RELEASE ON RECEIPT





                                              CONTACT: Marguerite Beck


               U.VA. PSYCHIATRIST AWARDED CONFLICT RESOLUTION GRANT

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA., April 5 -- Ethnic tensions within countries do
not always erupt into violent conflicts -- sometimes they simmer just below 
the surface for years, like dry tinder waiting for a spark to ignite.
	Diffusing those tensions before they become dangerous is the work of 
Dr. Vamik Volkan and his colleagues at the University of Virginia Center for 
the Study of Mind and Human Interaction (CSMHI). Armed with a $650,000 grant 
from the Pew Charitable Trusts, an interdisciplinary team from CSMHI will 
develop a program aimed at fostering ethnic reconciliation between Estonians 
and Russians living in that country. 
	Estonia, one of the Baltic Republics, has a total population of one 
and a half million, a third of which is Russian. The breakup of the Soviet 
Union has forced cultural integration between historical enemies and caused 
complications for Russians and Estonians.
	 "Native Estonians view their Russian countrymen as aggressors and 
former Soviet occupiers," Volkan said. "Significant tensions exist and are 
often an obstacle to democratization and the resolution of specific issues." 
	The Baltic Republics -- Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania -- were the 
first former Soviet republics to conduct democratic elections and to declare 
independence. They emerged as a pivotal force in the move toward democracy 
elsewhere in the former USSR, Volkan said. 
	The CMSHI's three-year project is designed to reduce ethnic tensions 
and encourage collaborative problem solving. The project will include: 
% forming an advisory committee of conflict resolution experts
% selecting a partner nongovernmental organization (NGO) in Estonia 
% training NGOs in conflict resolution techniques 
% selecting three small-sized cities in Estonia as training and 
demonstration sites 
% developing a training curriculum 
	The project is designed to help address future conflicts and to 
serve as a psychological model for group mediation in other countries, Volkan
said.
        The Center for the Study of Mind and Human Interaction combines 
history, diplomacy, political science and psychoanalysis to study group
dynamics and resolve conflict.  The center's goal is to reduce tensions
while promoting democratization and adaptive group behaviors.
        The Pew Charitable Trust are basted in Philadelphis and support
the work of nonprofit organizations in the fields of culture, education,
the environment, health and human services, public policy and religion.
With assets of slightly more than $3.4 billion and annual grant making
of about $180 million, the Trusts are one of the nation's largest private
philanthropies.
                                    ###

                                                April 4, 1996