THE UIHJ INNOVATION TEAM
The Innovation Team of the UIHJ is a permanent working group set up within the International Union of Judicial Officers.
This article aims to tell you how this group was set up, what it does in its daily life, and how it is made up.
Above all, the Innovation Team can quite simply be summed up as a beautiful human story!
History
The Innovation Team originated in the preparations for the International Congress of Judicial Officers of Cape Town, South Africa, in 2012. Mathieu Chardon, current 1st Vice-President of the UIHJ, set up a “Grand Questionnaire” working group to launch this immense project which made it possible to collect countless information on our profession from all the members of the UIHJ.
During the International Congress of Judicial Officers of Madrid, Spain, in 2015, the “Grand Questionnaire” working group was enlarged and proposed to develop the “Grand Questionnaire” as it existed on the former site of the UIHJ towards a more modern and efficient tool being the “Survey Monkey”, a tool that allows to be more responsive to requests from members of the UIHJ.
As the work and discussions between the UIHJ board and the “Grand Questionnaire” working group progressed, the subjects became more and more varied and broader than the questionnaires.
This was particularly true at the time of the preparations for the International Congress of Judicial Officers of Bangkok, Thailand, in 2018. Little by little, under the leadership of Honorary President Françoise Andrieux, this group began, de facto, to be seen as proposing innovative ideas such as the use of technological tools like video presentation in Bangkok, as well as the reactivation of social networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn.
The idea naturally came from Honorary President Andrieux to name this group “Innovation Team” and to perpetuate its existence as a permanent working group within the UIHJ.
The first three members of this group were Jona Van Leeuwen (Netherlands), Fanny Cornette (Netherlands) and Patrick Gielen (Belgium).
Missions of the Innovation Team
The missions of the Innovation Team are not fixed in advance and have been put in place over the years according to the needs of the UIHJ.
The main missions devolved to the Innovation Team are, at present, the following:
– Grand Questionnaire “Survey Monkey”
This is the first mission for the Innovation Team. Since the use of Survey Monkey, questionnaires have grown in importance within the UIHJ. Now we have no less than 20 different questionnaires. Besides the 6 main questionnaires, we have various questionnaires carried out either at the request of certain member countries of the UIHJ, or within the framework of certain European projects, or for the various international organizations with which the UIHJ works closely.
Not only does the Innovation Team manage the updating of the various existing questionnaires but it can also create new questionnaires, either at the request of the UIHJ board or at the request of a member of the UIHJ.
From these questionnaires were created the country files which are available on the websites of the UIHJ and the UEHJ.
The Innovation Team also takes care of updating the database for each country and is available to all members to help them complete the questionnaires.
– Reports
The Innovation Team can also extract from the reports the items found in the Grand Questionnaire on a specific topic concerning the profession of judicial officer.
Various reports have already been written on the themes of statements of facts, training, service of documents, as well as on the status of the judicial officer.
– Video production
One thing leading to another, the Innovation Team proposed the creation of – mainly animated – videos, in order to either present the annual Activities Report of the UIHJ to the permanent council of the UIHJ or to introduce workshops during the International Congress of Judicial Officers, organized by the UIHJ every 3 years.
– Use of new technologies
The Innovation Team also regularly offers the use of new technologies at various events such as International congresses of judicial officers, permanent councils of the UIHJ, UIHJ board meetings …
The use of “Mentimeter” is an example of this, allowing permanent council delegates to actively participate. This tool allows the UIHJ to recognise general trends, which allows it to work quickly and efficiently.
– Social media management
Since 2017, the Innovation Team has also taken over the management of social networks (Facebook and LinkedIn). These networks have since become an important showcase for the UIHJ and make it possible to follow everything that is happening there daily.
To date, Facebook contains more than 1600 “likes” and LinkedIn more than 400, which allows optimal dissemination of the activities of the UIHJ.
– Participation in the various workgroups of the UIHJ
The members of the Innovation Team are also very active in the various working groups (WG) of the UIHJ, in particular:
– WG on the Global Code of Digital Assets and their enforcement.
– WG of the International Congress of Judicial Officers of Dubai.
Composition of the Innovation Team
The composition of the Innovation Team has evolved over time and now has 6 members from 6 different countries:
- Patrick Gielen (Belgium)
Patrick Gielen is a judicial officer in Brussels and has been active in the profession for over 20 years. He is also an international adviser to the National Chamber of Belgian Judicial Officers (CNHB) and adviser to the President of the UIHJ. He has been in the Innovation Team since the very beginning, for almost 10 years.
- Jona Van Leeuwen (The Netherlands)
Jonathan Van Leeuwen is a judicial officer in the Netherlands. He is an international adviser to the Chamber of Judicial Officers of the Netherlands (KBVG) and adviser to the President of the UIHJ. He joined the Innovation Team after the World Congress held in Madrid in 2015.
- Tereza Lungova (Czech Republic)
Tereza Lungova has been active in the field of enforcement since 2008 and member of the International Committee of the Chamber of Judicial Officers of the Czech Republic. She joined the Innovation Team in 2020.
- Malone Cunha (Brazil)
Malone Cunha has been a judicial officer for 7 years at the Court of Brazil and President of ASSOJAG of the State of Para and director of international affairs of FENASSOJAF. He joined the Innovation Team in 2020.
- Risto Sepp (Estonia)
Risto Sepp has been active in the field of enforcement for almost 21 years and is chairman of the “public relation” working group within the Chamber of Judicial Officers of Estonia. He joined the Innovation Team in 2020.
- Rui Miguel Simão (Portugal)
Rui Miguel Simão is a judicial officer (solicitador and agent de execuçao) in Morais (Portugal) and secretary at the Portuguese National Chamber (OSAE). He also joined the Innovation Team in 2020.
All members of the Innovation Team are available to all UIHJ delegations and can be contacted at the email address: grand.questionnaire@gmail.com .
Conclusion
Over the years, the Innovation Team has become a kind of “Think tank” serving the board of the UIHJ and acting as a reservoir, and even a laboratory of ideas!
The Innovation Team is the group that puts into practice the decisions taken by the board of the UIHJ in the interest of the UIHJ.
The Innovation Team is made up of people from all walks of life, passionate about the profession of judicial officer, using their free time to put their knowledge and skills to the benefit of the entire profession.
Perhaps most importantly, the Innovation Team is available to all enforcement professionals, just like the UIHJ!
