ALLP workshop at Oñati

As part of the project on Eyewitness Memory in Cross-Cultural Contexts, ALLP members Annelies Vredeveldt, Dylan Drenk and Maria Shenouda, along with Jack Staniland (Griffith University) and Nandor Knust (UiT The Artic University of Norway), organized an inspiring and interactive workshop in Oñati, Spain.

The workshop was titled ‘Opening the Black Box of International Criminal Investigations: Challenges of Culture and Practice’ and took place at the historical International Institute for the Sociology of Law in Oñati, Gipuzkoa, Spain.

Practitioners from various areas in the field, such as lawyers, prosecutors and psychosocial experts, as well as researchers from a wide range of backgrounds and universities were involved.

Participants presented about their topics of expertise within the realm of the workshop. Topics discussed included ‘Culture and international investigations’, ‘Eyewitness memory in cross-cultural contexts’, ‘Memory and trauma in investigative interviews’ and many more.

The wide range of backgrounds, as well as combination of researchers and practitioners led to very fruitful discussions and exchange of information, where practitioners were able to expand their views to incorporate empirical takes on their field and the researchers were able to get a first-hand account of what obstacles the practitioners face and what research could focus on more.

To wrap up the two-day workshop there was a roundtable to gather input on a new ALLP investigative interviewer training program developed by postdoc Fenia Ferra and Annelies Vredeveldt. Participants were given the chance to design their own training, incorporating all the issues explored during the previous two days, and were then asked to provide feedback on the preliminary plans for the ALLP training program.

Overall, it was a successful and engaging workshop, in which participants were able to help bridge the gap between research and practice while enjoying the occasional traditional Txakoli food and wine.