The International Centre (IC) is developing a CSE and Policing Knowledge Hub to enhance policing responses to CSE and associated vulnerabilities in adolescence. Joanne Walker is the Research Assistant on this work.
The IC is delighted to be working with the police, young people and academic partners to enhance policing responses to CSE and associated vulnerabilities in adolescence. So far, the Knowledge Hub has received an enthusiastic response from policing partners, who have been an integral part of the initial needs assessment process, offering important and invaluable insights into the challenges around policing responses to CSE.
One of the next strands of the Knowledge Hub work that we are particularly excited about is the engagement of police in primary research. These projects offer an opportunity for police to contribute to the limited evidence-base in the area of CSE and policing and develop practice-based solutions to policing challenges.
As with all of the CSE and Policing Knowledge Hub strands of work, these research opportunities are not about us, academics, telling the police what is important and what to do, but instead about a partnership approach. We believe that the co-development of the research will ensure that the research findings hold relevance to both the police and academia and that the research is grounded in real issues faced by police working in this area.
The research opportunity
Proposals should address one or more of the five thematic research areas that have been identified in our initial needs assessment. These are:
1) Improving engagement with adolescent victims of CSE
2) Enhancing multi-agency working on CSE
3) Increasing knowledge about perpetrators of CSE
4) Working with concurrent victimhood and perpetration of CSE
5) Problem profiling and identification of risk and harm
Support will be provided for five police-led research projects, geographically dispersed across England and Wales. These will be supported by local academics who are part of the Knowledge Hub partnership.
The research projects will run between August 2016 and February 2017.
Anyone employed by the Police Service in England or Wales can apply.
The deadline for expressions of interest is June 13th, 2016.
If you know anyone who might be interested in applying, further information is available from Debbie Allnock (Project Manager of the Knowledge Hub) at debra.allnock@beds.ac.uk
The Safer Young Lives Research Centre (SYLRC) Blog 