Alliances

I established the Post Graduate Diploma in Conflict and Dispute Resolution Studies  (CDRS) in a partnership with the Irish School of Ecumenics in Trinity College Dublin which was initiated in 2000 tcd.ie/ise.  My plan had been to establish a Centre of Excellence in the study, training, and practice of ADRs and the programme has been most successful. Some of the early participants were eager to develope their areas of special interest further to Masters stage and that work will have made a vital contribution to their areas of work . Over the years, we established links with other such Centres and Universities and have liaised with members of the Courts Service and Government Departments to keep them advised of the growth in this area, and the potential application, and benefits of the concepts at so many levels.

We have links with Lancaster University, The Richardson Institute (claiming to have been the first in this field in the U.K), the University of Ulster, the University of York and most recently St Andrews University in Scotland. Our first two external Examiners - Dr Fergal Cochrane of Lancaster and Dr Roger Mc Ginty from York had hailed from the University of Ulster. We have welcomed Professor Andrew Williams of St Andrews University as our new External Examiner since 2009 and we are honoured to have him in this role.  We have had links with SACRO in Scotland which was headed up by a Dublin man Niall Kearney who has been a great associate over the years bringing us news from his pioneering work, in the area of diversion programmes, restorative justice processes, and reparation projects.

When he was outgoing External Examiner - Dr. Fergal Cochrane -in his report of the founding years of the CDRS programme, commented upon the diversity and standards of the work of the participants over the first four years and highlighted the social relevance and outreach aspect of the work.
Dr J.K. Barrett from the Business School of Dublin City University has been a strong suporter over the years providing Guest Lectures to the CDRS programme on Labour Relations dispute resolution and negotation and has acted as External Examiner for the bespoke Professional ADR and Mediation training programmes.
We have also had the support of Dr Mona O'Moore Head of The School of Education in Trinity and founder of the Anti- Bullying Centre (ABC) in Trinity who has delivered Guest Lectures on the subject of bullying .