her career with a non-governmental organization in Rwanda, Africa, before joining United Nations peacekeeping missions in Sierra Leone and Côte d'Ivoire. At Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Afghanistan, she established expertise in Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration through negotiating with warlord commanders and facilitating the disarmament of over 50,000 former combatants.
Amongst her many achievements, Rumiko has developed community based early warning and early response frameworks and specialised in the Prevention of Violent Extremism and Women, Peace, and Security. She provides capacity-building training for military, police, and civilian personnel of the United Nations, civil society organisations and regional organisations worldwide.
Shaped my thinking
At the University of Bradford, she was struck by the diversity of students, many of whom she is still in contact with today.
She said: “What the University gave me went far beyond the coursework. My course mates weren't just fellow students - they included a Red Cross doctor, a former UN peacekeeping soldier, someone who had fought as a combatant in a civil war, and a religious leader, among many others who had already lived the realities I was only beginning to study.
“Learning alongside people who had that lived experience, not just from the professors, shaped how I think about peacebuilding to this day.”
Under Rumiko’s leadership, REALs trains around 400 local peacebuilders annually, delivering humanitarian assistance to more than 40,000 people each year. During the 2021 crisis in Afghanistan, the organisation led the evacuation and survival support of over 1,900 Afghans.
Rumiko has a host of accolades under her belt including the UN21 Award (United Nations, 2003), Nikkei Woman of the Year (2012), The New York Times "Ten Women Leaving Their Marks on the World" (2022), and the Yomiuri International Cooperation Prize (2025).
Start now
Her message to graduating students is: “start now!”
She said: “Whatever it is you know you'll regret not doing, don't wait for the perfect moment. Start now, however small the first step looks.
“And even after two decades of this work, I know how easy it is to look at the state of the world right now and feel that peace is simply out of reach - that the divisions are too deep, the conflicts too many. I understand that feeling. But I still don't believe we've done everything that's possible. There is always more room to act, before anyone should let themselves feel hopeless. I hope you carry that same restlessness with you, whatever you choose to do next.”