Memory and Justice Research Center

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Mission
The mission of the Center is to investigate the influence of the phenomenon of memory on legal, social, and historical realities. Through its activities, the Center aims to foster an interdisciplinary research environment, promote innovation and international collaboration, explore new research methodologies, and achieve breakthroughs in the fields of law, history, and memory studies.

Objectives of the Center:

To examine how the historical experiences and collective memory of Lithuania and other countries interact with the legal framework, legal theory, and traditions.
To explore how technological advancements impact the phenomenon of collective memory.
To investigate the relationship between the legal regulation of collective memory and issues of human rights, international law, and historical justice.

Key Research Areas:

The phenomenon of memory: social, legal, psychological, and technological aspects.
Interconnections and interactions between memory, history, and law.
Memory, history, criminology, and victimology.
The impact of memory and historical phenomena on the legal regulation of crimes against humanity, genocide, and war crimes.
Memory, democracy, and human rights.

Director:
Dr. Monika Rogers
monika.rogers@mruni.eu

Ongoing projects

“Mnemonic Reality: Investigating Memory Law’s Impact on Reality and Reality’s Impact on Memory Laws” – An international project funded by VolkswagenStiftung (Germany).
“Seeking Justice for Victims of Genocide, Mass Repressions, and War in Lithuania and Ukraine: Law, History, Memory” – Funded by the Research Council of Lithuania.
In 2023, as part of the program “Universities’ Excellence Initiative,” Mykolas Romeris University (MRU) launched the project “Establishment of Centers of Excellence.” The Center for Memory and Justice will implement the project “The Concept of Victimhood and the Protection of Victims’ Rights in Eastern Europe: From History to Contemporary Challenges” (VICTIM).

The VICTIM project, focusing on the field of law, examines how the concept of a crime victim is understood within the legal systems and criminology of Eastern European countries. This concept will be analyzed in the context of both individual crimes (e.g., homicide, sexual violence) and mass crimes against humanity. The project also investigates how historical events, such as the Soviet occupation, have influenced the understanding of victimhood. Furthermore, it explores whether the concept differs today between Eastern Europe and the Western world.

The project involves an international team of experts led by Dr. Kateryna Latysh, including Dr. Monika Rogers (MRU, Lithuania), Prof. Dr. Marianna Muravyeva (University of Helsinki), Dr. Mirosław Michał Sadowski (Poland, United Kingdom, Portugal), Prof. Dr. Mykhaylo Shepitko (Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University, Kharkiv), and Yuliya Brin (University of Helsinki). Researchers from various countries have united to examine the situation in the Baltic States, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, and the Balkans.

More information can be found here: (1).