Laudatio delivered by Luca Verzelloni at the occasion of the Lund 2023 RCSL Annual Meeting:
Esteemed Research Committee,
Esteemed Prize Committee,
Distinguished Colleagues and Friends,
It is with great pleasure and honour that I provide a summary of the reasons behind the nomination of Professor Sharyn Roach Anleu to the RCSL-ISA Ad-am Podgórecki Prize – lifetime achievements – year 2023.
This nomination has been jointly submitted alongside two esteemed colleagues who, regrettably, cannot be with us here in Lund: Robyn Holder, Senior Research Fellow at the Griffith Criminology Institute, Australia, and Alex-ander Sasha Kondakov, Assistant Professor at the UCD School of Sociology, Ireland. Therefore, I shall speak on their behalf as well.
Following the inspirational example set by the founding father of our Research Committee – Adam Podgórecki – Professor Roach Anleu has made outstanding contributions to the advancement of knowledge in socio-legal research.
To support her nomination, I would like to briefly focus on three pivotal aspects of her distinguished career:
1. scientific contribution;
2. ability to overcome disciplinary boundaries;
3. training of the new generations of legal scholars.
Scientific Contribution
Firstly, throughout her illustrious career, Professor Roach Anleu’s research has revolved around two central themes: legal professions and the intricate inter-play between law and other regulatory mechanisms. Her contributions to the scholarly literature have been extensive, encompassing a diverse range of topics, including:
1. the everyday work of courts and judicial officers;
2. judging and humour;
3. professionalization of judiciary;
4. women in law;
5. deviance and social control.
But, probably, her most significant contribution concerns the empirical analyses of the emotional dimensions of judicial work. In this context, it is im-portant to highlight her innovative application of some key sociological concepts – such as emotional labour, job satisfaction, professionalization, and work/family balance – to a population – the judiciary – and to a specific public organization – the court of justice – that have not been previously studied as a profession and as a workplace.
Ability to overcome disciplinary boundaries;
Secondly, she has played a pioneering role in overcoming disciplinary boundaries by connecting socio-legal studies with other disciplines, such as sociology, psychology, cultural studies, gender studies, criminology, and organizational studies, among others. Her work has inspired scholars and prac-titioners from both the global south and north and her research has had a tangible impact on society, as she has actively promoted judicial well-being and the socio-emotional development of the justice system.
Training of the new generations of legal scholars
Lastly, we have to remember her contributions to the training of the next gen-erations of socio-legal scholars around the world. She has a longstanding commitment to the Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law, and she has consistently demonstrated her profound commitment to mentoring and supporting emerging socio-legal scholars, leaving an indelible mark on the academic community.
Allow me to share a personal experience – I can personally attest to her dedication, passion, and attention toward young scholars and colleagues.
For all these reasons, we firmly believe that Professor Sharyn Roach Anleu deserves the lifetime RCSL-ISA Adam Podgórecki Prize, in recognition of her groundbreaking contributions to the field of socio-legal studies.
Thank you very much for your attention.
Luca Verzelloni
luca.verzelloni<at>unimib.it
2023 Podgórecki Prize Acceptance Speech by Sharyn Roach Anleu
I am deeply honoured to be receiving the 2023 Podgórecki Prize. I would first like to thank my nominators: Dr Luca Verzelloni, Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Milano-Bicocca, Dr Robyn Holder, Griffith Criminology Institute, Griffith University and Dr Alexander Kondakov, School of Sociology, University College Dublin. I also appreciate Luca’s very generous words of introduction and lovely overview of the nomination.
Second, I would like to thank the members of the 2023 Podgórecki Prize Committee: Christian Boulanger, Germany (chair), Jiri Priban, U.K. and Alysia Blackham, Australia. I appreciate their hard work assessing the nominations and know from my own experience such committees involve difficult decisions.
The 2023 Podgórecki Prize goes to a senior scholar for distinguished and outstanding lifetime achievements.
I take this as an invitation to look backwards and reflect on my career.
There a a few key moments or turning points, which I only realise their significance by looking back. It was not apparent to me at the time, how life changing some of these moments were. In some ways, I enjoyed a fair amount of luck, serendipity or being at the right place at the right time. However, I have observed senior women often attributing their achievements or success to luck (perhaps suggesting a randomness) rather than their own hard work, acumen, and intelligence. I prefer Seneca’s definition of luck: opportunity meets preparation.
My career in socio-legal research has been more of a following my nose, a wandering, rather than the strategizing and career building architecture that is now required in the contemporary university. I can identify four important moments, or junctures:
1. My appointment at Flinders University – with the brief to establish the sociology of law. During my interview, I gave a talk about Weber and the legal profession. My doctoral dissertation was on women in-house counsel in the US, which I completed at the University of Connecticut, studying with Myra Marx Ferree, Albert Cohen, Seymour Warkov and Eve Spangler. . The job interview went well; my cv was a couple of conference presentations, no journal articles, book chapters or books, but a US PhD in hand.
2. Research Collaboration with Kathy Mack at Flinders University: we have a complementary skill set, and our Judicial Research Project which commenced in 2000 continues. It is a national project, funded by the Australian Research Council, which has looked at many aspects of judicial life and work across the full range of Australia’s courts. With comparative analyses and collaboration with the National Center for State Courts, and many conversations with Stina Bergman Blix and Åsa Wettergren regarding their similar research in Sweden. Traditionally the judiciary has been considered hard to reach for empirical researchers. Through surveys, court observations, interviews, as well as secondary data and documents – we have examined: job satisfaction, work-family intersections, impartiality, and legitimacy, and most recently judging and emotion. I am on a current project examining judicial stress and wellbeing.
3. Invitation to teach at the International Institute for the Sociology of Law in Oñati. Over several years I have taught socio-legal research methods and research design and have learned so much about diverse research projects in many different countries. There is so much to say about the Institute, that I would here all day.
4. Participating in the RCSL. It is a friendly, just-right conference: not too small and not too large. I think it is where I first met Luca, though I now don’t recollect. Also working closely with Ulrike in these past years has been a real pleasure. Again, a lifetime of socio-legal research means making friendships with like-minded colleagues all working on aspects of law and society across diverse disciplines and countries is possible, and enjoyable. This is the context for guiding and inspiring work.
I am deeply honoured to receive the 2023 Podgórecki Prize. Thank you. Have a wonderful conference which is so well organised and curated by Ole Hammerslev and the local team here in Lund.
Sharyn Roach Anleu
sharyn.roachanleu<at>flinders.edu.au
See the 2023 Podgórecki Prize Call for Nominations
Back to the Podgórecki Prize History
This page last updated 20 May 2024; texts first published in RCSL Newsletter 2023(2), p. 9 f.