About SSI
With a membership of over 40 UoH staff and post-graduate researchers, the SSI serves to bring together knowledge, skills, methodologies and expertise from diverse disciplines such as forensic science, architecture, film making, product design, digital forensics, forensic podiatry, education, IT and engineering with disciplines more traditionally associated with a crime focus such as criminology, psychology, sociology and law.
SSI focuses on four broad themes which reflect current members’ research. These are:
SSI Violence Against Women and Girls Research Network
SSI established a Violence Against Women and Girls Research Network in early 2024. This is open to all staff and postgraduate students at the University of Huddersfield with an interest in research, policy, practice and advocacy linked to improving justice for survivors, and preventing/reducing gender based violence. We aim to develop a community of practice, offering a space where researchers can share their work and interests, support each other, form collaborations with each other and practitioners and policy makers working in the field.
SSI Internal Steering Group
The SSI has an internal steering group which includes representatives from each of the University's schools and an external advisory group, made up of international and national community safety and security experts. Members of this group have been contributing to a series of webinars which continues during 2024. We also have a regional advisory practitioners group to oversee the work SSI members do to support community safety, security and crime prevention across West Yorkshire. We also collaborate with other research institutes and centres at the University.
We reenergised SSI in 2022, after a period during which the global Covid 19 pandemic forced the institute to grind to a halt and we had to cease many of SSI’s activities and collaborative events. We have now revived opportunities for researchers and practitioners in crime and justice to come together to develop innovative approaches to real-world crime, policing, community safety and security challenges. We delivered a series of events and collaborative initiatives during 2022 and 2023 with more planned for 2024.
Professor Jason Roach, who took on the role of Director of SSI in November 2021, speaking early in 2022
The Secure Societies Institute is built on the premise of sharing the knowledge we already have, but also adding value to produce something exciting, innovative and truly inter-disciplinary, through collaboration.
The research we develop will continue to be practitioner-led, ensuring that solutions are directly influenced by the needs of those working to reduce crime and terrorist threats and the communities they serve, in order to build safer and stronger communities.
Dr Rosie Campbell OBE joined the Institute as a Senior Research Fellow in January 2022 to work with the SSI Director, Deputy Director Dr Yun Gao, SSI steering group, all our members and our external advisors and stakeholders to develop SSI.
In our work at SSI it’s stimulating to be able to collaborate with other academics from many disciplines, external practitioners and people in wider communities, to develop innovative approaches to improving community safety. We have a real opportunity to contribute to supporting practitioners and communities to address both emergent and longstanding community safety issues, some of which were further heightened during the Covid 19 pandemic; for example domestic abuse, violence against women and the safety and policing of black and other minoritized communities.
Dr Rosie Campbell OBE
We welcome new members from staff and post graduate students across the University. We also welcome external organisations who want to become involved in our work. If you are interested in becoming a member of SSI or are interested in any aspect of our work please contact: Professor Jason Roach (J.Roach@hud.ac.uk) or Dr Rosie Campbell (R.Campbell@hud.ac.uk).
