Welcome Clifford as our new policing professor

Our new Professor of Policing and Research, whose role includes becoming Academic Director of our Centre for Policing Research and Learning (CPRL), is Clifford Stott MBE.

As the Centre’s lead, a significant part of his role will be working with academics across and beyond the Faculty, as well as CPRL’s police force partners, to generate research and learning relevant to theory, policy and practice.

Clifford (pictured), who has been at Keele University for the last decade, said: “CPRL is one of the UK’s most significant centres for policing research and learning, now based in the interdisciplinary environment of one of the UK’s most significant law schools, with a 10-year history and structurally embedded partnerships with multiple police forces.

“I am genuinely excited to have joined a university which has made policing research a strategic priority, and taking on a leadership role that aligns so closely with the focus of my work over the past three decades.”

A Professor of Social Psychology, he specialises in the psychology and dynamics of crowd behaviour, particularly as this relates to violent confrontation and riot. He is founding Director of the Keele Policing Academic Collaboration (KPAC) which he developed into a globally influential hub for the co-production of research, policy and practice. His expertise has seen him advise police forces globally, most recently Stateside in Portland, the largest city in the state of Oregon. He has been working on a project with the city, funded by the Department of Justice, on how to manage protests and large gatherings given the current tensions.

Clifford joined the Faculty in mid-February, initially on a 0.5 FTE (full-time equivalent) contract, before becoming full-time next month when he leaves Keele. He would welcome contact from academics who are conducting or planning research which has relevance to broader issues of security, governance and policing.

Significant thanks to Jen Norman who has led CPRL as Academic Director on an interim basis for the past 17 months.