Pedagogical research argues that straight-forward embedding of skills can be poorly engaged with (Wingate, 2006) and foregrounds the limitations of top-down initiatives that presume what sort of support students require (Healey et al, 2014). Instead, following longstanding principles of coproduction (Ostrom, 1996), researchers have emphasized the importance of students being active partners in developing pedagogical initiatives (Healey and Healey, 2018; Elliot et al 2021). Informed by these arguments and by previous research undertaken by Dr Waite on Women’s Estate Training and the professional development of graduate prison officers, students on the MSc in Applied Custodial Leadership at Leeds Trinity University worked with academics and practitioners to co-produce meaningful course content that blended current research findings with interactive, student-led teaching approaches. This course content was then delivered by the student participants of this project to their colleagues who work in 2 women’s prisons in England. This session will detail how this project was developed, and the students involved will discuss its outputs and consider the benefits and difficulties of co-creating content in an environment such as a prison.



Keywords: Women’s Prison, Menopause, Pedagogy, Co-production

There is little knowledge about how services identify, assess, refer and respond to online child sexual victimisation. In turn, quality standards to promote consistent, evidence-based interventions and community wide approaches is virtually non-existent. To our knowledge, this Vulnerability and Policing Futures Research Centre project is the first attempt to develop a dedicated quality standards tool for online child sexual abuse with the community at the heart of it. It deploys an innovative mixed-methods approach including a rapid evidence review, focus groups, co-production with children and adults, and a quantitative case file analysis exploring police data on (online) child sexual abuse to develop risk profiles that feed into the quality standard tool. The study, based in Blackpool, takes local challenges, opportunities and idiosyncrasies into account, whilst developing findings and tools that will be relevant for any area where children have access to the internet.

This paper will focus on the journey of co-production in developing quality standards. It will explore the locally defined and ranked priorities and reflect on the important role children, young people and parents play in this work. It will therefore provide the basis for what will be further developed as a national and international model of quality standards and will be piloted and evaluated in other areas in the UK to create internationally relevant standards in the response to, and prevention of, online child sexual victimisation. The findings presented will focus on the process and current state of the development of the tool, whilst highlighting the strengths and challenges of a community focussed approach to address online child sexual victimisation.

This presentation will detail the approach and findings from The Modern Studies Project, a Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research funded collaborative knowledge exchange project that connected high school Modern Studies teachers and learners with the discipline of Criminology. This was achieved through two distinct knowledge exchange activities that sought to expand and complement the Modern Studies high school curriculum: 1) creating up to date SCCJR resources with accompanying videos to present key criminological knowledge in accessible formats and 2) delivering two 60-minute webinars, one for teachers and one for learners of modern studies. This presentation explores the processes, challenges, and opportunities of expanding criminology’s community of practice beyond it’s disciplinary and higher-education boundaries, connecting out to aligned disciplines and communities of learning in high school education.

The ‘Child First, examining children's meaningful collaboration in the Youth Justice System’ research project listens to children’s voices in two different ways: as co-researchers using their expertise to influence the project’s participatory methodology, recruiting a Project Reference Group (PRG) of justice-involved children, and as research participants (involved in data gathering) investigating their experiences and perceptions of their involvement in YJ decision-making and effective practice. We have maintained a child-centred focus privileging their voices throughout.
To capture their authentic voices, creative methods have been explored (with the PRG) and utilised (with the research participants), enabling the children to communicate and express themselves in diverse ways for more accessible participation, especially important given the high levels of speech, language and communication difficulties for justice-involved children (see Coles et al., 2017). Through our PRG, we developed creative approaches chosen by the children, rather those assumed to be appropriate by adults, thus children took more of an instructor role. Additionally, these methods have supported relationship building, enabling children to use their knowledge and ideas and develop creativity and communication skills, all contributing to neutralise power relationships. These methods were applied in activity-oriented interviews with research participants, offering a choice of creative activities to supplement questions.
Emerging findings reveal the extent and impact of children’s meaningful collaboration in their youth justice experience and decision-making processes, and children’s views of what practice has actually been 'effective'. We will share both the process of developing creative engagement with children and the findings these learning experiences have shown. This study therefore offers significant benefits for the whole youth justice sector (researchers and practitioners) by developing a framework for future expectation of children’s full participation in youth justice research and practice to privilege and centralise the authentic voice of the child.

Prisoner suicide rates are consistently higher than rates among communities living outside. Between 2012 and 2016, England and Wales’s prison suicide rates more than doubled, hitting record numbers in 2016. Often those most invested in prison safety are those personally impacted, and campaigns by prisoners’ families can have material effects. This paper critically reflects on a collaboration between an academic research team, a bereaved mother, and a theatre company, which aimed to raise awareness of prison suicide through verbatim film. Drawing upon researcher reflections, interviews with the film makers and audience surveys, we examine the potentials and challenges of such collaborations, seeking to inform arts-criminology partnerships more broadly. Grief and trauma are embodied and difficult to express in words alone. Collaborative film offers a powerful form of visual representation, which can centre lived experiences and influence understanding. These effects are especially valuable when representing areas hidden from view, such as prisons. Film can also stimulate social change, inspiring empathy, and intentions in audiences to advocate for prisoners and families. Less expectedly, this film created changes in collaborators who gained confidence, skills and new (emotional) insights. However, these positive impacts should be considered alongside limitations and harms, including the potential for emotional distress, the possibility that nothing might change, and the risk that testimonies are undermined in a culture which can be unsympathetic to prisoners and their families. We conclude that film can engage audiences within and beyond social science, making complex subjects accessible, humanising marginalised people and potentially inspiring broader social change, but a sustained ethic of care is required to minimise harms and manage expectations, which may involve difficult decisions for researchers.