The Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, in conjunction with the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute, held a workshop in Barcelona on September 15, 2009 .This follows from

It was an excellent opportunity to exchange and debate about the trends in  ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) and in ODR (Online Dispute Resolution), their scope and core principles.

This workshop is part of a legal studies program undertaken at the UOC at national and international level in ADR/ODR, with the aim of making progress on the building of "bridges" that will allow interoperability between the current two existing pathways on justice administration (deliberative/adversarial justice). As it is known, ADRs and ODRs embody methods or processes that have emerged spontaneously due to challenges to the courts, and are becoming catalysts of the two traditional systems of conflict solving between individuals.

The event has been encouraged by the ongoing preparation by the Department of Justice of Catalonia of a White Book on mediation containing in-depth research on the state of mediation and alternative systems of management and dispute resolution in Catalonia.

Graham Ross, MD and founder of The MediationRoom was invited to present at the event. The list of speakers and the program can be found here.

You can download here Graham Ross's paper, "Building Trust Online. How to adapt mediation and negotiation techniques to the virtual environment"in advance of its publication with the proceedings of the workshop.

It is believed that the proceedings may soon be uploaded to the site.