Academic Forum Meeting – Researching Mediation

  REPORT BY VICTORIA HARRIS

The CMC Academic Forum met on 22 June to discuss research projects and funding sources in mediation, including updates from Dr. Jaime Lindsey on medical treatment dispute mediation and insights from Pablo Cortes on a new peer-reviewed journal for mediation articles. Exciting news also included an upcoming student competition on mediation awareness.

The CMC Academic Forum met on the 22 June to share information about research projects, to include how they are funded and where they can be published.  Some say that mediation has historically lacked a substantive research base due to its interdisciplinary nature, but that seems to be changing. Dr Jaime Lindsey, Associate Professor at the University of Reading, gave an update on the progress of her research in to the use of mediation in medical treatment disputes. This generated conversation about how best to engage ‘client voices’ from mediation. This can be particularly difficult as many individuals want to put matters of conflict behind them and there are also restrictions imposed by the confidentiality of the process. All agreed that learning more about the client experience is crucial to developing mediation practice and improving is efficacy. A number of current projects were discussed and suggested, ranging from workplace mediation research about training for line managers through to the evaluation of peer mediation programmes.

The group also heard from Pablo Cortes, Professor of Civil Justice at the University of Leicester in relation to a Journal for publishing mediation articles.  The Journal for Mediation Theory and Practice is a peer reviewed journal that will consider original articles for submission of up to 5000 words. Recent submissions have included articles about remote mediation and family inheritance disputes. Potential contributors can contact co-editors pablo.cortes@le.ac.uk and m.f.moscati@sussex.ac.uk with any queries or if they wish to access the Submission Guide.

The next Academic Forum will be held on the 14 September at 1 pm and will be on the increasingly important topic of ‘public engagement with mediation’. With that in mind Victoria Harris who chaired the meeting advised of a student competition being launched by the CMC this Autumn to help raise awareness of mediation. The competition will be open to students from any faculty of an HE institution. Stand by for further information about this exciting initiative that will culminate with the student winner being announced at the CMC Annual Conference on the 15 and 16 November.

Thank you to all members of the Academic Forum for your continued contribution and participation.