Parul University Hosts the 3rd International Conference on Global Criminology and Victimology (ICGCV 2026)

What is required to create safer, more just societies? Some of the most renowned criminology and victimology experts from around the world visited Parul University between 27 and 31st July 2026 to attempt to find an answer to that question. ICGCV 2026, the 3rd International Conference on Global Criminology and Victimology, was an intense, five-day discussion around crime, justice, and the rights of victims that united academics, lawyers, police, representatives from civil society, and students from more than a dozen countries on five continents.

ICGCV 2026 is organised by the ThinkJustice Foundation and the Faculty of Law, Parul University, in partnership with the British Society of Criminology (BSC), United Kingdom (UK), and the Critical Criminology Network. Its partners included the World Society of Victimology (WSV), the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS), De Montfort University Policy Unit (UK), and others. It transcended boundaries and perceptions, as the conference included faculty and speakers from India, the United Kingdom, Spain, Argentina, Slovenia, Australia, the United States, Norway, Malaysia, Nigeria, and Bangladesh. This conference’s theme was “Building Safer Futures: Solution-Oriented Approaches in Criminology and Victimology towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.”

The conference was built for depth. Over five days, it featured:

• Two days of pre-conference workshops (10 in all), on topics from solution-oriented policing to green criminology and criminal mediation.
• An opening keynote and two further keynote addresses from internationally recognised scholars.
• Five plenary sessions on victim-centered justice, crime and environment, victim support, indigenous perspectives, and structural harm.
• A special panel discussion on creating safer societies and 24 thematic technical sessions plus a poster track showcasing new research.

Together, these sessions featured some 200 research presentations from scholars and students across the world.

The inaugural ceremony was conducted traditionally in the auditorium of the Medical College, where the lamp was lit, and a movie made by Parul University was shown. Prof. Dr. Rajendra I. Parikh, Dean of the Faculty of Law, welcomed the delegates and set the tone for the conference as a gathering to connect legal theory with the ground by stating that it would contribute to any concrete reform and victim support systems. Thanks to the organising team led by Prof. Dr. Debarati Halder and Prof. Dr. Richa Mishra. Prof. (Dr.) K. N. Madhusoodanan, Provost of Parul University, in his special address, said that it is not only because the subject of crime is constantly developing alongside technology but also because understanding crime requires a collaborative approach of law, sociology, psychology, public policy, and technology; no single field can be adequate to meet the challenge.

A recurring theme was fairness in scholarship itself. Prof. Ruwan Uduwerage-Perera of De Montfort University, Chair of the conference’s Scientific Programme Committee, urged that the future of criminal justice depend on ground-level collaboration between researchers, practitioners, police, and local communities, sharing observations from fieldwork with tribal communities in Madhya Pradesh, and noting India’s gradual shift from reactive to prevention-oriented, community-rooted policing.

The ThinkJustice Foundation’s leaders, Dr. Bhanu Prakash Nunna (Vice-President of the World Society of Victimology) and Dr. Manikandan Soundararajan (who also chairs the Postgraduate Committee of the British Society of Criminology), set out the conference’s deeper mission: to give scholars and students in the Global South, where criminology and victimology have historically received less attention, greater access to international networks, and to ensure that research from India and other Global South nations gains the recognition it deserves.

The inaugural address brought that mission to a stark, human focus. Mr. Bezwada Wilson, the Ramon Magsaysay Awardee and Founder and National Convenor of the Safai Karmachari Andolan, reflected on manual scavenging as one of India’s most enduring forms of structural victimisation. Drawing on his own experience and the influence of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, he described how caste-based discrimination denies dignity and justice to entire communities and how sanitation workers continue to lose their lives in hazardous conditions. He called on researchers, engineers, and policymakers to develop human-centered technological solutions to end hazardous manual labour, and urged the academic community to treat social justice as a priority. His address was a powerful reminder that victimology must extend beyond narrow legal definitions of crime to include structural violence, social exclusion, and institutional neglect.

The opening keynote came from Prof. Dr. Gema Maria Varona Martinez, President of the World Society of Victimology and Professor at the University of the Basque Country, Spain, chaired by Prof. Dr. Nigel South of the University of Essex. Her subject, “Wrongful Convictions in Spain,” introduced the idea of “eclipsed victimisation,” the largely invisible harm suffered by people wrongly convicted by the state and by their families. She argued that justice cannot end with a legal exoneration: it requires acknowledgement, rehabilitation, and reform. It set the intellectual tone for a conference determined to see the victims that systems often overlook.

During the five days of keynotes, plenaries, thematic sessions, and a poster track, ICGCV 2026 furthered a unified vision to unite scholarship, public policy, and frontline practice in creating safer, more inclusive, and more sustainable societies. Having an international conference of this kind, jointly organised with the British Society of Criminology and the World Society of Victimology, is a serious effort at Parul University to promote research work for the service of society. It was an opportunity for the students to gain knowledge from and present with those who are currently creating the global dialogue on justice.