93 (31%) of the 301 Haematology Departments in the U.K. responded to a questionnaire about the postnatal management of fetomaternal alloimmune thrombocytopenia (FMAIT). The number of reported cases of FMAIT was less than half than that estimated from its known incidence, suggesting that the condition is under-recognized. There was a consensus that the optimal approach to postnatal management is to transfuse compatible platelets promptly. However, a number of problems in the delivery of treatment were identified, including an apparent lack of awareness of the potential seriousness of the condition amongst clinical staff, and the availability of HPA-1a negative platelets.

Both contemporary and retrospective analyses of the 2013-15 regionally-led Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) mediation for South Sudan tend to overlook or oversimplify the multiple, overlapping, and competing conceptions of peace as held by the mediators who led the process until they stepped down after a peace deal was signed in August 2015. Far from an undifferentiated, homogenous entity, the mediation comprised multiple institutions, states, and officials, each with different values, goals, and understandings of peace, which also varied over time. This article identifies six conceptions of peace as held by the mediators, to help explain why the mediators were motivated and acted as they did. Such understandings and conceptions were often contradictory. To fully assess the 2013-15 process’s effectiveness such understandings can unpeel the layers of IGAD’s differentiated institutional structure and can supplement and better contextualise common critiques about the poor execution and implementation of mediation strategy, internecine regional politics, and a generalised lack of political will to resolve the conflict.

Recent years have seen the acceleration of data- and evidence-based approaches in support of peace processes, creating a renewed confidence that conflicts can be predicted, known, and resolved, based on objective information about the world. However, new technologies employed by conflict parties, stakeholders, and those who aim to make or build peace have also made peace processes less ascertainable, intelligible, and predictable. Technology can thus create both more certainty and uncertainty in (and about) peace processes. This forum article presents a first collaborative attempt to explore how the use of technology by conflict parties and peacebuilding actors influences these dynamics. We examine various fields of engagement, ranging from conflict prevention to peace mediation, peacekeeping, and longer-term peacebuilding. Our discussion engages with a variety of related activities, including predictive analysis and foresight, conflict analysis, cease-fire monitoring, early warning and early action, and problem-solving and trust-building dialogues. We suggest approaching un-certainty as a spectrum between uncertainty and certainty that can be studied across epistemic, ontological, and normative dimensions, thus inviting further academic research and policy reflection. The article is coauthored by scholars and current or former practitioners and underlines the necessity, benefits, and feasibility of research–practice exchanges on this topic.

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