Our series of ADR Research Network blog posts for October concludes with a profile of network member, Dr Kathy Douglas.
- Introductory information:
- Full title and name:Dr Kathy Douglas, Deputy Head, Graduate School of Business and Law, RMIT University
- Primary professional identity (i.e., academic, RHD student, practitioner – please include a link to your staff ID page/website): Academic (http://www1.rmit.edu.au/staff/kdouglas)
- Institutions/Organisations that you work for: RMIT University
- Where research fits in your professional work (i.e., your primary professional identity, or something that supplements other activity): Research in ADR is a prime focus of my work at RMIT
- Why did you become interested in the dispute resolution field? I took a Masters level course in ADR at Monash University and fell in love with the field. Soon after I trained with LEADR and then began work as a sessional mediator.
- What is your particular area of dispute resolution research interest? Mediation theory and practice, ADR in legal education and conflict resolution and planning.
- Whose research has influenced you? Why/How? I think that Laurence Boulle influenced me due to his thinking about models of mediation practice and his focus on the emerging ADR field in Australia.
- What dispute resolution research are you involved in at the moment? ADR in Legal Education; Procedural justice and mediation; Conciliation and industry schemes and conflict in planning in Melbourne. I have a forthcoming article on ADR in legal education coming out in the International Journal of the Legal Profession.
- Where would you like to take your dispute resolution research work over the next ten years? I would mainly like to focus on better integrating the theory and practice of mediation. I like being a ‘prac-academic’. Someone who tries to improve practice in mediation.
- What advice do you have for emerging dispute resolution researchers? Join the network. It’s a wonderful group of generous academics and practitioners.
