Winter Academy 2023

The Winter Academy will include three practice-oriented courses, which will run parallelly. Participants can choose from one of the following courses: 

A) Sensitive & Complex Cases in Restorative Justice: Domestic Abuse
trainers: Tim Chapman (UK, Northern Ireland) and Anna Halonen (Finland) 

This course designed to prepare practitioners to work restoratively in sensitive and complex cases of domestic abuse. It aims to put the victim front and centre of the restorative process. It is informed by research and practice in the experience of victims of participating in restorative justice.
Details of the course »

B) Victims' Needs and Restorative Justice: Good Practices and Safeguards
trainers: Peter Crory (UK, Northern Ireland) & Lisa Walters (Belgium) 

This course will develop the skills of professionals working in direct contact with victims of crime or supporting the practical implementation of victims’ rights. Participants will better understand how restorative justice responds to the (justice, safety, and other) needs of victims and will help to make a better offer/assessment/referral of victims for restorative justice services.
The course focuses on the challenges and opportunities of restorative justice from the victims’ perspective, looking at the different steps that may ensure access to restorative justice for victims.
Details of the course »

C) Restorative Approaches for Young People: In Education and Institutions 
trainers: Dr Belinda Hopkins (UK) and Hanne Dehertog (Belgium) 

In this course participants can learn about transforming relationships and the management of staff teams, youth groups and classes by addressing  conflicts, bullying, challenging, anti-social and criminal behaviours as well as low-level disruption in a restorative, emotionally literate way. It is designed for those wanting to develop restorative approaches in educational and youth settings, including those working in and with schools and specialist support units; and in youth justice environments. Senior managers especially encouraged to attend. 

Details of the course »

More details of the programme will be shared soon.

The town of Leuven is internationally known for its contributions to the development of research and practice of restorative justice, and for building social support for the use of restorative approaches in criminal justice and in the overall society. The European Forum for Restorative Justice was founded within KU Leuven’s Institute of Criminology (LINC), which has its dedicated research line for restorative justice, and remained an important partner until today. Several restorative justice services are present in the town and available for local citizens.  The Leuven Restorative City project gathers organisations and institutions that commit themselves to work along restorative principles, and supports the city-wide endeavours to use nonviolent responses to crime and conflict. These initiative together make Leuven a symbolic town for restorative justice. 

Augustinessenklooster - Romaanse Poort 

The facilities of the former Augustinian convent will accommodate the courses of the Winter Academy. (Brusselsestraat 63, 3000 Leuven) 

EFRJ members get a discount of the fee. The discount is automatically applied to members (after logging in to our website). If you haven't paid your membership due for the current year yet,  you will not get the discount automatically. If you don't get the discount for any other reason, please contact Bálint Juhász to get your discount code before you fill in your application. 

Is the participation fee a barrier for you to participate? We can offer a limited number of partial waivers of the fee. If you would like apply for these please fill in this application form by 10 December 2022.  The applications will be reviewed after that, and responses will be sent by 13 December evening. 

The Winter Academy is a residential event. We encourage participants to get the full experience by staying at the same accommodation. However, you may organise your own accommodation and register for the Winter Academy by contacting us for a special registration code. For this option the following prices apply: 

Cancellation Policy 

If you cancel your participation before 15 December 2022 you get 70% refund of your subscription fee. If you need to cancel after 15 December 2022 your participation for a 'vis major' reason (including Covid-19 infection), and you can provide a proof of this, you may get a voucher for another EFRJ event in the future in the value of maximum 50% of your registration price. In other cases we cannot refund your registration fee. 
You may transfer your registration to another participant without any costs until 20 January 2023. 

The Winter Academy is a residential event. Participants will be accommodated in the beautiful facilities of the Irish College in Leuven, an institution that was originally created for contemplation, study and strengthening international connections by Irish Franciscan friars. Today it is an international residential centre for education, training and research. 

The address of the Irish College is: Janseniusstraat 1, Leuven, 3000 Belgium. It is just a few minutes walk from the venue of the Winter Academy's courses, the Augustinessenklooster, at the 'Romaanse Poort'.

Participants will be able to choose between shared or single rooms. In shared rooms 2 people will stay together.  The choice has to be indicated at the registration. Single accommodation has a higher price. In case you want to share your room with a specific person (another participant), or have other special requests, please fill in this form. 

Breakfast will be served at the accommodation. 

The event also includes refreshments during the breaks and lunches from Tuesday to Thursday (31 Jan - 2 February), and a Social Dinner (on 1 February).  If you follow any diets, please indicate this at the registration, otherwise we cannot guarantee that suitable food will be available for you.