Description
This is a project designed to study and examine the effectiveness of advocacy services for victims and survivors and their families in the areas of historical investigation and information recovery in Northern Ireland and the Border Region of Ireland. In doing so, the research:
Provides a clear understanding of current advocacy service provision and service user experience of victims and survivors and their families accessing support in the historical investigations and information recovery sector.
Identifies international best practice and considers how this can inform the development of services in Northern Ireland and the Border Region of Ireland.
The wider research aim will be to understand the role of advocacy around victim issues in societies emerging from conflict, and specifically if the Northern Ireland approach has something to offer the wider field of transitional justice and peacebuilding. Thus, the research will focus locally on improving current approaches (e.g. Action Learning Programme) but also focus globally, through academic and practitioner networks and publication, to contribute to comparative lesson-learning and wider dissemination of findings.
It is anticipated that the findings of the research project will also help in the development of a new strategy on Victims and Survivors.
Post-Doctoral Research Associates involved in the project
- Dr Philip McCready, INCORE Ulster University
- Dr John Bell, INCORE Ulster University