Nicholas Bala has been a Law Professor at Queen's University in Kingston, Canada since 1980. He is an internationally recognized expert on legal issues related to children, families, and the justice system, focusing on such issues as parental rights and responsibilities after divorce, including alienation, young offenders, child witnesses and child abuse spousal abuse and its effects on children. Much of his research is interdisciplinary.
Sharon Bessell holds a PhD in Politics from Monash University. She is currently a senior lecturer in the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University and Director of the Children's Policy Centre. Sharon's research focuses on social policy for children, with a focus on human rights, citizenship, and inclusive policy and practice. She has a keen interest in research methodology, and has published widely on undertaking research with children. Sharon has worked in Australia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific as a researcher, with non-government organisations and as a consultant.
Rachel Birnbaum is an Associate Professor, cross-appointed with Childhood Studies (Interdisciplinary Programs) & Social Work at King's University College-Western University in London, Ontario, Canada. She presents, publishes and conducts research related to children's participation and families involved in separation and divorce, child legal representation, and access to family justice.
Gale Burford is Emeritus Professor of Social Work and past Director of the Child Welfare Training Partnership at the University of Vermont. His research and training, and continued involvement in semi-retirement as an independent contractor, has focused mainly on child, youth, and family interventions and organizational change in statutory settings. Gale came to his first university appointment after a decade of direct social work practice and senior management experience in services for children, young people, and their families. He has provided consultation, training, and program evaluation with a wide range of services internationally. Gale is a graduate of St. Martin's University (BA), the University of Washington (MSW), and the University of Stirling (PhD).
Emily Buss is a Professor of Law at University of Chicago Law School. Her research interests include children's and parents' rights and the legal system's allocation of authority and responsibility for children's development among parent, child, and state. She has worked with students to propose court reform in the foster care
system. She is currently developing a pilot program to implement and evaluate reforms in the delinquency division of the juvenile court designed to foster meaningful youth participation.
Bronagh Byrne is a Lecturer in Social Policy in the School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work at Queen's University Belfast. Bronagh's background is in the area of young people, disability and education, in which she attained her doctorate. She also has expertise on children's rights with a particular focus on the application of children's rights standards to local practice. Her most recent publications have included an examination of the rights of children with disabilities, and, along with Laura Lundy and Lesley Emerson, of working with young children as co-researchers.
Judith Cashmore is Professor of Socio-legal Research and Policy, Faculty of Law, University of Sydney, as well as Adjunct Professor at Southern Cross University. Her research concerns children's involvement in legal proceedings related to child protection, out-of-home care, child sexual assault, and family law. Much of Judy's research has focused on children's perceptions of legal and other processes that affect their lives and the implications for policy and practice.
Tara M. Collins is Assistant Professor, School of Child and Youth Care, at Ryerson University. She holds a Ph.D. in law, focusing on international child rights, from the University of London. Her professional experiences include work for: University College Dublin as the Marie Curie Transfer-of-Knowledge Fellow in Child Rights; University of Ottawa; a national-level NGO; and the Canadian federal government and Parliament. In addition to participation and monitoring, her research considers rights-based approaches; the United Nations Convention on the
Rights of the Child's general principles and general measures of implementation, the role and efforts
of civil society, including business and responses to violence.
Francine Cyr has been a professor of Psychology at the Université de Montréal since 1992. Her research interests and clinical practice focus on the effects of separation and divorce on children, family mediation, parental alienation, assessment and management of high conflict cases, and children participation's in parental separation. Much of her work relates to children and families involved in the family justice system.
Robyn Fitzgerald is a researcher with the Centre for Children & Young People (CCYP) at Southern Cross University. Her main area of research interest is the participation of children in family law. Robyn has undertaken research projects through the CCYP that seek to better understand the views and perspectives of children across the many settings of their lives.
Sarah Gallagher is an independent consultant and trainer in child welfare, youth justice, organizational development and change management. She managed the Child Welfare Training Partnership in Vermont for the past ten years. Prior to that she worked in child protection and youth justice as a social worker, trainer and regional manager for fifteen years. Her BA is from Harvard University and her MSW from the University of Vermont.
Anne Graham is Professor of Childhood Studies and Director of the Centre for Children and Young People at Southern Cross University, Australia.. Anne's background is in education, sociology and social policy. Her research and professional interests include children's social and emotional well-being, participation and engagement in schools, ethical issues in researching with children & young people, and teacher learning.
Jodi Hall, MSW, Ed.D, is an Assistant Professor at NC State University. Her professional experiences include child welfare, social work administration, staff development and teaching at community college and university levels. Her areas of interest are low wealth families, child welfare and social work field education. Her current and past publications focus on African American families and older adults. Her research is framed around critical race theory and social justice. She is the Director of MSW Field Education. Dr. Hall is currently co-principal investigator on a grant from the National Institute of Health to reduce the incidence of suicide among college students and principal investigator on a Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) grant to increase the behavioral health care workforce serving 16-25 year olds. The grant is from National Health Institute (NIH). She is actively involved in the Council on Social Work Education and serves as accreditation site visitor.
Anat Inbar is the national director of Family Court Social Services at the Israeli Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs. She is a graduate of the School Of social Work of the Hebrew University, Jerusalem (msw). She published various articles relating to child participation in Family Courts and the role of social work in the Family Court.
Lynne Marie Kohm is a Professor of Family Law Regent University School of Law, Virginia Beach, VA, USA. She is licensed to practice law in 5 jurisdictions and teaches family and juvenile law. She has authored 56 articles on children and families. Her seminal book is Family Manifesto: What went wrong with the moral basis to the family and how to restore it (W.S.Hein Co. 2007).
Laura Lundy is a Professor of Education Law and Children's Rights in the School of Education, Queen's University, Belfast and a Barrister at Law. She is the Director of the Centre for Children's Rights and has published widely on education law and children's rights. She has particular expertise in relation to participatory research with children and young people and, along with colleague Lesley Emerson, has developed a children's rights-based approach to research, which has been applied across a number of research projects.
Diana McKibben earned her PhD in Political Science from Claremont Graduate University and wrote her PhD dissertation on restorative justice. She currently serves on the Community Restorative Justice Commission for Monterey County, and resides in Berkeley California.
Chelsea Marshall is a researcher in the Centre for Children's Rights at Queen's University Belfast. Her background is in rights-based approaches to the participation of marginalized groups including work with the Participation and Practice of Rights and Save the Children NI. Through her masters and doctoral research, she also has expertise in the exclusion and gendered marginalization of young people from transitional justice processes intended to help societies transition from armed conflict.
Tamar Morag is Associate Professor (Senior Lecturer) at the Stricks Law School of COLMAN (College of Management- Academic Studies) in RishonLezion, Israel, and Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Law, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Dr. Morag, an SJD graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, focuses her research and teaching on family law, child law, and law and social change. She was the legal director of the Israeli National Council for the Child and served as vice-chair of the Israeli CRC legislative committee
Mona Paré is Assistant professor at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law, and a founding member of the Interdisciplinary Research Laboratory on the Rights of the Child. She holds a PhD in Law from the University of London, Queen Mary College. She worked previously at the United Nations on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Her main research interests pertain to education rights, participation rights, and rights of vulnerable groups.
Aisling Parkes is a Lecturer in Child, Family and Disability Law at University College Cork, Ireland. She has a PhD in Law since 2006/07. Her research interests lie in the areas of international children's right. She has done indepth research on Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 on an international scale.
Joan Pennell, MSW, PhD, is a Professor of Social Work and Director of the Center for Family and Community Engagement at North Carolina State University (USA). The Center emphasizes youth and family leadership in decision-making, creating cultural safe forums, and involving all family members, including fathers and paternal relatives. She has conducted research on family engagement in child welfare, domestic violence, youth justice, and schools. She is frequently consulted on implementing and evaluating family group conferencing in safe, culturally respectful, and effective ways and has presented on family engagement and family violence across the United States and Canada as well as in Australia, Guatemala, Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.
R V Rikard isa Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Media and Information at Michigan State University. Dr. Rikard's research interests include health disparities, health literacy, and quantitative methodology. He has coauthored published research in the
Journal of Health Communication, Women & Criminal Justice, Journal of Aging & Social Policy, and
Correctional Health Care.
Laura Rosenbury is Professor of Law at Washington University Law School (St. Louis) and a co-author of the
Feminist Jurisprudence casebook. She has also written extensively on how law influences private relationships and conduct between adults, between adults and children, and between children. Throughout her work, she considers the multiple ways that law and relationships influence the construction of gender.
Yoa Sorek has earned her B.A. and MA in education from the Hebrew university in Jerusalem. Since 1999 she works as a researcher in the Engleberg center for children and youth at risk in the myers-Jdc-Brookdale institute. She has conducted researches on a variety of topics in the field of children and youth at risk, such as evaluation of projects for Ethiopian and kavkazi children, evaluations of projects relating to children whose parents are going through divorce proceedings and children who suffer from neglect and abuse.
Cheri Tarutani, MSW, LCSW is an Instructor and Practicum Coordinator with the University of Hawai'i School of Social Work Distance Education program. She was formerly a State of Hawai'i Child and Adult Protection Specialist for Child Welfare Services for 6 years. During that time, she was the designated Family Drug Court social worker and was part of the Family Drug Court team that was awarded the Natural Collaborative Leader Award in 2004 from the Mediation Center of the Pacific. Ms. Tarutani is a Board Member for Hawai'i Friends of Justice and Civic Education, whose efforts focus on solution-focused restorative justice practices. She is a restorative facilitator, and earned her Bachelor of Arts in Women's Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Masters in Social Work from the University of Hawai'i, Manoa.
Nigel Thomas (PhD, University of Wales) is Professor of Childhood and Youth Research at the University of Central Lancashire, and Director of The Centre for Children and Young People's Participation. He has taught and researched in many aspects of childhood, children's rights and child welfare, with a particular focus on participation of marginalised children. He is co-editor of A Handbook of Children and Young People's Participation, a former co-editor of the journal Children & Society, and an editorial board member of the International Journal of Children's Rights.
E. Kay M. Tisdall is Professor of Childhood Policy and Programme Director of the MSc in Childhood Studies, at the University of Edinburgh. She is Co-Director of the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships. She has a PhD (University of Edinburgh) and a LLB (University of Strathclyde). Her current research interests revolve around children's rights and research methods. K.Tisdall@ed.ac.uk
Eran Uziely is a special education expert, and held numerous positions in this area, as a tutor, teacher and headmaster, in various institutions. He is the Head of Special Education Dept. at Achva Academic College in Israel. His M.A thesis, entitled "Fairness in Selection to High Schools in Israel" won an award for outstanding research paper from the Israeli Council for Higher Education. Eran holds a PhD in social work from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His research examines the implementation of child participation in special education placement committees in Israel.
Lorenn Walker, JD, MPH, is a public health educator and restorative lawyer assisting people and organizations deal with conflict and wrongdoing. She has developed, implemented and researched numerous cooperative learning interventions using restorative justice and solution-focused approaches. She collaborates with a variety of individuals and organizations including schools, prisons, courts, law enforcement, and non-profits/NGOs. She is the author of over forty published papers and three books, and has been an instructor for the University of Hawai'i Honolulu Community College since 1994. She earned a masters degree in health education from the University of Hawai'i School of Public Health, Manoa, in 1996, a juris doctorate degree from Northeastern University School of Law, Boston, Massachusetts, in 1983, and Montessori teacher certification from the St. Nicholas Montessori Teacher Training program, London, England (by correspondence) in 1971.
