News & Blogs

CPRL is now moving toward a revised model of engagement designed to strengthen representation, improve operational coordination and better reflect the realities of contemporary policing collaboration.

From October 2026, our Collaborative Research Seminar series will enter a new phase as part of the ongoing development of the Centre for Policing Research and Learning (CPRL). These Collaboratives will evolve over the summer alongside a refreshed governance structure, positioning them at the heart of how the Centre connects research, practice, and national policing priorities.

The UK Government’s Crime and Policing Act received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026, marking a significant development in the legislative response to crime and public safety.

The Act introduces a range of measures aimed at tackling retail crime, shoplifting and anti-social behaviour, alongside stronger penalties for violence against women and girls. It also includes provisions to address cyber-enabled crime and knife crime.

Professor Clifford Stott (Centre for Policing Research and Learning) has published a Landmark Article in the British Journal of Social Psychology, one of the discipline’s leading international journals. The paper examines the historical relationship between social psychology, crowd theory, and the governance of public order.

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.

This event provides a collaborative and welcoming environment for shared practice, reflection, and strategic direction-setting. Together, we will explore how our partnership can drive forward the next generation of research, innovation, and professional learning across UK policing.

Building on the foundations laid by the Parental Pathways research, which is tackling systemic barriers to parenting within UK policing, lecturers Kendal Wright and Dr Keely Duddin, alongside colleagues Dr Wenjin Dai and Francesca Calo have received funding from the Open Societal Challenges Programme. The support enables the team to scale up the Mumentum campaign and deepen its national reach.

We’re delighted to announce that our pan-university scholarship proposal, Exploring Blurred Boundaries Between Work and Learning, has been successfully funded. Led by Abigail Salter (FBL Policing), Sarah Bloomfield (FBL Business), and Evelyn Mooney (WELS), this cross-faculty project builds on previous scholarship exploring the tripartite relationship in degree apprenticeships.

On 09 April, Kendal Wright and Dr Keely Duddin from the policing team and co-leads on a Parental Pathways research project, presented at the International Research Society for Public Management (IRSPM) conference.

Dr Paul Walley and Dr Helen Glasspoole-Bird have published an evaluation report entitled “An Evaluation of the Pilot Application of Artificial Intelligence to Witness Statement and Report Generation at Hertfordshire Constabulary”.  The work studies the outputs of version 1 of an AI application that takes audio from Rapid Video Response interviews with victims of domestic abuse and converts this into relevant summary documents including MG11 witness statements.