Some of the top minds in criminology in the UK and Ireland were brought together this week for the first event of its type and organised by WIT
Ireland’s first Autumn Criminology School for doctoral researchers has attracted delegates from the UK and Ireland. Run over five days, the residential School involved 21 doctoral researchers and was led by highly esteemed Irish and European criminologists with additional input from key policy makers.
Dr Niamh Maguire, Lecturer in Criminology at WIT’s School of Humanities, was awarded €9,300 under the Irish Research Council’s New Foundations Scheme to hold Ireland’s first ever Autumn Criminology School for doctoral researchers.
She explains the need for such an event: “A key aim of the School is to foster an understanding of the importance of creating and sustaining links between criminological research and social policy by providing a forum for policy makers and researchers to meet and discuss common priorities. Senior policy makers in the criminal justice system will also advise participants on strategies to increase the impact of their research on policy.”
Irish criminology has grown dramatically in recent years. In 2006, WIT was the first to establish an undergraduate degree in criminal justice studies in Ireland. Ireland now has a number of undergraduate and postgraduate courses in criminology as well as several criminal justice research centres at a variety of third level institutions.
“Despite these developments, the multi-disciplinary nature of criminology means that it often straddles the boundaries between disciplines (including law, psychology, sociology and history) and so at times it can be difficult to sustain a coherent integrated criminological conversation at a national level. This is particularly the case in Ireland where the key spaces in which criminological knowledge exchange, theory testing and methodological debates typically take place remain underdeveloped. The Autumn Criminology School for Doctoral Researchers aims to address these gaps by bringing together PhD researchers, with early and advanced career researchers to engage in knowledge exchange, theory testing and methodological debates as well networking, learning and career development,” continued Dr Maguire.
The event at Blackwater Caslte in Castletownroche is led by WIT and involves the participation of criminologists from a variety of third level institutions including WIT, UCC, UCD, DCD, QUB, UL, DIT, NUI Maynooth and NUI Galway. The school will also showcase the work of international leaders in criminology including Professor Fergus McNeill, (University of Glasgow, Scotland), Professor Kristel Beyens (Free University Brussels), Professor Pat Carlen (University of Leicester), Professor Shadd Maruna (University of Manchester), Professor Shane Kilcommins (University of Limerick) and Professor Ian O’Donnell (University College Dublin.
Doctoral students will have the opportunity to avail of master classes, listen to to plenary discussions and broaden their understanding of the criminological field by attending short thematic lectures provided by a variety of Irish and internatinal experts. Most important is the opportunity that this school provides doctoral researchers to discuss their and receive feedback on their work with, not only with their peers, but also with a range of criminological researchers including early and advanced stage researchers. The school will build research capacity in Ireland in the field of criminology and allow Irish-based criminiological researchers access not only to those at the top of their field in Ireland but also to a number of highly esteemed criminologists from Europe and beyond.
A key aim of the School is to foster an understanding of the importance of creating and sustaining links between criminological research and social policy by providing a forum for policy makers and researchers to meet and discuss common priorities.
Senior policy makers in the criminal justice system will also advise participants on strategies to increase the impact of their research on policy.
Download the programme at https://www.wit.ie/images/uploads/Events_PDF/Autumn_Criminology_School_Programme_2016.pdf
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