Professor Theo Gavrielides (Ph.D) is a legal philosopher and one of the world’s leading experts in restorative justice, human rights and youth justice. As a restorative justice leader and a criminal law barrister, he believes in the power of communities and individual action in addressing power abuses and human suffering.

Theo is also a single dad of a very energetic and ambitious teenager. He defines as “Greek Londoner” and as “European” with a world citizenship status.

He is the Founder and Director of the Restorative Justice for All (RJ4All) International Institute, which aims to advance community cohesion and address power abuses through restorative justice. The Institute is based in the UK and recently opened its offices in Cyprus under the brand RJ4All Europe. He also founded and is the Editor-in-Chief of RJ4All Publications, which is the publishing arm of RJ4All. He set up RJ4All Sports the fitness branch of RJ4All as well as RJ4All Education, the educational arm of RJ4All.

Dr. Gavrielides is a Visiting Professor at University Arts London (Central Saint Martins), Buckinghamshire New University and the University of Free State in South Africa.

He is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the peer-reviewed Youth Voice Journal and Internet Journal of Restorative Justice. He is the coordinator of over 50 EU funded projects on violent radicalisation, hate crime, migration, restorative justice, youth and human rights. Dr. Gavrielides is the Convener of the Level 5 Diploma in Restorative Justice Practice and of over 40 CPD courses.

He is an advisor to the European Commission, a Member of the International Expert Panel of Social Sciences of the Slovak Research and Development Agency, a Member of the Prisons Rehabilitation and Reintegration Panel of the EU Knowledge Hub on Prevention of Radicalisation and a member of the Hall Committee of the Honourable Society of Middle Temple Inn.

Education

He obtained a Doctorate in Law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (PhD, 2005) and a Masters in Human Rights Law from Nottingham University (LL.M in Human Rights Law, 2000). He graduated from the Faculty of Laws of the National University of Athens.

He was admitted to the Bar by the Bar Standards Board of England and Wales and called to the Bar in 2023 (Middle Temple Inn).

He is also a qualified Personal Trainer and a restorative justice practitioner. 

Summary of professional experience

In 2001, he founded The IARS International Institute (now named Sculpt), a youth-led charity. In 2020, almost 20 years since IARS’ establishment, he stepped down as its Director. 

He also served as an International Consultant for (ODIHR) of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), an Honorary Visiting Professor at the University of East London, a Visiting Professorial Research Fellow at Panteion University of Social & Political Science (Greece), as a Distinguished Policy Fellow at the School of Regulation and Global Governance (REGNet) of Australian National University, as an Adjunct Professor at the School of Criminology of Simon Fraser University (Canada) and as a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the International Centre for Comparative Criminological Research (ICCCR) at Open University (UK). He has also acted as an advisor to a number of government legal departments including the Chilean and UK Ministries of Justice, the Ministry of Justice of Uruguay, the Mayor of London, the Council of Europe and the British Council in the Middle East. In 2008, he was the Chief Executive of Race on the Agenda, a social policy think-tank focusing on race equality. He also served as the Editor-in-Chief for the International Journal of Human Rights in Healthcare  for over 10 years.

In 2005-6, he was the Human Rights Advisor of the UK Ministry of Justice (Strategy Directorate). There, he worked on the Human Rights Insight Project, which aimed to identify strategies that will further implement the principles underlying the Human Rights Act and improve public services. He also advised on the Ministry’s Education, Information and Advice strategy.

During 2002-2004, he worked as a Researcher at the Centre for the Study of Human Rights of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Volunteering

Some of his volunteering roles include being a trustee of the Anne Frank Trust, a Governor at Albion Primary School, an Advisory Board Member of the Institute for Diversity Research, Inclusivity, Communities and Society (IDRICS), as a Member of the Scrutiny and Involvement Panel of the Crown Prosecution Service and the Independent Advisory Group of the London Criminal Justice Partnership. He also volunteers for RJ4All’s food bank and organised wellbeing circles for single parents at We are Family.

Summary of Publications

Prof. Gavrielides has published extensively on social justice and he is one of the world’s leading authors on restorative justice.

Currently, he is working on two new collected editions: Gavrielides, T. (2027), Inter-community & inter-state conflicts: Restorative Justice Peacebuilding, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan and Gavrielides, T. (2028), Hope post war & large-scale conflicts: The power of restorative communities, Abingdon: Routledge. He is also writing Gavrielides, T. (Forthcoming 2028). A Research Agenda for Restorative Justice. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publications.

His 2025 book Addressing Violent Radicalisation and Extremism: A Restorative Justice & Psychosocial Approach was published  by Springer. In 2021, Gavrielides published Power, Race & Justice: The restorative dialogue we won’t have (Routledge), which received multiple awards. His 2007 monograph “Restorative Justice Theory and Practice” was published by the European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control affiliated with the United Nations (HEUNI).

In 2012, he edited  “Rights and Restoration within Youth Justice”, in 2013 he co-edited ‘Reconstructing Restorative Justice Philosophy’ and in 2015 he edited ‘The Philosophy of Restorative Justice’ both published by Ashgate (now Routledge). He also edited ‘Offenders no More’ by NOVA Publishers (2015) and ‘Restorative Justice, The Library of Essays on Justice’ (2015) by Ashgate. Furthermore, he edited  ‘The Routledge International Handbook of Restorative Justice’ (2018), “Comparative Restorative Justice” (2021) by Springer and co-edited (2022). Restorative Justice: Promoting Peace and Wellbeing by Springer.