Claudia (Switzerland) is a criminologist and a restorative justice practitioner. As founder and current president of the Swiss RJ Forum, she is actively involved in promoting, developing and implementing restorative justice in Switzerland. She has led several pilot projects in Swiss prisons and facilitates direct offender-victim dialogues. She is currently researching and writing a book on the intersection of restorative justice and trauma-informed practice, and the role of community in such processes. Claudia is part of the research group at the University of Portsmouth and is a member of the advisory board of Nomos Publishing's new publication series on issues of resocialisation, victim protection and restorative justice (Seehaus plus). She is a guest lecturer at the Bern University of Applied Sciences and is involved in designing and delivering training on restorative justice.
Claudia obtained her MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Portsmouth (UK) and studied Restorative Justice at SFU in Canada.
Within the EFRJ, Claudia is involved in the EFRJ Values and Standards Committee, the Editorial Committee and the PROTECT project, which aims to share best practices on restorative justice and promote victim protection.

Maia (Georgia) is a lawyer and a master of public administration, with over 20 years of experience in planning, coordinating and managing USA and EU-funded justice sector programs in Georgia and in the neighbouring countries. She is at the forefront of introducing and promoting restorative justice approaches in Georgia, and played a key role in tabling down and enforcement of the Juvenile Justice Code. Together with like-minded professionals, she pioneered multidisciplinary cooperation, carried out trainings for
practitioners and organised international conferences and study visits on restorative justice. She acted as an executive editor of the first handbook on restorative justice published in Georgia for university and professional teaching. At Present, she holds the position of Deputy Team Leader of the EU4Justice Project in Georgia, implemented by Austrian company Human Dynamics, aimed at providing a fair trial to all and promoting liberal criminal justice policies. She is a founder of a non-profit organisation “New Page”, supporting restorative justice programmes for children in Georgia.  maia.chochua@eu4justice.ge

Lucy Jaffé (United Kingdom) has made a significant contribution to building restorative justice policy and practice through her leadership of the UK non-governmental organisation, Why me? Transforming Lives through Restorative Justice. She brings strategic policy, promotional and business development skills to the EFRJ as well as leadership experience. Lucy is committed to widening access to restorative justice for everyone affected by crime and conflict in Europe. She believes that using a restorative lens across all areas of civic and private life offers hope in a world which often feels hostile and challenging. 

She co-chairs the EFRJ Working Group on Polarisation, Hate Crime and Violent Extremism and is committed to supporting the group to produce practical outputs, including guidance for members and policy recommendations. She is Chair of the External Policy Engagement working group supporting the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Restorative Justice. Lucy sits on the National Victim’s Commissioner Restorative Justice Advisory Group. 

Annegrete Johanson (Estonia) has played a vital role in the development and implementation restorative justice programmes and services in Estonia. She has a masters degree in social pedagogy and child protection and has been working with youth at risk for almost 20 years. In 2009, she found the NGO RuaCrew, which supports young people and their families with the aim to prevent and respond to social conflicts and youth delinquency by the involvement of young people. Since its start she has been coordinating the work of the NGO, which adopted a restorative mindset. She worked at the Victim Support Department of the Social Insurance Board and coordinated the development of restorative justice volunteer service and training programme. She is trainer and mediator herself. Within the EFRJ she had been a member of the Working Group on Gender-Based Violence and Restorative Justice and The Restorative Justice  Values & Standards Committee. She was elected as a Board member in 2024.

Petra (the Czech Republic) is a Board member since 2020 and the Secretary of the Board since 2022. She is a lawyer, academic and researcher who strives for the broad involvement of restorative justice in the Czech criminal law, both at the theoretical level and in practice. She co-funded and recently works as a chairperson of the Czech Institute for Restorative Justice and as a lecturer at the Department of Criminal Law of the Law Faculty of Palacký University in Olomouc, where she introduced the first restorative justice course for law students in the country. She also acts as a coordinator of the Czech Core Member team of Restorative Justice: Strategies for Change project and as a professional guarantor of the Building Bridges programme run by Prison Fellowship, Czech Republic. She is the author of the first Czech comprehensive book on RJ: Restorative approches when dealing with crime. Petra holds a master‘s degree from the Law Faculty, Charles University in Prague and Ph.D. from the Law Faculty, Masaryk University in Brno. Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/RestorativniJustice / petra.sach@restorativni-justice.cz

Jorge (Spain) is the Director of the Penal Enforcement and Restorative Justice Service of the Government of Navarra. As manager of this Service, he is promoting the first Spanish Regional Law on restorative justice and restorative practices.
In the past, he has coordinated restorative justice projects inside prison and in civil society organisations, and has implemented European projects regarding prisons, drug policy and restorative justice.
He obtained his BA in Law in the University of Granada (Spain) and completed his education with an MA in Social and Political Thought at Sussex University (UK) and a Restorative Justice Expertise in the University of Seville (Spain).
As a researcher he has published numerous articles on the relation of restorative justice with abolitionism, ecology, alternatives to imprisonment and drug policy. Recently, he has published the book Penalismo mágico (Magical penalism) to challenge the belief that punishment will solve all our social and political problems. He is  Board member since 2022. 

Cristina Vasilescu (Italy) is a policy analyst and evaluator with over 18 years of experience working at the intersection of research, policy, and practice in Italy and across Europe. Her work reflects a strong commitment to justice, restorative justice, democratic participation, equality, social inclusion, and education. She brings also extensive experience in intercultural contexts and in engaging with EU institutions. She is an active member of the European Forum for Restorative Justice, contributing to the Working Group on Restorative Cities, which she chaired from 2021 to 2024. She also participates in the Evaluators’ Community of Practice promoted by the Australian Association for Restorative Justice. Cristina has significant experience in the design, monitoring, and evaluation of projects promoting responsibility, reparation, and reintegration for people in conflict with the law, including initiatives in prison settings and community-based programmes. She has been contributing to the development of Como as a “restorative city” and supports the dissemination of restorative practices in schools and social housing (e.g. through the Erasmus+ HARMONY project). As Erasmus+ Ambassador for Adult Education in Lombardy, she collaborates with the Italian Erasmus+ Agency to promote restorative justice among adult education professionals. She is also a member of the Italian Evaluation Association.

Silvia is an Italian criminologist with over 17 years of experience, currently pursuing a PhD at KU Leuven (Belgium) on diversion for children in criminal proceedings across Europe. Based in Brussels since 2017, she works as an independent consultant on European and international projects in child justice, restorative justice and child protection. Her work combines research and policy, including needs assessments, comparative research, development of methodologies and tools, drafting of policy and training materials. She has collaborated with several organisations, including Penal Reform International, the Child-Friendly Justice European Network and Terre des hommes, as well as with UNICEF (Georgia, Turkey, Sri Lanka), UNODC (Nigeria and Pakistan) and the Council of Europe. Between 2017 and 2023, Silvia worked with the EFRJ, successfully leading multi-country EU-funded projects. She co-developed the RE-JUSTICE training package for judges and prosecutors, a practical guide on restorative justice for child victims, and training and advocacy tools on child-friendly RJ. An active EFRJ member since 2018, she has worked with the Editorial Committee (2019-2021) and co- chaired the Working Group on Institutions and Restorative Justice (2021-2024). She is deeply committed to advancing more human, fair and inclusive justice systems through restorative practices, tackling discrimination, (re)victimisation and exclusion.

Eduardo Santos Itoiz (Spain) has a degree in Law from the University of Navarra. He has been a practising lawyer since 1996, worked in criminal mediation in Navarre from 2005 to 2014, and participated in proceedings between victims and former members of ETA from 2010 to 2014. He was an associate professor of Criminal Law from 2007 to 2014 and a deputy in Congress from 2015 to 2019, where he served as spokesperson in the Justice Commission.

As Minister of Migration Policies and Justice of Navarre from 2019 to 2023, he promoted the Restorative Justice Law, along with other restorative legislation. He has been an adviser to the Generalitat of Catalonia and is currently Secretary of the Council of Navarre, while also working towards his PhD in restorative justice.

He has long been engaged with the EFRJ, first by sharing his experience as a policymaker and, progressively, by taking part in meetings, trainings, and more recently in the Working Group on Law and the Policy Committee.