Richard Mitchell, Ph.D.

Faculty of Social Sciences - Child and Youth Studies




Richard Mitchell, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
CRN - 352
Phone (905) 688-5550, Ext. 5085
Email: richard.mitchell@brocku.ca


Dr. Mitchell is a graduate of the University of Victoria in British Columbia, and completed his Ph.D in Sociology and Social Policy with Scotland's University of Stirling. His dissertation is entitled 'The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in Postmodernity: A Grounded Systemic Analysis of Children's Rights Educational Policies in Scotland and Canada'. He has taught courses within childhood and youth studies, social work and qualitative research. In a previous career, Dr. Mitchell worked as a child and youth counselor in British Columbia education, mental health and specialized foster-care for two decades. His research and consultancy focus upon international and transdisciplinary approaches to implementing the human rights of children and young people within institutional and community-based settings.

Research Interests

  • Theoretical, Social, and Legal Constructions of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
  • Human Rights Theory, Policy, Law and Practice
  • Citizenship and Social Policy Discourses for Young People
  • Transdisciplinarity in Theory and Methodology
  • Critical Social Pedagogy
  • Participatory action, ethnographic and grounded theory approaches to research with Children and Young People
  • Sociology of Childhood
  • Sociology of Human Rights
  • Autopoietic Systems Theory
     

Recent Publications

R.C. Mitchell & S.A. Moore (Eds. 2012) Politics, Participation & Power
Relations: Transdisciplinary Approaches to Critical Citizenship in the Classroom and Community. Rotterdam, Boston and Taipei: Sense Publishers.

R.C. Mitchell & S.A. Moore (Eds. 2012) Introduction in R.C. Mitchell and S.A.
Moore Politics, Participation & Power Relations: Transdisciplinary Approaches to Critical Citizenship in the Classroom and Community, pp. 1-7.
Rotterdam, Boston and Taipei: Sense Publishers.

S.A. Moore & R.C. Mitchell (2012) Transdisciplinary Approaches to Young People’s Citizenship: From Bystanders to Action in R.C. Mitchell and S.A.
Moore (Eds. 2012) Politics, Participation & Power Relations Transdisciplinary Approaches to Critical Citizenship in the Classroom and Community, pp. 183-205. Rotterdam, Boston and Taipei: Sense Publishers.

S.A. Moore & R.C. Mitchell (2012) Rights-based Restorative Justice in Canada:
From Silence to Citizenship in Oxford Law and Childhood Studies Current Legal Issues Volume 14, Edited by Professor Michael Freeman on behalf of The Faculty of Laws, University College London, pp. 202-218. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.

R.C. Mitchell, B. May, S. Purdy & C. Vella (2012) UNESCO Biosphere Reserves:
Towards Common Conceptual Ground in The Biosphere, Dr. Natarajan Ishwaran (Ed. 2012), pp. 285-302. Shanghai and Rijeka: InTech Open Access Publishers.

S.A. Moore and R.C. Mitchell (Eds. 2012) Politics, Participation & Power Relations: Transdisciplinary Approaches to Critical Citizenship in the Classroom and Community, Sense Publishers: Rotterdam and Taipei.

R.C. Mitchell (2011) "Sustaining Change on a Canadian Campus: Preparing Brock University for a Campus Sustainability Audit", International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 12(1): 7-21.

S.A. Moore and R.C. Mitchell (2011) "Human Rights Within/Without Education: A Critical Pedagogy for Troubling Times", (pp. 189-210) An Ethics of Care: Educating the Young, Jeanne Kentel (Ed), Oxford: Peter Lang Publishing.

S.A. Moore and R.C. Mitchell (2011) "Rights-based Restorative Justice in Canada: From Silence to Citizenship", "in Press" in Current Legal Issues University College London Law and Childhood Studies Colloquium 2010 edited by Professor Michael Freeman, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

R.C. Mitchell (2011) "Human Rights and Health Promotion: A Canada Fit for Children", International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies (in press).

R.C. Mitchell (2010) “Who’s Afraid Now? Reconstructing Canadian Citizenship Education through Transdisciplinarity”, Review of Education, Pedagogy and Cultural Studies 32(1): 37-65. 

S.A. Moore and R.C. Mitchell (2010) “Theorising Rights-based Restorative Justice: The Canadian Context”, The International Journal of Children’s Rights 19(1): 81-105.

R.C. Mitchell (2009) Book Review on "A Commentary on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child published by the Martinus Nijhoff affiliate of Brill Academic Publishers", The International Journal of Children's Rights 17(1): 171-175.
 
S.A. Moore and R.C. Mitchell (2009) "Rights Based Restorative Praxis: Promoting compliance with International Standards", Youth Justice: A Sage International Journal 9(1): 27-43.
 
R.C. Mitchell and S.A. Moore (2008) "Searching for Common Ground: Power, Pedagogy and Praxis in the Globalized Classroom". (pp. 1-17) Introduction in S.A Moore & R.C. Mitchell (Eds.), Power, Pedagogy and Praxis: Social Justice in the Globalized Classroom. Boston, Rotterdam and Taipei: Sense Publishers. 

S.A. Moore, R.C. Mitchell and Melchior, L. (2008) "Rights-Based Critical (dis)Abilities Studies - Power, Pedagogy & Praxis" , pp. 233-250 in S.A. Moore & R.C. Mitchell (Eds.) Power, Pedagogy and Praxis: Social Justice in the Globalized Classroom. Boston, Rotterdam and Taipei: Sense Publishers.

R.C. Mitchell and McCusker, S. (2008) "Theorizing the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child within Canadian Post-Secondary Education: A Grounded Theory Approach", The International Journal of Children's Rights 16(2): 159-176.

Guest Editor for Special Volume of The International Journal of Children's Rights 2008 16(2): 159-279 from International Conference Papers presented during 'Investment and Citizenship: Towards a Transdisciplinary Dialogue on Child and Youth Human Rights' 19-21 July, 2006 hosted by CHYS.

R.C. Mitchell (2007) "Grounded Theory and Autopoietic Social Systems: Are they methodologically compatible", Qualitative Sociological Review 3(2): 5-18.

S.A. Moore and R.C. Mitchell (2007) "Herstelrecht volgens de mensenrechtenprincipes" (or "Rights-based Restorative Justice", Het Tijdschrift voor Jeugdrecht en Kinderrechten (or TJK - Flemish Journal for Youth and Children's Law) 5(4): 1-22.


Peer-reviewed Conference Presentations and Reports
 
R.C. Mitchell (2011) Brock Environmental Sustainability Research Unit Inaugural Event and Seminar Presentation at Rodman Hall, St. Catharines "Brock University Carbon Audit Executive Report (in partnership with HRCarbon Consultants) 9 March, 2011".  Refer to: www.scstandard.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx
 
R.C. Mitchell (2011) "Social-ecological Inventories: Building Resilience to Environmental Change within Biosphere Reserves". Chaired and co-hosted 2-Day Experts Workshop with Swedish and Canadian scientists/social scientists/students 7-8 March, 2011 in partnership with Environment Canada Adaption and Impacts Research Section (AIRS), Stockholm Environmental Institute, and Brock Environmental Sustainability Research Unit. Refer to:www.resalliance.org/cdirs/raprojects/index.php/11 and http://brocku.ca/brock-environmental-sustainability-research-unit.
 
R.C. Mitchell (2011) "Human Rights and Health Promotion: A Canada Fit for Children?" Research Paper Presentation during Promoting Health Equity: Action on the Social Determinants of Health 11-12 February, 2011 at Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario.
 
R.C. Mitchell and Jay Parmar of HRCarbon Consultants (2010) "Research Report for Brock University GHG (Carbon) Footprint",  Executive Summary for 2008.
 
R.C. Mitchell and S.A. Moore (2010) “The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: A Transdisciplinary Tool for Democratic Citizenship Education” Research paper presentation for International Journal of Arts and Sciences Interdisciplinary Conference, Aix-en-Provence, France 8-11 June, 2010.
 
S.A. Moore and R.C. Mitchell (2010) “Rights-based Restorative Justice in Canada: From Silence to Citizenship”, University College London Law and Childhood Studies Colloquium 5-6 July, 2010 Convenor: Professor Michael Freeman, UCL, London, England.
 
S.A. Moore, and R.C. Mitchell (20 November, 2009) “Why Canadian Educators are Violating the CRC - and three actions CRAN member might undertake in Response”. Report Submitted to Child Rights Academic Research Network (CRAN) AGM, 2009, Shaking the Movers III, Carlton University, Ottawa.

R.C. Mitchell (22 May 2009) "Young People's Rights-based Health Promotion in Canada's Niagara Region", paper presented during "Fifth International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry (QI2009)- Advancing Human Rights through Qualitative Research" 20-23 May, 2009, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
 

S.A. Moore and R.C. Mitchell (22 May 2009) "International Standards, Local Realities: A Grounded Theory Approach to Rights-based Restorative Justice in Canada", paper presented during the "Fifth International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry (QI2009) - Advancing Human Rights through Qualitative Research" 20-23 May, 2009, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

R.C. Mitchell and Corman, J. (2009) "Sustaining Change at Brock: Research Report on Preparing Brock University for the CAMPUS SUSTAINABILITY AUDIT 2008-2009". [Brock University's REB File # 08-067 MITCHELL/CORMAN].

S.A. Moore and R.C. Mitchell (October 2008) "Rights Based Restorative Praxis: From Compliance to International Standards to Local Program Evaluation", paper presented during '2008 International Institute of Restorative Justice World Conference', October 22-24, Toronto, ON.

S.A. Moore and R.C. Mitchell (2008) "Rights-Based Restorative Justice: Promoting Compliance with International Standards" paper presented during 'Youth Justice 2008: Measuring Compliance with International Standards Conference' Faculty of Law University College Cork 4-6 April 2008, Cork, Ireland.

R.C. Mitchell and S.A. Moore (10-12 December, 2007) United Nations Non-Governmental Representatives for UNICEF Canada during "Commemorative High-Level Plenary Meetings during World Fit for Children + 5" at UN General Assembly Headquarters New York, NY.

R.C. Mitchell (20 November 2007) "National Child Day and A Canada Fit for Children: How about a healthy environment?" keynote paper presented for 'Join the Revolution' Go Green health promotion/human rights Conference' in partnership with Dr. Robin Williams Chief Medical Officer of Niagara Health Region.

R.C. Mitchell (Sept/06/May/08) In partnership with UNICEF Canada and Department of Canadian Heritage Human Rights Directorate "Halfway There: A Canada Fit for Children in A World Fit for Children Cross Canadian Lecture Series". Research report available from: http://www.unicef.ca/portal/SmartDefault.aspx?at=2034
  

Community Affiliations

  • Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children (2001-present)
  • Niagara Region Child Rights Interest Group (2004-present)
  • Niagara Region Public Health Department REACT program - (consultant 2005-present)
  • United Nations Non-Governmental Representative 2000-2002 for the “Special Session of the General Assembly on Children” and its Preparatory Committee Sessions
  • Results-Resultats Canada: Non-Governmental Organization "creating the political will to end hunger and the worst aspects of poverty” 1999-Present