The acceptance online platform is a repository of educational and research tools, openly published and addressed to a wide audience of academics and practitioners interested in understanding, researching and influencing the acceptance of international criminal justice at regional, national or international level. 

This platform is a hub designed by the acceptance team to share the outcomes but also the lessons learned through the different stages of the project. Since its inception in early 2015, the acceptance team tried to bring on board a diversity of views, backgrounds, interests and experiences amongst the team, fellows, contributing experts and the audience. 

The acceptance study is the first interdisciplinary research project of the Nuremberg Academy aiming at developing a comprehensive research tool for assessing acceptance in different situation countries. Through the acceptance project we would like to modestly contribute and shed light on understanding ‘how international criminal justice is accepted by relevant actors in situation countries?’ and to provide consolidated findings to practitioners and academics. 

The project reflects one of the main goals of the Nuremberg Academy, namely to contribute to the promotion of the legitimacy, lawfulness and acceptance of international criminal justice. It also reflects the Academy’s concept of interdisciplinary research, understood as an opening up the collaboration with universities and research institutions in countries with critical situations and to engage with professionals and practitioners in the field of peace and justice research. For that reason, at the core of the project lies a fellowship program for young academics from situation countries. 

The project started with a preparatory phase in 2015, during which the project team conducted literature research and developed a methodology for studying ‘acceptance’. Experts from Colombia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kenya and Lebanon were consulted in writing reports on the acceptance of international criminal justice in their respective countries. This was in addition to fieldwork contributions from young scholars from Cambodia, Croatia, DRC, Kenya, Kosovo, Nigeria, Serbia and Ukraine. 

We are grateful to experienced academics and practitioners that participated at the Acceptance workshop, held during the Nuremberg Academy Forum 2015 and of their invaluable inputs to the methodology discussion. 

The main academic contribution of this project is amongst others, an online edited publication. Each of its chapters reflects the attempt to capture and define the puzzle of acceptance manifestations while looking at the landscape in which relevant actors and international criminal justice operate. 

This platform is a work in process. It will grow and bring refreshing insights from actors and societies facing international criminal justice.