The newly launched Justice and Communities Research Unit (in the Faculty of Arts, Law and Social Sciences) has had a busy couple of months with the following activities:

• A multi-disciplinary symposium on 'Genetics, Culture and Ethnic Identity,' held at the Cambridge campus on 12th March 2008. Speakers were Dr Peter Forster, Dr Katharina Schramm, Dr David Skinner, and Professor Bronwen Walter
• A collaborative event with Cambridge Film Consortium on 14th April: Representations of the Police in British Film and Television. Speakers were Colleen More, Dr David Skinner and Dr Susan Sydney Smith. The event also included a film screening and a panel discussion with Chief Inspector Darren Alderson, (Cambridgeshire Police)
• Professor Rob Home was invited to two international conferences: speaking on 'Islamic land law' to a conference addressing the legal empowerment of the poor, (Bergen, Norway, 10th-11th April), and on the 2005 Pakistan earthquake to an expert group meeting of UN-Habitat (Geneva, Switzerland, 21st-22nd April). He also gave expert evidence on Gypsy/Traveller accommodation needs to the Examination-in-Public of the South West Regional Spatial Strategy (Exeter, 4th-5th March)

The Justice and Communities Research Unit is concerned with research themes of justice, (criminal, legal and social), and communities, (local, national and diasporic). It operates in clusters, as follows:

• Human rights, land rights, and consumer rights (with a particular emphasis on minority rights)
• Cross-European and comparative criminal justice issues (eg prisons, fraud, human trafficking, child protection)
• Migration and minorities
• Public services, equality, diversity and community engagement

For further details contact David Skinner (Social Sciences, Cambridge), or Professor Rob Home (Law, Chelmsford), or visit the JACRU webpages.

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