Dr Nicky Miller

Dr Nicky Miller joined the Faculty of Business and Law as a Senior Lecturer in Policing Organisation and Practice in February 2019 where she was part of the team responsible for the design and development of the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship with a focus on Evidence Based Policing and Research Methods.  In August 2020, Nicky was appointed as the Director for Knowledge into Practice for the Centre for Policing Research and Learning (CPRL) where she leads the ambitious and innovative programme of ‘research into practice, practice into research’, which is at the heart of the CPRL's partnership between academic researchers and police forces/agencies. 

Prior to joining the OU, Nicky was the Research Evidence Partnerships Manager at the College of Policing where she lead a programme of work to achieve partnerships between police forces and with education sector providers to influence the development of police skills and confidence in seeking and using knowledge including information literacy, critical appraisal, evaluation techniques and research translation that supported the increased receptivity and engagement of the Service to research and evidence based practice (EBP). She played a key role in the College’s work to embed an evidence-based approach to policing, with the transfer and translation of research evidence in practice, with a particular focus on ‘what works’ in policing.  

Nicky has spent the majority of her career in the field of applied police research.  Nicky has worked on the Home Office’s Serious Crime Research Programme where she supported the investigative process through her research on, for example, the skills required of a Senior Investigating Officer; the use of homicide data to assist homicide investigations; and, an evaluation of the Scientific Content Analysis technique (SCAN) in detecting deceit. Nicky has also been responsible for the Home Office’s Organised and Hi-tech Crime Research Programme before joining the Serious Crime Analysis Section as a Principal Analyst where she had the opportunity to manage and conduct research in support of the analytical process.