Spotlight on Online Family Dispute Resolution

Associate Professor Elisabeth Wilson-Evered has been invited to co-facilitate a session with Relationships Australia Queensland (RAQ) on the use of Online Family Dispute Resolution (OFDR) in international disputes for the Training in International Mediation (TIM) workshop in Brussels in April 2012.

The invite follows Dr Wilson-Evered's work on researching and developing OFDR system with Mark Thomson, Lawyer and Director of Virtual Services at RAQ. The pair will be demonstrating and sharing research evaluation of the OFDR System to professionals and organisations from across Europe, Asia and North America. Training participants have key policy or practice roles in mediating cross-border disputes, including cases that have been commenced under the Hague convention for resolving disputes related to international child abduction.

The opportunity to demonstrate the OFDR system to Permanent Bureau staff in the Hague in late 2011 provided an opportunity to showcase our OFDR research internationally. The 2012 workshops may also provide an opportunity to engage participants in the evaluative process used for mediators in Australia, and explore further research opportunities and collaborations.

The TIM workshops will be the first time that European family mediators come together to create networks and develop a common understanding of how cross-border family disputes can be mediated within a co-mediation model.  The team was invited because no-one else in the world was doing the same work in online OFDR.

Dr Wilson-Evered's research program extended from the pre-contemplation phase to 9 months post-agreement. The results show that users found the system accessible and easy to use, and benefited from the information and on-line interaction with the mediator. They experienced minimal technical difficulties, trusted the technology and service providers and were satisfied with the overall experience. Rapport and communication remained strong using on-line mediation, and clients said they would use the system in the future needed, and would recommend it. Importantly, a high level of acceptance and interest was generated among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Mark Thomson and Elisabeth have been contacted by similar projects in the UK, North America and Europe to share learning and involved collaboration with Professor John Zeleznikow and an ARC Linkage Grant for an earlier project. John has been a great mentor and has also facilitated considerable international interest.

The OFDR initiative was originally funded by the Australian Government Attorney-General’s Department – view a report from the project. The early research work is reported in a chapter in Mobile Technologies for Conflict Management  published in 2011 by Springer-Verlag and edited by two key visitors to the School of Management and information Systems at present;  Professors Dr. Pompeu Casanovas, Autonomous University of Barcelona and Marta Poblet Director UAB Institute of Law and Technology Facultat de Dret. Edifici B Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.