Research and scholarship

Research group: Violence against Women and Girls

An experienced group of researchers from Policing at the OU have established a Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) special interest group to help develop cross-faculty and inter-organistional research covering many aspects of gender-based violence, particularly as it relates to a policing context.

Current research


The Policing Organisation and Practice team undertake various research projects alongside the OU's Centre for Policing Research and Learning. Find out more about further research projects.

Projects

Dates: January - September 2022
Principal investigators: Abigail Salter and Steve Moss
Force involved: North Yorkshire Police

There are two main strands to the work. Firstly, to explore concepts of reflective practice as a tool for supporting continuous professional development and whether the recording of reflections needs to be in written form. Secondly, to examine how using reflective writing as an assessment tool within this process impacts on the way students report their reflections.

By understanding these questions the team are looking to develop the assessment approach for the benefits of students and their developing professional practice and the service delivery of North Yorkshire Police.

Start date: Summer 2016 - July 2023
Principal investigator: Jennifer Norman
Lead organisation: University of Southampton – PhD-ship
Forces involved: Various

This research contributes to current thinking in relation to professionalising the police. Using a longitudinal research design undertaken over five years and capturing experiences from three cohorts of police students studying a police specific degree, the research explores how police knowledge gained obtaining police-specific degree qualification, is utilised within police organisations both in the short-term and the long-term.

Capturing these experiences assists in identifying barriers and enablers to influence police organisations and decision-making at an operational level. Therefore, this research has an emphasis on mapping the police-officer ‘voice’ and the practicalities they are confronted with when embedding ‘evidence-informed practice’ directed at a strategic level.

Dates: April 2021 - September 2021
Principal investigator: Jennifer Norman
Co-investigator: Jo Lambert
Force involved: North Yorkshire Police

Given the evolving nature of the College of Policing’s Police Education Qualification Framework (PEQF) and the new entry routes into policing including the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (PCDA), it is important to explore the OU approach. Therefore, this work explores the experiences of those involved in the PCDA to capture the learning experiences of OU apprentices and how this impacts on the development of OU policing curriculum.

The project develops an understanding of the learning experiences from PCDA apprentices at NYP and also captures the experiences of those involved in the partnership. The outcomes of the project will be to exchange the knowledge gathered though exploring the perceptions from key partners involved in the OU/NYP PCDA to identify good practice and future learning.

Start date: March 2021
Principal investigator: Dr Krystal Wilkinson (Manchester Metropolitan University)
Co-investigators: Dr Sarah Jane Lennie, Dr Keely Duddin
Lead organisation: Manchester Metropolitan University
Force involved: Greater Manchester Police

This project is looking at the intersection of being a police officer and parent and perinatal mental ill-health. The first phase of the study interviewed 18 police officers/staff across the UK about their or their partners experience of perinatal ill health whilst working for the police service.

The second phase of the study will draw together a group of professionals in the area and the lived experience (as identified within the interviews) of parents will be discussed with the intention of identifying ways to improve experience and potentially reduce mental ill health.

Phase three will see the design and development of practice and policy within the police service, which will be piloted by Greater Manchester Police and evaluated by the research team.

Start date: February 2021
Principal investigator: Dr Sarah Jane Lennie
Co-investigators: Dr Jennifer Norman, Dr Keely Duddin, Dr Anna Hopkins, Dr Sean Bell
Force involved: Derbyshire Constabulary

This project is a small pilot looking at the operational feasibility of self-reflection (as a form of self-care) officers will be provided an education module on self-reflection and asked to keep a once week reflective diary for six weeks. Interviews will be conducted prior, during and post the diary study to explore challenges and benefits of self reflection.