In May, three School of Law and Criminology researchers presented their research on restorative practices and restorative justice at the European Forum for Restorative Justice’s 2024 biannual conference. There, Maynooth University colleagues Dr. Ian Marder, Triona Kenny and Katharina Kurz delivered a panel session entitled Building Restorative Cultures.
Their presentations focused on four empirical research projects exploring the use of restorative practices in higher education and criminal justice. Kenny presented findings from projects which involved students in reviewing and redesigning an undergraduate module, and which aimed to use dialogue to build relationships between academics and students. Kurz then outlined results from a study on police-community dialogue, and another investigating the impact of restorative practices training for the senior leadership team in the Irish Prison Service.
The following day, Marder participated in a panel with the co-editors and authors of their recent edited collection on institutionalising restorative justice. They discussed the rationale behind the book and the ways in which the chapters problematise the manner in which restorative justice has been mainstreamed in criminal justice contexts around the world.
In Maynooth University, Marder teaches restorative justice on the MA in Comparative Criminology and Criminal Justice. Kenny is undertaking a PhD in the School of Law and Criminology, and Kurz is undertaking a PhD across the Departments of Anthropology and Education.
Image credit: Molly Rowan Leach