Professor Melissa Crouch, opens in a new window has been awarded the Research Committee on the Sociology of Law’s (RCSL) 2022 Podgórecki Prize for outstanding scholarship. The prestigious prize recognises a socio-legal researcher’s achievements within ten years of completing their PhD. RCSL President Professor Ole Hammerslev, from Lund University’s Sociology of Law department, conferred the award today at a conference in Lund, Sweden. 

Over the past ten years, Prof. Crouch’s research has focused on authoritarian regimes and the challenges for law, the legal profession and the courts in such contexts. The rise of populism, the decline of democracy and the global pandemic mean that the challenges of building and maintaining constitutionalism and the rule of law in illiberal and authoritarian regimes remain urgent. 

“It is a real privilege to be the recipient of this award, and I thank the RCSL for this endorsement of my research,” said Prof. Crouch. 

“The RCSL plays an important role in connecting and fostering a global intellectual community of sociolegal scholars. One of the great strengths of the RCSL is its focus on legal pluralism and the legal profession.” 

Prof. Crouch has contributed to RCSL’s International Working Group of Comparative Studies on Legal Professions, opens in a new window initiatives, including the second edition of the classic Richard Abel collaborative text, opens in a new window on lawyers in the 21st century. She has also collaborated with former RCSL president Professor Ulrike Schultz, opens in a new window in a project recently reviewed in the International Journal of Constitutional Law symposium on Women and the Judiciary in the Asia-Pacific. 

UNSW Professors Adam Czarnota, opens in a new window,  Martin Krygier, opens in a new window, and Professor Adriaan Bedner from the University of Leiden supported Prof. Crouch’s award nomination. The international prize committee for 2022 included Professor Germano Schwartz, opens in a new window (chair), Professor Benoit Bastard, opens in a new window (University of Paris) and Professor Dee Smythe, opens in a new window (University of Cape Town). 

The Research Committee on the Sociology of Law, opens in a new window (RCSL) is the leading international academic association for the sociology of law affiliated with the International Sociological Association, opens in a new window. Since 2005, the RCSL has awarded the Podgórecki Prize, opens in a new window in memory of the late Adam Podgórecki, a distinguished scholar of the sociology of law and RCSL’s pioneering founder. The prize is awarded in alternate years for distinguished and outstanding lifetime achievements, or outstanding scholarship of a socio-legal researcher at an earlier stage of his or her career.