The Ulster University's Transitional Justice Institute (TJI), is a law-led multidisciplinary

research institute A research institute, research centre, or research organization is an establishment founded for doing research. Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research. Although the term often implies natural ...

Ulster University Ulster University (; Ulster Scots: or ), legally the University of Ulster, is a multi-campus public research university located in Northern Ireland. It is often referred to informally and unofficially as Ulster, or by the abbreviation UU. It i ...

which is physically located at the

Jordanstown Jordanstown () is a townland (of 964 acres) and electoral ward in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is within the urban area of Newtownabbey and the Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council area. It is also situated in the civil parish of Car ...

, and Magee campuses. It was created in 2003, making it the first and longest-established university research centre on this theme. In the 2014 '' Research Excellence Framework (REF)'' Law at Ulster University was ranked 4th overall in the UK. Ulster was ranked first for impact in law with 100% of impact rated as world-leading, the only University to achieve this in law. Within the Institute, there are over 15 researchers based on the Jordanstown and Magee campuses of the university. In addition, the TJI has approximately 15 doctoral students researching and studying towards their chosen topics. Visiting scholars and

visiting professor In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting scientist, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic fo ...

s are often closely involved in research. The institute is internationally recognised, receiving recognition from the

American Society of International Law American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, ...

in 2006 with TJI scholars being awarded top book and article prize for ''creative and outstanding contributions to international legal scholarship''. Staff have been awarded the 2009 Hart SLSA Early Career Award and jointly awarded the 2009 British Society of Criminology Book Prize as well as the 2010 Basil Chubb Prize for the best PhD produced in any field of politics in an Irish university. The Institute is associated with the Association of Human Rights Institutes (AHRI). In line with the University's rebranding in October 2014 the institute updated its logo. The TJI undertakes research on

transitional justice Transitional justice is a process which responds to human rights violations through judicial redress, political reforms and cultural healing efforts and other measures in order to prevent the recurrence of human rights abuse in a region or countr ...

, conflict,

international law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

and

gender equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality, gender egalitarianism, or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making, an ...

Research

The Institute has four main research streams or clusters: * Dealing with the Past * Gender, Conflict and Transition * Northern Ireland – Local and Global Perspectives * Theory Method and Evaluation

Projects

Projects include the Belfast Guidelines on Amnesty and Accountability; the Transitional Justice Grassroots Toolkit (with Bridge of Hope); TJI Principles for Transformative Reparations; databases on peace agreements. TJI staff have helped author the Gender Principles for Dealing with the Legacy of the Past and participated in a project to draft a Model Implementation bill for the

Stormont House Agreement The Stormont House Agreement is a political accommodation between the British and Irish governments, and a majority of parties that make up the Northern Ireland Executive. The agreement was published on 23 December 2014. The Stormont House Agreem ...

. In 2015 the TJI joined a

DFID The Department for International Development (DFID) was a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom, from 1997 to 2020. It was responsible for administering foreign aid ...

funded collaborative project on Political Settlements. TJI scholarship and policy work has been widely cited by international organisations including in a UN study on UNSCR 1325, the

Trust Fund for Victims Trust often refers to: * Trust (social science), confidence in or dependence on a person or quality It may also refer to: Business and law * Trust (law), a legal relationship in which one person holds property for another's benefit * Trust ( ...

of the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...

and in judgments of international courts. Other TJI projects include: * Commemoration and Law: Narratives of Political Violence in Transitional and Conflicted Societies * An Investigation of Use of Force by UN Peacekeeping Operations * Picturing Peace: Murals, Conflict and Transition in Colombia * Policing and Forensic Issues in the Search for Truth and/or Justice for Forced Disappearance * Political Capacity Building: Advancing a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland * Role of Databases in Transitional Justice Research

RAE 2008

The TJI manages the Law submission in the RAE and REF process for Ulster University. In the '' Research Assessment Exercise (RAE)'' process in 2008, the Ulster was ranked 13th out of 64 Law submissions in the UK.

REF 2014

In the 2014 '' Research Excellence Framework (REF)'' Law at Ulster University was ranked 4th overall in the UK (based on GPA) out of more than 60 law submissions. As a result, 88% of all work was deemed to be internationally excellent or world leading. Concerning the new impact criterion, Law was ranked 1st in the UK, with 100% of impact rated as world-leading (4 *). In addition, 100% of research submitted was given an impact and environment rating of 3* or 4*. In terms of research intensity, Law at Ulster was ranked 9th in the UK. The 4* impact case studies were: * Amnesty, Accountability and Victims' Rights in Peace Processes * Framing Transitional Justice Practice: Dealing with the Past in Northern Ireland * Gender, Conflict and Transition

Education

The TJI, in cooperation with the Ulster University School of Law offers masters programmes in Human Rights and Transitional Justice, and Gender, Conflict and Human Rights. It also runs a short course i
Gender and Transition
and in Equality Law.

Governance

The TJI is led by a director. The institute has staff from the School of Law and the School of Applied Social and Policy Sciences. Directors have included: * Professor Siobhán Wills (2021-date) * Dr Catherine O'Rourke (2020–2021) * Professor Rory O'Connell. (2014–2020) * Professor Bill Rolston (2010–2014) Associate Directors have included: * Professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin (-present) The TJI was created in 2003, with a grant from

Atlantic Philanthropies The Atlantic Philanthropies (AP) was a private foundation created in 1982 by American businessman Chuck Feeney. The Atlantic Philanthropies focused its giving on health, social, and politically left-leaning public policy causes in Australia, Berm ...

People

Staff members: * Professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin was appointed the UN Special Rapporteur on Protecting Human Rights While Countering Terrorism in 2017. She is concurrently the Regents Professor and Robina Chair in Law, Public Policy and Society at the University of Minnesota

University of Minnesota Law School The University of Minnesota Law School is the law school of the University of Minnesota, a public university in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The school confers four law degrees: a Juris Doctor (J.D.), a Master of Laws (LL.M.), a Master of Science in Pa ...

and a professor of law at the Ulster University's Transitional Justice Institute in Belfast, Northern Ireland. She was formerly the Dorsey & Whitney Chair in Law at Minnesota. Her 2006 book, Law in Times of Crisis (Cambridge University Press), was awarded the Certificate of Merit for creative scholarship in 2007, the

's preeminent prize. She has been nominated twice (2004 and 2007) by the Irish government to the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...

, the first woman and the first academic lawyer to be thus nominated. She was appointed by the Irish Minister of Justice to the Irish Human Rights Commission in 2000 and served until 2005. In 2017 she was named as a candidate for the position of Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism. Prof Ní Aoláin has received Ulster's Distinguished Researcher (Senior) Award in 2016. * Professor

Monica McWilliams Monica Mary McWilliams (born 28 April 1954) is a Northern Irish academic, peace activist, human rights defender and former politician. In 1996, she co-founded the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition (NIWC) political party and was elected as a ...

played an active part in the multi-party negotiations that led to the intergovernmental

Good Friday Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA) or Belfast Agreement ( or ; or ) is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April (Good Friday) 1998 that ended most of the violence of the Troubles, an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland since the la ...

in 1998. Prof McWilliams was the second Chief Commissioner of the

Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) is a non-departmental public body funded through the Northern Ireland Office but operating independently of government as the national human rights institution (NHRI) for Northern Ireland. It c ...

. She received Ulster University's Distinguished Enterprise Award in December 2014. She was a member of the Fresh Start Agreement panel examining the issue of paramilitariasm in Northern Ireland. Prof Monica McWilliams has been appointed to the Fresh Start Independent Monitoring Commission. * Professor Brandon Hamber is a former director of INCORE. He holds the John Hume and Thomas P. O’Neill Chair in Peace. * Professor Cath Collins was the

Chatham House The Royal Institute of International Affairs, also known as Chatham House, is a British think tank based in London, England. Its stated mission is "to help governments and societies build a sustainably secure, prosperous, and just world". It ...

Research Fellow for Latin America (2005–2007) * Professor Louise Mallinder was awarded the 2009 Hart SLSA Early Career Award and jointly awarded the 2009 British Society of Criminology Book Prize * Dr Catherine O'Rourke was awarded the 2010 Basil Chubb Prize for the best PhD produced in any field of politics in an Irish university. She was also awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in 2016. * Dr Jessica Doyle was awarded the 2016 Basil Chubb Prize for the best PhD produced in any field of politics in an Irish university. * Research Manager Lisa Thompson and Clerical Support Elaine McCoubrey have each won Ulster's Distinguished Service Award. Former staff members: * Professor David Kretzmer * Professor Colm Campbell * Professor Christine Bell * Professor Tom Hadden The TJI External Board include: *Professor

Diane Marie Amann Diane Marie Amann is Regents' Professor of International Law and holds the Emily & Ernest Woodruff Chair in International Law at the University of Georgia School of Law. She has taught or visited at numerous other institutions; most recently, as ...

*Professor Christine Bell *Professor Bill Bowring *Professor Chris McCrudden *Professor Ruth Rubio Marin *Professor Ruti Teitel *Dr Nahla Valji

References

External links

TJI Main Page

AHRI Network
{{coord missing, Northern Ireland Ulster University Legal research institutes Social science research institutes Multidisciplinary research institutes Research institutes in the United Kingdom Human rights organisations based in the United Kingdom International law