What makes criminal justice research partnerships ‘tick’?

Findings from a scoping review and experiences from building a new partnership in Ireland

Dr. Ian D. Marder

Assistant Professor in Criminology, Maynooth University School of Law and Criminology

ian.marder@mu.ie

The Criminal justice Open Research Dialogue (CORD) Partnership aims to support positive social change by embedding a culture of interdisciplinary open research in criminal justice in Ireland. It is a national partnership concerned with all of criminal justice: 120 partners in 53 organisations represent our research, policy, practice, oversight, community justice, civil society and research infrastructure communities. In 2024, CORD’s partners aimed to co-create the new partnership’s purpose, principles and priorities, and its agenda for the coming years. This seminar will consider a) the findings of our scoping review exploring criminal justice research partnerships, b) how this informed the processes through which CORD works, drawing on the fields of restorative practice and design thinking, and c) on what CORD’s partners managed to agree. It will explore how CORD – established in a jurisdiction with a relatively nascent criminological partnership research scene – used dialogue to build relationships and understanding and to facilitate equal participation and creativity in ideation processes. This project was funded by the National Open Research Fund in 2023/24.