Connection Award Winner

Jennifer Llewellyn

Schulich School of Law
Dalhousie University

SSHRC support has been foundational to my research accomplishments and contributions throughout my career [and] has continued to play a key role in amplifying the impact of this work and extending it to new horizons in the areas of human rights and education for reconciliation.

SSHRC not only provided the resource support necessary for research projects, but recognized and supported activities vital to ensure that this research knowledge would have real and lasting impacts for the public.

Biography

Jennifer Llewellyn is the Yogis and Keddy Chair in Human Rights Law at the Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University, and is one of the world’s leading experts on restorative justice. Her research emphasizes the need for a wide range of institutions to create the right conditions for just relationships, where all parties enjoy equal respect, care and concern, and dignity.

Funded through SSHRC’s former Community-University Research Alliance (CURA) program, Llewellyn led the “Beyond Theory: Assessing Restorative Justice in Practice” collaborative research project.

The project brought together five universities and 18 government and community partner organizations to explore and apply restorative approaches to justice.

The results continue to impact thinking, law, policy, practice, and institutional and system reform, in Nova Scotia and around the world. The project also emphasized mentorship and training, leading to six graduate fellowships, 39 research assistantships and five student conferences.

The alliance has gone on to become the Nova Scotia Local Restorative Learning Community, and has led to a similar international restorative justice community-university-government alliance, with partners in Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and New Zealand. Llewellyn’s research leadership has had far-reaching impacts, including with the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the Jamaican government and the government of New Zealand, and at the United Nations.

The CURA project’s results have been furthered and amplified by subsequent SSHRC Insight and Partnership funding. Resulting publications have so far included two edited collections of original research, 16 articles, eight book chapters, a special issue of the Dalhousie Law Journal and a forthcoming special issue of the International Restorative Justice Journal. The CURA research has also resulted in significant knowledge mobilization, through national and international workshops, a national conference and two international conferences.