Professor Eoin O’Sullivan - How historians can assist in historic child abuse inquiries

History & Policy

9 September 2019 - 18:00 pm - 19:30 pm
Anatomy Museum, King's College London, 6th floor, King's Building, Strand, London WC2R 2LS

Over the past twenty years, a growing number of countries have established national inquiries in relation to historic child abuse, encompassing investigations of abuse in residential institutions and foster-care, as well as abuse in the context of particular types of institution or specific child welfare programmes.

Historical researchers have engaged with these inquiries in a range of different roles – as members of inquiry secretariats, consultants, expert witnesses and, in at least one case, as the director of a national inquiry (Prof Pirjo Markkola in Finland).

This panel brings together speakers with a range of expertise across these different roles to explore what we can learn from a range of international examples about the relationship between historical research and child abuse enquiries.

Amongst the questions to be explored in this session are:

How important is historical knowledge for the setting of the remits and scope of inquiries?
What are the challenges and limitations of using different kinds of historical material in child avuse inquiries?
In what ways can inquiries succeed or fail as forms of public history in increasing public understanding of historic abuse?
Speakers:

Professor Pirjo Markkola (Tampere University and former director of the Finnish national child abuse inquiry)

Professor Eoin O’Sullivan (Trinity College Dublin; his work with Mary Raftery on the history of abuse in Irish industrial schools led to the setting up of the Ryan Commission)

Professor Johanna Sköld (Linköping University and former member of the secretariat for the Swedish Inquiry into Child Abuse and Neglect in Institutions and Foster Homes)

Professor Shurlee Swain (Australian Catholic University and contributor of historical research to numerous abuse inquiries in Australia)

Event organiser:

Gordon Lynch is Michael Ramsey Professor of Modern Theology at the University of Kent. He has undertaken a range of research and public history projects in relation to the history of UK child migration programmes, including a national museum exhibition at the V&A Museum of Childhood and the musical project, The Ballads of Child Migration. He has served as an expert witness for the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, and continues to serve in this capacity for the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry.