Dr Piers Von Berg

Senior Lecturer

School of Law

Email:: Piers.vonberg@bcu.ac.uk

Dr von Berg is a specialist in youth justice, and citizenship and human rights education. His research looks at how young people exercise their rights in the criminal justice system and how they learn to be citizens at university. He conducts qualitative participatory research on innovations in pedagogy at university in the areas of citizenship and human rights education; and he researches children’s and young person’s human rights in criminal investigations.

His expertise is primarily in pedagogical innovation with young adults and understanding their legal rights. He has worked in legal practice at the Bar of England and Wales (2010-2017) and international technical assistance in the Caucasus and Central Asia (2000-2006). His foci have included creating pedagogical interventions sensitive to contexts, building senses of community and empowerment in educational settings, cultivating confidence and agency with vulnerable clients, and developing practitioner manuals and texts.

In his most recent project, Dr von Berg developed a new pedagogical research design for teaching and learning human rights and citizenship at university. This incorporated participatory theatre and experiential learning, to help university students cultivate senses of civic identity and agency that challenged exclusionary practices in their communities (von Berg, 2023). He is also developing with others the Global Transformative Education Network. This is a group of over 30 emerging researchers and practitioners from universities in Asia, Europe, North America and South America, who work on education for citizenship, human rights, peace and sustainability.

Areas of Expertise

Qualifications

Memberships

Teaching

Research

Postgraduate Supervision

Publications

Journal articles

Von Berg, P. (2023). 'How research into citizenship education at university might enable transformative human rights education'. Human Rights Education Review, 6:1. https://humanrer.org/index.php/human/article/view/5120

Von Berg, P. (2019). 'Exploring the development of a hybrid and synthetic meaning of citizenship at a British university law school'. Critical Studies in Teaching and Learning, 7(2), 52-74. https://www.ajol.info/index.php/cristal/article/view/191947

Gooch, K and von Berg, P. (2019). 'What Happens in the Beginning Matters in the End: Achieving Best Evidence with Child Suspects in the Police Station'. Youth Justice, 19(2), 85-101. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1473225419868840?journalCode=yjja

Von Berg, P and Rich, B. (2017). ‘One strike and you are out? Judicial review of criminal matters and interpretation of the procedural rule on ‘totally without merit’ applications’, Criminal Law Review, 6. https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/handle/10026.1/13284

Von Berg, P (2013). ‘Children’s evidence and new EU Directives’, Archbold Review, Issue 3, April 12, 2013. https://www.archbolde-update.co.uk/PDF/2013/Archbold%203-2013%20v%203.pdf

Edited books

Von Berg, P (ed) (2014). Criminal Judicial Review. London: Hart Publishing. https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/criminal-judicial-review-9781849468305/

Book chapters

Von Berg, P (2018). ‘Civic Education at Higher Education: Lessons from Azerbaijan’ in Hazeldine, G, Morgan, D and Salem, A (eds.), Higher Education in Post-Communist States: Sociological Perspectives. Stuttgart: Ibidem.

Von Berg, P. (2014). ‘Children, Young Persons and Juveniles’, ‘Remedies’ (with Ball, D), ‘The Police’ (with Taylor, R), ‘Magistrates’ Courts’ (with Parkes, S) in von Berg, P (ed) Criminal Judicial Review. London: Hart Publishing.

Von Berg, P (2004). ‘Civic Education and Young People in Azerbaijan: results and implications’, in Papoutsaki, V and Zurabishvili, T (eds), Caucasus Higher Education in Transition. Tbilisi: Civic Education Project, Caucasus.

Conference Papers

'Effective participation of vulnerable suspects: an exploration of the legal concepts, issues and practical applications', The Vulnerable Accused in the Criminal Justice System, 13-14 September 2023, University of Birmingham.

‘Cultivating civic identity and agency at a UK university’, The Role of Universities in Addressing Societal Challenges and Fostering Democracy, University of Akureyri, Iceland. 25.03.21.

'Academics as citizenship educators: insights from an ongoing action research project’, Early Careers Researchers Conference, Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE), 10 December 2019.

'A right to a fair trial in police custody', Vulnerability, Justice and Communication conference, Centre for Forensic Interviewing, University of Portsmouth, 17 May 2019.

'Exploring the development of a hybrid synthetic meaning of citizenship at a British university law school', Higher Education Close Up (HECU), University of Cape Town, 15-16 November 2018.

'Left to figure it out for themselves: the formation of a hybrid or synthetic civic identity among undergraduate students at a university in the UK', International Conference on Education and Democratic Citizenship (ICEDC), Institute of Education, University College London (UCL), 15 June 2018.

'Formation of identity and individualisation among undergraduate law students', Exploring the Civic Curriculum, Leeds Institute of Teaching Excellence, University of Leeds, 9 June 2017.

'Police interviews of child suspects: neglected in a time of change'. Justice and Penal Reform: Re-shaping the penal landscape, Howard League for Penal Reform, Keble College, University of Oxford, 16–18 March 2016.