Decolonizing Criminology: Promoting South–South Dialogues

The event aims to foster constructive debate on how contributions originating in the Global South can be more visibly integrated, recognized, and valued within criminological research, teaching, and policy design, strengthening epistemic plurality and methodological inclusiveness.

Bringing together a diverse group of speakers from Brazil, Colombia, Italy, India, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Belgium, the seminar seeks to encourage collaborative and comparative learning, promote dialogue across academic communities, and different criminological perspectives.

This event is coordinated by Associate Professor Lucas de Melo Melgaço, supported by the VUB SRP project “Criminology of ‘the Other’: Experiences and processes of ‘othering’ in and beyond crime control” and funded under the 2025–2026 Small Great Projects (SGP) Call of the Global Minds Program (VLIRUOS) which is managed by the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)'s International Relations office.

Practical info

• Date: Monday 8 December 2025 12:00 - Tuesday 9 December 2025 13:00.
• Venue: Learning & Innovation Center (VUB–ULB), LIC.0.04 Learning Theatre, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels.
• Registration: Participation is free, but advance registration is required (see link above).

Programme:

Day 1 — 8 December 2025

12:00–13:00 — Welcome Lunch

13:00–13:30 — Opening Session 

Lucas Melgaço (VUB–CRiS) & Fernanda Lage (VUB–CRiS / University of Brasília)

13:30–15:00 — Panel 1: Decolonization, Criminology & Gender 

• Vania Ceccato (KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden) — Patterns of gendered violence (and resistance) in areas of land conflicts in Brazil
• Ntasha Bhardwaj (South Asian Institute of Crime and Justice Studies, India) — Decolonizing Gender in South Asia: Re-grounding Crime in Context

15:00–15:30 — Break

15:30–17:00 — Panel 2: Decolonizing the Criminology Curriculum 

• Anna Di Ronco (University of Bologna, Italy) — Journal publishing, reading lists, and the challenges of decolonising the criminology curriculum 
  Omar Phoenix Khan (University of Bath, United Kingdom) — AI, the Coloniality of Criminal Justice & the Need for Planetary Solidarity 
  Olga Petintseva (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium) — Decolonizing the Criminology Curriculum: Common Study Programme in Critical Criminology as a Community of Practice

Day 2 — 9 December 2025

09:30–11:00 — Panel 3: Decolonization and the Criminalization of the Other 

• Bisi Akintoye (University of Roehampton, United Kingdom) — Decolonizing Criminology Through Lived Experience: Racialized Surveillance in England and Wales 
  Bruna de Araújo (Federal University of Paraíba, Brazil) — Decolonizing Criminology Through Comprehensive Assistance to Families of Incarcerated Individuals 
  Evandro Piza (University of Brasília, Brazil) — How to Decolonize Criminology: A Perspective from the Debate on Racism

11:00–11:15 — Break

11:15–12:45 — Panel 4: Human Rights & Green Criminology 

• Larissa Mies Bombardi (Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium) — Green Criminology and Chemical Colonialism 
  Rosembert Ariza Santamaría (Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Colombia) — Criminal Government and Crimes Against the Colombian Amazon

12:45–13:00 — Closing remarks

Lucas Melgaço & Fernanda Lage