Kick-off meeting in Brussels, October 2023

We were so excited to meet in Brussels, on October 23^, 2023, for the kick-off meeting of our Action! We welcomed our Action representatives from Austria, Cyprus, Croatia, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Northern Macedonia, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Turkiye, Ukraine and United Kingdom.

You will know the names of the leadership team that was voted in by the MC members: María J. Arche, University of Greenwich, as the Chair of the Action, Josep Quer, University Pompeu Fabra, as the Vice-Chair, Alexandra Perovic, University College London, as the Science Communication Coordinator and Gordana Hržica, University of Zagreb, as the Grant Awarding Coordinator. 

We voted in the following Working Group leads and co-leads who did fantastic work setting up the Action: 

WG1: Lead: Caterina Donati (FR), Co-Lead: Beatrice Giustolisi (IT); WG2: Lead: Karen Bryan (UK), Co-Lead: Jeannette Schaeffer (NL); WG3: Lead: Philippe Prévost (FR), Co-Lead: Ana Lúcia Santos (PT); WG4: Lead: Ljiljana Jeličić (SRB), Co-Lead: Janko Međedović (SRB); WG5: Lead: Lana Petö Kujundžić (CRO), Co-Lead: Mai Fleetwood Bird (NL); WG6: Lead: Alexandra Perovic (UK), Co-Lead: Vina Tsakali (GR). 

Congratulations to all!

Virtual meeting – February, 2024

On February 23, 2024, we met virtually, with over 100 members attending! 

Check out the screenshot showing the slide on how it all began: Maria shared the story of how linguists and SLTs first connected over criminal justice at the 2021 Lorentz-Leiden event in the Netherlands, organized by some of our team.

And even though this wasn’t part of the virtual launch, we had to include the second picture: the whiteboard in Maria’s, Alex’s and Josep’s office at NIAS, Amsterdam in 2021, where the initial idea for the COST proposal took shape!

Second meeting held in Zagreb, May 2024

Our second meeting took place in beautiful Zagreb, Croatia, from May 8-10, 2024. Big thanks to our incredible organisers, Gordana, Sabina, and Jozipa, who truly made Zagreb shine! Held at the stylish Maistra City hotel, we enjoyed amazing food, wine, and Croatian hospitality.

An addition to productive Working Group sessions, we hosted the Training School, “Bridging Language in Criminal Procedures with Participatory Action Research,” which deepened our understanding of linguistic challenges in Europe’s criminal justice systems. Topics ranged from language needs in adolescence to prison education, youth justice services, and child-friendly legal systems. Speakers included experts from top European universities and organisations like the Croatian High Criminal Court and UK Youth Offending Team Managers.

We wrapped up with an interactive workshop by Elena Vacchelli from the University of Greenwich—our World Café session sparked some lively discussions (check out our fun table group photos!).

Don’t forget, the Training School presentations are available on our website under ‘Training Schools’ > ‘Activities’ (a hug thank thank-you to Juan and Ana!)

Third meeting held in Lisbon, September 2024

Our third meeting took place in the stunning city of Lisbon, hosted at the Universidade de Lisboa by Ana Lúcia and her fantastic team. It was another huge success!

The workshop featured an eclectic mix of presentations, covering topics like therapeutic engagement for marginalized groups, communication gaps in police interviews with child suspects, communication needs in youth justice services, inclusive education, and multilingualism in youth within the justice system.

Missed it? No worries—all presentations are available on our website under ‘Training Schools’ > ‘Activities’ (again, presentations were recorded and organised by Juan Salmeron and Ana Bosnic).

First Short Term Scientific Missions (STSMs) carried out.

We are proud to announce that three STSMs have been completed in the first year of our Action by two early career researchers, Marta Manenti (FR) and Margreet Vogelzang (UK) and an established researcher, Ferid Azemi (Kosovo). Please check out our website under ‘Grants’ for further info.

Forthcoming events

Future meetings are planned for Winter 2025, Spring 2025 and early Autumn 2025. In the meantime, local events in Norway and Croatia are being planned – watch this space for updates!