Research Centre for Interdisciplinary Prison Studies and Criminology

Overview

Objectives:
Although several social scientists (e.g. Wacquant, Simon, Crewe) have drawn attention to the decline of prison research at the beginning of the 21st century, the number of academic studies in the field of corrections has not increased significantly during the decades of mass incarceration. 

The aim of the research centre is to bring together representatives of different disciplines (criminologists, sociologists, psychologists, anthropologists, religious studies specialists, legal experts, etc.), to provide an opportunity to share isolated pieces of research - carried out using different methodologies - by specialists from different disciplines, and to encourage dialogue between academics and practitioners. One of the main objectives is to bring the perspective of prison studies closer to the broader horizon of criminology.

The tasks of the Research Centre are: 
-to disseminate new research findings; - to participate in national and international projects; - to establish an international research network and to participate in an existing international cooperation network. 
-Co-operation with PCIC (Romania), an organisation funded by the European Commission, which co-ordinates and implements international projects in the form of lifelong learning, providing training opportunities for social workers in prisons. We have become a member of the ICPA (International Corrections and Prison Association) research and training networks, which provide opportunities for international research and training cooperation in the field. 
-Organising conferences and workshops; - Organising study visits to prisons, mentoring students, supervising theses and dissertations, if allowed; - Establishing research collaborations with other faculties of ELTE and with national and foreign universities.

Research group members

• Lead researcher: László HUSZÁR – Assistant Professor, Department of Social Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, ELTE, Budapest, Hungary 
• Founding member: Titanilla FIÁTH – Assistant Professor, Department of Social Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, ELTE, Budapest, Hungary

Keywords

corrections, reintegration, prison, penology, forensic psychology, interdisciplinary research

Contact information (leader)

László HUSZÁR (leader)
Department of Social Psychology
Faculty of Social Sciences, Eötvös Loránd University of Budapest (ELTE) 
huszar.laszlo@tatk.elte.hu