17th International Symposium of the World Society of Victimology 2022. Victimisation in a digital world: responding to and connecting with victims

Gema Varona is a lecturer in Victimology and Criminal Policy at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and senior researcher at the Basque Institute of Criminology (Donostia/San Sebastian, Spain). In 1998 she was honoured with the Junior Scholar Competition Award of the International Society of Criminology for her research comparing restorative justice in Romani and non Romani communities. Former coordinator of the degree in criminology (2013-2017), current coordinator of the UPV/EHU MOOC on Victimology (2016-), and co-director of the Master in Victimology of that University (2014-), she is also the co-editor of the Journal of Victimology/Revista de Victimología. She has authored books on migration and human rights, restorative justice, juries and the construction of the forensic truth, women’s local safety audits, victims of terrorism, and victims of sexual abuse.

Dr. Clair Aldington is an artist, designer and researcher based in Scotland, UK. She is also a Restorative Justice practitioner. In the UK Clair has worked with Youth Offending Services, as a regional Creative Arts Development Worker in Youth Justice and as an Arts Development Officer. In 2008 she co-founded Space2face, which is now an independent creative restorative practices organisation (www.space2face.org) in the Shetland Islands, Scotland. As a freelance creative practitioner, Clair has made and sold her own work and delivered residencies in a prison, an immigration removal centre, women’s refuges, care homes and schools, working with regional and national organisations within the UK. She has also managed public art projects and was an artist advisor with the British Council (2015-2017). More recently she has been involved with the international restorative project, the ‘Encounter of the Encounters’. She has a MA in Contemporary Arts and Music and a PhD in Restorative Justice and Design. Her research interests are restorative justice, making and gifting in times of transition, crime and conflict, and islandness.

Obtained his Law Degree at Law Faculty of San Sebastián in1977, being distinguished with the Second Spanish National Prize (Law). In 1979, he equally obtained the High Diploma in Criminology at University Complutense of Madrid. He is Doctor in Law of the University of the Basque Country (1981: Extraordinary Prize of the Law Faculty). He visited several foreign institutions with a post-doctoral research purpose: in France (Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour), in the UK (University of Edinburgh), in Belgium (Université Catholique de Louvain), and, particularly, at the Max-Planck Institut (Freiburg, Germany, 1982-1983). Further research visits to DePaul University (Chicago, U.S.A., 1994), and to the Center for Judicial Studies & National Judicial College, University of Reno (2002) can also be underlined. He is Honorary President of the International Association of Penal Law (AIDP), after having served as President from 2004 to 2014.

Bárbara Dührkop (born in Hanover, Germany) was until 2009 a Member of the European Parliament, where she was a Vice-Chair of the Socialist Group. Her husband Enrique Casas was assassinated by the Comandos Autónomos Anticapitalistas (CAA), a branch of ETA. Within a longitudinal research of the Basque Institute of Criminology (University of the Basque Country) and other platforms, she has participated in several restorative justice projects. She has also participated in school programs and European initiatives to engage students in issues related to human rights of victims of terrorism.

(Born 1951 in San Sebastián, Spain) has been a Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) since 1979. He received his B.A. in Psychology from the Complutense University of Madrid in 1973 and his Ph.D. in Psychology from the Complutense University of Madrid in 1978. He was a founder member of the Basque Institute of Criminology in 1978 and he is past president of the Basque Society of Victimology (2004-2008). He has been the director of the research team in Clinical and Health Psychology at the University of the Basque Country since 2011. His publications include more than 530 papers and book chapters, as well as 35 books, mostly in the areas of anxiety disorders, gambling disorder, sexual aggression and violence. His current research is focused on intimate partner violence (psychological treatment of victims and perpetrators) and on violence risk assessment and management, as well as on behavioral addictions.

Dr Robyn Holder is a socio-legal researcher who examines the interface between systems of justice and those who have experienced victimisation and injustice, and the mediating role of rights, especially human rights. Robyn is co-convenor, with Dr Nieke Elbers at the NSCR (Netherlands), of a Law and Society Association International Research Collaboration that brings together early and mid-career scholars researching victims, citizenship, and justice. Her current projects include an investigation of practitioners adaption of investigative interview protocols, and another which explores accountability mechanisms of criminal justice decision-makers. Robyn continues to build on her Griffith Postdoctoral Fellowship examining the role of advocacy for victims in international criminal tribunals and its transferability to domestic jurisdictions.

Professor Viacheslav Tuliakov, Dr.of Law, National University «Odesa Law Academy» vice rector (Ukraine), European Court of Human Rights, ad hoc judge for the cases against Ukraine. Corresponding member of National Academy of Legal Science of Ukraine. Lecturer/Visiting Professor/Scholar in foreign Law schools and international programs (HEUNI, NIJ, USAID, TEMPUS, ERASMUS). Lectures and classes on International Law, European criminal law, Crime prevention, Legal Methodology, Human Rights, Victims` protection, Public Law and Protection of Human Rights. Authoring more than 250 works on Ukrainian legal doctrine, criminal policy and criminal justice, philosophy of criminal law and criminal justice, victims’ rights protection and victimology. His doctorate thesis «Crime victim theory fundamentals» was the first monograph issue on the grounds of victimology in Ukraine».

Camilo Umaña is professor at the Externado University in Colombia where coordinates the Human Rights Master. He holds a PhD degree in Criminology from the University of Ottawa, Canada and a PhD degree in Sociology of Law from the University of the Basque Country. He has worked with several human rights organizations and transitional justice institutions including the Colombian Truth Commission, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on transitional justice team, UNDP and the National Ombudsman on restorative justice.

Pili Zabala (born in Tolosa, Basque Country), former member of the Basque Parliament with Elkarrekin Podemos. The disappearance of her brother Joxi Zabala in 1983 marked her life; Joxi, an alleged member of ETA, was kidnapped, tortured and murdered by the GAL (state terrorism group). Since then, she became an activist for peace and reconciliation in the Basque Country. Within a longitudinal research of the Basque Institute of Criminology (University of the Basque Country) and other organisations, she has participated in several restorative justice and educative projects.