The Kennedy Institute Seminar on online technology in dispute resolution on Friday last was a great success. Daniel Rainey of the US National Mediation Board and Dr Leah Wing, University of Massachusetts/Amherst (USA) were the leading contributors. The seminar was held at the National University of Ireland, 49 Merrion Square, Dublin, in association with the Mediators Institute of Ireland
The focus of the seminar was to examine how more traditional alternative dispute resolution methodologies are being augmented by applying innovative online technologies to the process.
The keynote speaker at the Seminar was Daniel Rainey, the Chief of Staff of the US government agency charged with dispute resolution in the airline and railroad industries in the United States.(National Mediation Board (NMB). Daniel is a contributor to a number of publications dedicated to online dispute resolution and the application of technology to the broader field of dispute resolution. He is a member of the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR), and past Chair of the ACR Online dispute resolution Section.
Other speakers included Dr Leah Wing, University of Massachusetts/Amherst (USA) and Co-Director of the US National Center for Technology and Dispute Resolution, together with Brian Hutchinson UCD, a specialist in Commercial Law and Alternative Dispute Resolution who has researched and written on Online Dispute Resolution and Information Technology Also participating was Dr Deirdre Curran NUI Galway, Sabine Walsh, the incoming President of the MII and Simon Boehme, Mitchell Scholar at Maynooth University.