Centre for Mediation and Conflict Management
Centre for Mediation and Conflict Management
About us
The Centre for Mediation and Conflict Management is a practice centre providing a knowledge platform that aims to share resources and good practice on mediation, within the University and for the wider community.
As of May 2020, our co-directors are John Paul Hayes and Catherine Hobby. Our members form our Steering Committee; the Committee advises on all aspects of the Centre.
The Centre for Mediation and Conflict Management was established by staff mediators, coming from several areas of the University representing academic and professional services. We have now been joined by academics interested in researching mediation and conflict management.
Our mediators support the UEL Mediation Scheme co-ordinated by Nina Harding, the Mediation Officer who is a member of our Steering Committee. The Service offers mediation and support with conflict management to University Staff who have experienced work-based conflict. We are also members of the Mediators Community of Practice.
Our objectives
- To make mediation and conflict management commonplace in the workplace.
- To support individuals and organisations in addressing workplace conflict.
We look to achieve this through:
- Research
- Enterprise
- Student development
The team
Joint Director Catherine Hobby
Catherine Hobby, senior lecturer in law. Catherine is a qualified mediator and coach. She was admitted to the Law Society as a solicitor in 1991 and has worked for the whistleblowing charity Public Concern at Work, (now Protect). She is also a member of the Law Society, the Industrial Law Society, the Institute of Employment Rights and is a fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She is interested in the areas of whistleblowing, human rights, employment law and human resources.

Joint Director Dr John Paul Hayes
Dr John Paul Hayes, senior lecturer in strategy and responsible management. John Paul is a qualified mediator and coach. He has worked with various international organisations from public, private and third sectors (e.g. The World Bank, DfID, The Partnering Initiative, Unilever and The British Red Cross). He is particularly interested in how conflict and management tensions are addressed in inter-organisational collaborations.

Other key members of the team
Nina Harding
Nina Harding is a Learning & Development Officer for HR Services, and is the Mediation Coordinator for our Mediation Service.
Rebecca Page-Tickell
Rebecca Page-Tickell is the Director for Education & Experience for the Royal Docks School of Business & Law and senior lecturer in work-based learning at the University of East London. Also, a principal practitioner with the Association for Business Psychology.
Elizabeth Stokes
Elizabeth Stokes is a Senior Lecturer in Law specialising in Criminal Law, Human Rights, Mental Health & Criminal Justice. She is also a workplace mediator.
What we do
The Centre for Mediation and Conflict Management (CMCM) is a platform for sharing knowledge and good practices of mediation, within the University and for the wider community.
The long term aims include:
- Setting up a Student Mediation Service, for student-student disputes. This Service would also aim to give students the opportunity to participate in, and potentially receive training on mediation.
- Offering Community Outreach mediation to local residents. This may be limited to workplace mediation, or may include other types such as family mediation.
- Conducting academic research on mediation practices.
UEL also has a Mediation Service, dedicated to offering mediation and conflict resolution to University staff disputes. Currently, this is offered through UEL Human Resources.

What is Mediation?
Resources
Events
‘Restorative Justice’
The Mediators Community of Practice will be meeting Wednesday 15 March from 2.30-4.00pm online in a Teams meeting.
Guest speaker will be Mark Tsagas of the University of East London on Restorative Justice and this will be followed by a Q&A and Open Discussion on gender based disputes.
If you wish to attend, please email the CMCM at cmcm@uel.ac.uk and we will email you the link.
Social Media
What are people talking about?
Find out more on our Twitter feed!
Contact us
Email: cmcm@uel.ac.uk