Scottish Justice Fellows Put Research to Work

The inaugural Scottish Justice Fellowship winners have now published their briefing papers as part of an innovative project which sees academic research inform policy making and practice.

Five PhD students based at the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (SCCJR) were awarded funding by the Scottish Government to turn their theses into concise and engaging research summaries.

Each Fellow was given mentoring support to produce the following papers.

Dr Emma Forbes, How Domestic Abuse Victims Experience the Criminal Justice Process in Scotland.

Dr Kirsty Deacon, Imprisoned Families: Young People’s Experiences of Simultaneous Family Imprisonment

Dr Annie Crowley, Practitioner Perspectives on Working with Young Women in the Criminal Justice Sphere: The Importance of Relationships

Dr Shane Horgan, The Reality of ‘Cyber Awareness’: Findings and Policy Implications for Scotland

Dr Fern Gillon, Grappling with the Complexity of Early and Effective Intervention (EEI): Benevolent Intentions, Negative Consequences in Youth Justice Implications

SCCJR Director, Dr Alistair Fraser said: “Our students and early career researchers are the lifeblood of criminology and criminal justice in Scotland and are at the forefront of new understandings of crime and justice. The Scottish Justice Fellowship scheme represents a fantastic opportunity to make this vital work more accessible to policy makers and practitioners.

“We hope these five varied and incisive papers serve as contributions towards improving people’s experiences of the criminal justice system in Scotland and creating a more just society.”

This unique initiative was funded by the Scottish Government in partnership with SCCJR and the Scottish Institute for Policing Research (SIPR) with the main purpose being for Fellows to put their academic research into action through engaging and accessible means

SIPR Director, Associate Professor Liz Aston stated: “We were delighted to partner with SCCJR and the Scottish Government to establish the Scottish Justice Fellowships scheme. A key role of SIPR is to foster a culture of learning and innovation, as well as facilitating knowledge exchange and evidence informed policy and practice. We are excited to see the outputs from our first cohort of Scottish Justice Fellows, and we look forward to continuing to champion and support Postgraduate and Early Career Researchers.”

Notes to Editors:

1. The Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research, headquartered at the University of Glasgow, is a collaboration of several Scottish universities (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Stirling and Strathclyde) that aims to produce research and develop researchers so as to better the development of policy, practice and public debate about crime and justice.
2. The Scottish Justice Fellowship was launched in November 2018 in partnership with the Scottish Government, SCCJR and SIPR to support recent PhD scholars translate their research into outputs that can inform policy and practice. Each Fellow was awarded £3,000 to develop their outputs and were appointed mentors, one in academia and one in Government, to support their work and career development.