Restorative universities

The project explores the implementation and benefits of restorative practices in higher education, focusing on the creation of healthy, resilient campus environments.

Restorative practices are gaining traction in higher education, both in the UK and internationally. These practices aim to create healthy campus environments that promote belonging and resilience; they are rooted in taking a deep educational approach to developing relationships, learning about responsibility, and responding to conflict.

Universities are concerned with success outcomes for their students, however, this is usually focused on developing an individual’s economic capital and less on efforts dedicated to building their social capital.

Building social capital, however, is essential for student growth and development; preparing students to engage with their communities and organisations in healthy and resilient ways.

Higher education institutions have a unique opportunity to embed and model building social capital through developing quality relationships and social environments.

In addition, evidence suggests that student success is linked to the quality of the relationships formed, which means universities need to pay attention to developing competence in relationships and community building.

A restorative university model promises to enhance the higher education learning environment through a more holistic approach, by promoting an inclusive and collaborative decision-making process which empowers communities and the individuals within them to solve problems and find consensual resolutions.

Background

Restorative practice describes approaches that help build and maintain healthy and resilient relationships, encourage positive social interactions that reduce the likelihood of conflict and provide communities with tools to embed active social learning, manage behaviours, and resolve conflicts.

Often, restorative practices have been described and practised under the concept/framework of restorative justice. Restorative justice addresses crime and harm by focusing on the needs of those affected and the accountability of those responsible through a communal and inclusive process. Though modern restorative justice emerged in the 1970s, it has roots in indigenous traditions before colonisation.

Restorative justice is reactive, aiming to repair harm, while restorative practices are proactive, aiming to prevent harm by strengthening communities.

Restorative practices are now used in various fields beyond criminal justice, such as social work, health, cities, and education. A recent report from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Restorative Justice highlighted the benefits of these practices in non-judicial settings.

Project aims

This project looks to achieve a whole university approach that permeates across the entire academic experience through a layered and co-created approach, This project, which began in 2023, explores how to embed restorative and relational practices across an entire campus.

To achieve a whole university approach that permeates across the entire academic experience, a layered and co-created approach is essential. This project, which began in 2023, explores how to integrate restorative practices across the entire campus through several sub-projects:

1. Mapping areas of restorative, relational, and collaborative practices across the entire campus.
2. Developing a knowledge base on restorative university literature and case studies.
3. Initiating a European Restorative Universities Network (ERUN) to create a community of support and learning, build a repository of evidence, and plan the first ERUN conference.
4. Planning the inaugural European Restorative Universities Network conference.
5. Restorative Justice Council-certified Level 1 training for disciplinary teams at two higher education institutions to investigate the effects of training on the embedding of restorative and relational practices across teaching, research, and service.
6. Exploring the application of technology to support an organisational approach to embedding restorative and relational practices which includes mentoring and mediation.

Research impact

A Restorative University aims to create a healthy campus environment that fosters belonging and resilience, where a deep educational approach is implemented across the institution.

The goal is to support higher education to develop student and staff social capital. A restorative university model promises to enhance the higher education learning environment through a more holistic approach, by promoting an inclusive and collaborative decision-making process which empowers communities and the individuals within them to solve problems and find consensual resolutions.

This will not only affect the campus environment, but also relationships between the institution and community partners, and in preparing students for their post-graduation lives.

Meet the Principal Investigator(s) for the project

Anamika Twyman-Ghoshal - Anamika is a critical global criminologist; her research and teaching centre on the intersection of power,  systemic injustice, social harm, and deviance in a globalised world. She has examined state & corporate harms (state co-offending, climate change and related environmental harms), green and blue criminology (environmental harms, maritime piracy, terrorism), decolonising criminology, and restorative justice. Her research has been published in the British Journal of Criminology, Critical Criminology, Laws, International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, and as scholarly texts in edited books. Anamika’s current projects include exploring the deviant causes of Earth System damage (including climate change), diversifying restorative justice, various forms of state co-offending (a term she coined), and decolonising criminological knowledge production using an anti-racist foundation.  Prior to joining academia, Anamika worked for the International Maritime Bureau in London investigating international shipping, trade, and finance fraud. She is fluent in English, German, Polish, French and conversational Bengali. Anamika was a restorative justice practitioner in the United States and is the co-founder of the restorative justice technology start-up, Restorativ.

Related Research Group(s)

Harm and Justice Research Group - The Harm and Justice Research Group brings together a diverse group of researchers, advocates, and practitioners from across the University who work on issues of harm and justice.

Project last modified 06/11/2024