My friend Professor John Darby, who has died aged 71, having suffered from motor neurone disease, was a distinguished scholar. In the 1970s he helped establish the Centre for the Study of Conflict at the University of Ulster at Coleraine, County Derry.

After 25 years at Ulster, he moved in 1999 to the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, as professor of comparative ethnic studies until 2011. There, he continued to initiate and develop new studies. Some idea of the breadth of his passions is indicated by his lifelong interest in cartoons and conflict, leading to the publication in 1985 of Dressed to Kill: Cartoons and the Northern Ireland Conflict.

John was born in Belfast, but his family moved to Portrush, County Antrim, when he was quite young. He attended St Patrick's primary school in Portrush and St Patrick's college, Armagh, as a boarder. He then did a history degree at Queen's University Belfast and a one-year postgraduate teacher-training course at St Joseph's training college, Belfast.

John began his career as a history teacher in Belfast, but the impact of the Troubles in the early 1970s led him to the post of research and publications officer to the NI Community Relations Commission. His first book, Conflict in Northern Ireland: The Development of a Polarised Community, was published in 1976 and was an early and influential contribution to understanding of the Northern Ireland problem.

In 1974 he was appointed lecturer in social administration in the then new University of Ulster at Coleraine. From 1991, he was closely involved in the creation of the International Conflict Research Institute (Incore), a joint programme of the Tokyo-based United Nations University and the University of Ulster.

John wrote or edited 15 books and 120 other academic publications: three of his books, Conflict in Northern Ireland, Intimidation and the Control of Conflict in Northern Ireland (1986), and Guns and Government: The Northern Ireland Peace Process (2002) were listed for international awards.

He also held visiting positions in Harvard and Duke universities, and was a fellow of the Rockefeller Foundation in Bellagio, Italy (1990), the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington (1992), the United States Institute of Peace (1998), and the Fulbright New Century scholars programme (2003).

He is survived by his wife, Marie, and two sons, Patrick and Michael.