While the Irish criminal justice system is the primary focus of the Centre's activities, particular attention is devoted to how Ireland contributes to and is affected by the European Convention on Human Rights and European Law, including international cooperation in criminal justice matters.

Over the past two decades, the work of the Centre has embraced a broad spectrum of themes, including European and International Criminal Justice. Members of the Centre frequently engage as the Irish national experts in EU-wide criminal justice projects funded by the European Commission.

Three members of the Centre, Dr Andrea Ryan (project leader), Prof Shane Kilcommins and Dr Susan Leahy, recently completed a project on the Victims Directive funded by the European Commission "Developing Directive - compatible practices for the identification, assessment and referral of victims" (JUST/2014/JACC/AG/VICT/7406).

Dr Andrea Ryan has acted as national expert for Ireland on a number of cross-jurisdictional studies funded by the European Commission, and was a Member of the Academic Network on a recently concluded project: 'Strengthening Trust in the Justice Area through Mutual Recognition and the Streamlined Application pf the European Arrest Warrant' coordinated by Centre for European Policy studies (CEPS) (June 2023)'.

Previous European Commission funded projects include a study on the prospects for the creation of a European public prosecutor (2011) and Feasibility study on the creation of a database on investigations and prosecutions (2003).

Key CCJVS Researchers in this area: Dr Andrea Ryan and Dr Ger Coffey