In June, Dr. Ian Marder delivered several presentations to academic and government audiences. On 24 June, he spoke at three separate sessions of the European Forum for Restorative Justice biannual conference at the University of Sassari (Italy). First, he participated in a roundtable discussion on the topic of European restorative justice policy developments and their implementation. Alongside his colleagues from Belgium, Georgia and Finland, he spoke about the Venice Declaration (see Marder and Sachova, 2022) and the forthcoming revision of the European Union Victims’ Rights Directive.
Ian then delivered two presentations relating to higher education. With Prof. David Karp (University of San Diego), he co-delivered a workshop on introducing professional learners to restorative justice through higher education courses. Then, Ian and Dr. Nieke Elbers (Free University of Amsterdam) co-delivered a session on restorative universities. Nieke focused on using restorative justice to respond to conflict, and Ian discussed restorative approaches to teaching and learning.
Later in June, Ian was invited to deliver a workshop for the Canadian Joint Subcommittee on Victim Issues and Restorative Justice. The Joint Subcommittee is composed of members of two Federal-Provincial-Territorial Working Groups (one on restorative justice, and one on victims’ rights). There, he spoke about recent developments in the international legal framework and research on victims’ experiences of restorative justice, supporting the group to consider the implications for restorative justice implementation in Canada.
In Maynooth, Ian chairs the MA in Comparative Criminology and Criminal Justice, on which he teaches a standalone module on restorative justice.