Gerry Johnstone is Professor of Law at the University of Hull, UK, where he has taught since 1989. He is best known for his work analysing the ideas and values of restorative justice. He is the author of Restorative Justice: Ideas, Values, Debates (Willan, 2002, 2nd edn. Routledge 2011), editor of A Restorative Justice Reader (Willan, 2003, 2nd edn. Routledge 2013) and co-editor with Daniel W. Van Ness of Handbook of Restorative Justice (Willan, 2007). He is an associate editor of The International Journal of Restorative Justice. His most recent book (co-edited with Iain Brennan) is Building Bridges: Prisoners, Crime Victims and Restorative Justice (Eleven, 2019). He is currently undertaking a study of the restorative justice movement.

Gema Varona is a lecturer in Victimology and Criminal Policy at the University of the Basque Country (Spain) and coordinator of the RJ Theory & Practice Lab at the Basque Institute of Criminology. In 1998 she was honoured with the Junior Scholar Competition Award of the International Society of Criminology for her research on restorative justice in Romani and non-Romani communities. She has authored books and articles on migration and human rights, restorative justice, violence against women, victims of terrorism, and victims of sexual abuse.

Tim Chapman spent 25 years working in the Probation Service in Northern Ireland. He played an active part in developing effective probation practice in the UK particularly through the publication of Evidence Based Practice, written jointly with Michael Hough and published by the Home Office. His ‘Time to Grow’ model for the supervision of young people has influenced youth justice practices. Since 2002 he has contributed to the development of restorative justice practice in both the community and statutory sectors in Northern Ireland. He lectured for 10 years at Ulster University in Northern Ireland developing and directing the Masters programme in Restorative Practices. During that time, he trained hundreds of people from various criminal justice, social work and civil society agencies to become restorative practitioners.

He has published widely on restorative justice and effective practice and has conducted significant research into restorative justice in Northern Ireland including the ALTERNATIVE project which focused on restorative justice and intercultural conflict. Two books have been published on this research. In 2015 he coauthored A European Model of Restorative Justice with Children and Young People (IIJO). He is currently researching the experiences of victims who have participated in restorative processes addressing serious harm. He has delivered training in restorative justice throughout the world, most recently for the UNODC. He is chair of the Board of the European Forum for Restorative Justice. He is Visiting Professor at Università degli Studi di Sassari and Visiting Scholar at Strathclyde University.