A consortium led by the University of Aberdeen to establish a Civil Justice Network has been awarded nearly £70,000 by the Scottish Funding Council as part of the SPIRIT scheme (Strategic Priority Investment in Research and Innovation Translation).
Seven Scottish universities have been awarded a share of more than £500,000 by the SFC to contribute to informed public policy making.
The successful Aberdeen-led proposal is to establish a Civil Justice Network for Scotland, consisting of academics, policy-makers and practitioners.
Its overarching purpose is to address the acknowledged deficit in research which is severely hampering the monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of the existing civil justice system, as well as inhibiting options for reform.
Also in the consortium are the Universities of Dundee, Edinburgh, Stirling and Strathclyde.
The group will work with the Civil and International Justice Directorate of the Scottish Government to set up workshops, work placements, and networks to increase the sharing of knowledge and ideas.
Margaret Ross, Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Aberdeen, and project lead, said "I am very excited by this award, which provides timely acknowledgement of the importance of an effective Civil Justice system in Scotland for citizens and businesses. In the Aberdeen Law School we look forward to working closely with colleagues in the consortium and across the community of policy-makers, practitioners and scholars with interests in this important aspect of society."
A steering group drawn from the participating universities will establish the interdisciplinary and multi-institutional Civil Justice Network. This will seek to involve all academics interested in civil justice, ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) and negotiated settlements (whether in law schools or other social science departments) together with relevant stakeholders in the field, with a view to stimulating interdisciplinary, inter-institutional research, knowledge exchange, research capacity building and policy debate.
The SPIRIT awards have been made to projects covering health, the environment, human rights, social inclusion, and civil justice – all relevant to current Scottish Government and local authority priorities – to stimulate the more frequent, two-way flow of ideas between universities and people who make public policy decisions.
The projects, which were assessed by an international review panel, have been selected for a year long pilot phase which will be continuously evaluated. The results of the pilot phase will be used to determine future funding of similar projects.
Announcing the awards, Laurence Howells, Interim Chief Executive of SFC said of the funding award: "Innovation in public services is very important, and I am delighted that we have been able to support these projects between universities and policy-makers.
"This is an excellent opportunity for universities to work with local and national government and the voluntary sector to improve health, education and social services."
These projects are the first to be funded under the SPIRIT scheme. The aim of SPIRIT is to target funding at knowledge exchange projects that are a strategic priority for Scotland.
For further information from SFC, please contact Elizabeth Bell, Communications Officer, Tel: 0131 313 6560, email: href="mailto:ebell@sfc.ac.uk">ebell@sfc.ac.uk</a>Â