Research

All our justice: reflections on a practitioner – academic writing partnership

Dr Gill Buck – Programme Lead for BA Social Work at University of Chester

Kemi Ryan – Co-founder/Outreach Manager – Specialist Areas: Criminal Justice/Crime Prevention/Crime Intervention/Community Outreach/Youth Mentoring

Natasha Ryan – Co-founder/Mentoring Manager – Specialist Areas: Criminal Justice/Crime Prevention/Crime Intervention/Community Cohesion/Youth Mentoring.

This paper reflects on the experience of co-authoring an academic book chapter from our respective positions as an academic researcher and community justice practitioners. Our written work explores the potentials of and challenges for participatory criminal justice and makes recommendations for the field. Following Beresford’s (2016, p. 3) weaving of the personal and the political, we adopted a reflective critical storytelling approach, drawing on ‘experiential and academic knowledge; lived experience as well as research findings… in an attempt to reconnect [criminal justice] policy to the world in which it operates’.​

Presentation:  All our justice – reflections on a practitioner-academic writing partnership

Delivering Contextual Safeguarding: Reflections on a local authority – university research partnership

Pamela Foster – Operational Shield Team Manager, Knowsley Council

This session will reflect on Knowsley council’s successful application to be part of a Contextual Safeguarding project for children. Contextual safeguarding has been developed by Dr Carlene Firmin at the University of Bedfordshire. The approach recognises that children can be vulnerable to abuse in a range of social contexts outside of the family home, particularly in terms of sexual and criminal exploitation.

The role of a practitioner-facilitator in a research partnership will be reflected on, as will the importance of engaging with research to improve services.

Presentation: Delivering Contextual Safeguarding – Reflections on a local authority–university research partnership

Research whilst working – can it be done? 

Angela Sitoe – Training Development Officer, Sefton Council

This session will be one practitioner’s reflection on their own experience of undertaking research whilst working. It will identify the challenges and the barriers they faced, how they overcame them and the impact it has had on them, their work and the people they work with.

Presentation: Research whilst working – can it be done

Insider and Outsider Research: Which hat are you wearing?

Elaine Aspinwall-Roberts – Senior Lecturer, Registered Social Worker, Postgraduate Researcher, Liverpool John Moores University

In this presentation Elaine will explore the issues for researchers who are based both inside or outside a local authority. She will consider the advantages for each, how difficulties might be overcome, and the questions which confront all researchers, such as choosing an appropriate methodology, satisfying ethical requirements and demonstrating that the research is high quality.

Presentation: Insider and Outsider Research Which hat are you wearing

Does evidence matter?  The role of research in promoting dignity and respect under the Mental Health Act

Dr Amy Pollard – Director of Mental Health Collective

This session will bring together the expertise of a social scientist and the lived experience of being sectioned under the Mental Health Act, to ask what role research can play in ensuring that people who are detained under the Mental Health Act are treated with dignity and respect.  It will explore how to embed reflective research strategies within practice settings, to create an ongoing cycle of improvement and learning.

Contact Details: Does evidence matter – The role of research in promoting dignity and respect under the Mental Health Act