Secretariat

Edit (Hungary) studied law at the ELTE University Budapest, where she later followed the PhD programme in the field of Criminology. She also has a degree in European and French Law from Université Panthéon-Assas in Paris (France). From 2004 she worked for the Hungarian Probation Service and from 2006 was responsible for the field of victim-offender mediation. She is a trained mediator and facilitator of restorative conferences and she almost completed a 4-year programme in dance therapy. She joined the EFRJ in February 2012 as a project officer in the project ‘ALTERNATIVE’ on RJ in intercultural settings and since 2016 she is the Executive Director of the EFRJ.

 +32 (0)488690479  / edit.torzs@euforumrj.org

Kris (Belgium) is a criminologist (KU Leuven), senior mediator, and senior associated researcher (KU Leuven). Throughout his career, he has built up an interest and experience in social and strategic development. Moreover, in the last years, he gained some life experience in resilience and transformation. He's engaged actively in writing and speaking on these topics. At the EFRJ he fills in a part-time role as a strategic advisor/coach. 

kris@euforumrj.org

Emanuela (Italy) studied Liberal Arts at the University College Maastricht (The Netherlands) and University of Gaborone (Botswana) with a focus on social psychology and criminal law and the Master programme in Criminology at KU Leuven (Belgium). Previously, she studied in a maritime institute and worked in several sailing yachts navigating the Mediterranean sea, French Polynesia and the Caribe. She joined the EFRJ team in September 2013, mostly working as a project officer in different EU-funded projects on access to restorative justice (Accessibility), on justice and security in intercultural settings (ALTERNATIVE), on restorative justice training (KINTSUGI, MEDIAREJ, PROTECT), on child victims (i-RESTORE) and on arts (TPP). She also worked as a researcher for the KU Leuven Institute of Criminology in a project on the implementation of the EU Victims' Directive (IVOR). In 2016-2019 she managed communications and events at the EFRJ. Since 2020 she focuses on (research) projects. She cooperated with the Radicalisation Awareness Network for organising events and publishing papers on restorative justice in cases of violent extremism and terrorism.

+32 (0)466 209112 / emanuela.biffi@euforumrj.org

Rik (Belgium) has a bachelor in accountancy. After a more than 30-year experience in the banking and investments world, he puts his knowledge at the service of non-profit organisations. Since January 2016, he is the responsible for the financial management of the EFRJ, in the role of Finance and Administration Officer.

 +32 (0)466 209112 / rik.defrere@euforumrj.org

Zsófi (Hungary) studied economy at the Corvinus University of Budapest. She worked 10 years in various functions in multinational companies, from the financial to the logistics sector, both in Hungary and in Belgium. After a few years of detour in the green sector – she loves nature and plants – she returned to her initial interest in finances thus filling the role of Finance and Administration Officer of the EFRJ.

zsofia.anda@euforumrj.org

Laura (Italy) studied Political Science at the University of Bologna with a focus on international and European human rights law and case law. She has extended professional experiences as project and policy officer working with NGOs in the field of development and cooperation, migrant’s rights, anti-discrimination and conflict resolution. She also researched and worked in the field, mainly in Latin America. In 2016, she joined the KU Leuven’s research team in Transitional Justice and Human Rights in the implementation of academic activities and, in March 2018, she started her PhD in Criminology. She joined our team in May 2018 to contribute to the development and implementation of the organisation’s policy and advocacy work. She has a keen interest in policy related issues and in further explore the links between restorative and transitional justice.

+32 (0)489 970881 /  laura.hein@euforumrj.org

Bálint (Hungary) has been working extensively with education and training programmes, cultural project management and theatre internationally. Previously, he was the educational programme manager of the performing arts company, Krétakör. He led Krétakör Free School, a democracy awareness programme for students. He has experience in working with marginalised groups of society. In Brussels, he led community theatre workshops for vulnerable families. He holds a degree of Literature and Linguistics from ELTE University Budapest and completed a Master in Education with a focus on drama at Trinity College Dublin. He joined EFRJ in 2019 to contribute to the organisation’s training development and communication.

+32 (0)483 388724 /  balint.juhasz@euforumrj.org

Júlia (Spain) holds a Social Work degree from the University of Barcelona where she began to collaborate with several non-profit organisations mostly in the field of migrant’s rights. In France, she worked in the Forum Réfugiés organisation for 5 years with unaccompanied minors and asylum seekers as well as with victims of human trafficking. She also participated in the Université Lumière (Lyon) programme about Anthropology Related to Social and Cultural Changes. She has a keen interest in social and environmental justice and gender related issues. She joined the European Forum for Restorative Justice in 2019 contributing to projects, communication and the Secretariat’s administration. 

+33 (0)616071775 / julia.barjau@euforumrj.org
 

Silvia (Italy) is a child justice expert with extensive experience as project manager and researcher. She researched in Italy and in the field, mainly in Kenya, where she also coordinated projects, always focusing on child protection and youth justice. In 2017, she moved to Brussels where she has been working as project manager, independent researcher and grant writer. She contributed to the UN Global Study on Children Deprived of their Liberty, and in 2019 she has been researching on diversion and restorative justice with children in East Africa.
She coordinated the EU project “Implementing Restorative Justice with Child Victims” (2017-18), in partnership with the EFRJ, and co-authored a practical guide on restorative justice with children. In 2019, she started the collaboration with the Forum on the Erasmus+ project “Kintsugi”. In the last months of 2019, she started her Phd in Criminology at KU Leuven, and she joined the Forum as Project Officer for the project “Re-Justice”, designing judicial training on restorative justice.

+32 (0)466 209112 / silvia.randazzo@euforumrj.org

Elena (Spain) studied Social Work in the University of Barcelona. During this period, she also did several volunteer jobs and internships offered by the university in the context of social work. She got to work in different spheres of society: the field of mental health and addictions, the field of families and children at risk of social exclusion, the field of education, and the field of criminal justice and alternative measures. In the last year of her bachelor, she embarked on an Erasmus Programme in Leuven (Belgium). After it, she decided to stay for some years to complete her postgraduate degree in International Education (UCLL) and her master's degree in Criminology (KU Leuven). She joined the European Forum for Restorative Justice in January 2023 as an intern in training and event organisation. 

elelindbe@gmail.com

Renata (Brazil) did her Bachelor in Law at the Catholic University of Pernambuco. During this degree, she developed a growing interest in criminal issues, social justice and criminology, which prompted her to be a teaching assistant in courses related to the criminal system. She did an internship at the Office of the National Public Defender and also joined the Asa Branca Group of Criminology, which introduced her to research in the field of Restorative Justice. In February 2022, she arrived in Belgium to start her Master degree in Criminology at KU Leuven. Almost a year later, in January 2023, she joined the EFRJ team as an Intern in communication, administration and event organisation.

renatafalcaoo_@hotmail.com

Pablo (Spain) has a background in Criminology, with a specialisation in Security and Prevention. He also holds a Masters in Human Rights, Democracy and Globalisation for the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. Currently, he is a predoctoral researcher and teaching assistant at the VICRIM research group, also at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, as well as a visiting scholar at the Leuven Institute of Criminology (LINC) since last February. His main research lines are restorative justice, victim-offender mediation and victimology, and usually tries to develop academic research that has a positive social impact by working with different actors and organisations operating in the field. Since February, he is a Policy Intern at the European Forum for Restorative Justice.