Research Committee

The Committee bring together researchers working on restorative justice, create an international and intergenerational network, and set together future research agendas and collaborations

More specifically, the EFRJ Research Committee will:

• support and encourage research on restorative justice,
• assist researchers in the field,
• develop strategies to better disseminate research outcomes,
• encourage the representation of research in other criminological or related events, conferences, publications,
• identify gaps in existing research and can suggest topics to be explored,
• share information on grant opportunities for researchers among EFRJ members and beyond,
• initiate project proposals,
• assist the EFRJ Secretariat to translate the existing research knowledge accumulated in the past years at the EFRJ to practice and policy.

• Katrine Barnekow Rasmussen (Denmark) - Researcher, University of Copenhagen 
• Marit De Haan (Belgium) - PhD student, Ghent University, Ghent
• Fernanda Fonseca Rosenblatt (Brazil) - Professor, International Institute for Restorative Practices, Recife 
• Gabor Hera (Hungary) - Researcher, Foresee Research Group, Budapest
• Ena Kazic (Bosnia Herzegovina) - Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, International University of Sarajevo 
• Mara Cielo Linares ( Argentna/Colombia) - Researcher, International Center for Transitional Justice, Bogota
• Stephan Terblanche (South Africa) - Honorary professor, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pretoria

Chair: Federico Reggio (Italy)
Vice-chair: Katerina Soulou (Greece) 
Coordinator: Laura Hein, EFRJ policy officer
Board representative: Katerina Soulou 

Restorative Cafés

The Research Committee (RECOM) is organising Restorative Cafés to give space to (young) researcher to talk about their investigations and to promote the dissemination of research outcomes as well as ‘restorative’ research methods.

The RECOM inaugurated the Restorative Cafés’ series on 18 April 2024 with a fascinating talk with Leah Koumentaki.

Leah Koumentaki is Teaching Fellow in Criminology at Keele University (UK), she is a Critical Criminologist interested in customary practices of justice and punishment initiatives, with a particular focus on applying de-colonial and social harm lens to understand traditions of justice in cultural contexts.

The Restorative Talk was dedicated to her doctoral research on ‘Revenge and repairing of harms in mountain Crete’. The aim of her research was to investigate a local reconciliation process named Sasmos. Her study is the first systematic and comprehensive analysis of this customary justice process, highlighting a vernacular version of restorative justice locals use to repair the harms made by wrongdoing and consequently secure social order in their villages. Beyond its significant contribution to restorative justice, the study challenges Eurocentric epistemologies regarding the tradition of justice in Crete, as it offers the first de-colonial approach of Cretan' customary law'.

Click here to watch this first Restorative Talk with Leah Koumentaki: 

Restorative Cafés with Leah Koumentaki

History of the Committee

The EFRJ Research Committee has already existed in the past. Especially important contribution had been given to this committee by EFRJ member and researcher Borbala Fellegi, the work of whom we would like to acknowledge as an important part of our heritage. The gap left by the closing of this committee was and is still filled in by the work of researcher Ian Marder who created the virtual network Community of Restorative Researchers. The EFRJ Board and the Secretariat has in the past years felt the need to re-launch the EFRJ Research Committee

Brunilda Pali (EFRJ vice-chair)
Ian D. Marder (UK)
Anna Matczak (Poland)
Giuseppe Maglione (Italy/UK)
Estelle Zinsstag (Belgium)
Helena Soleto Muñoz (Spain)