Secure Societies Institute

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:

The SSI has a new steering group which includes at least two representatives from each of the University's six schools. We also have an external advisory group. We are in the process of setting up a regional advisory practitioners’ group to oversee the work SSI members do to support community safety, security and crime prevention across West Yorkshire.

We are currently reenergising SSI. The global pandemic forced the institute to grind to a halt and we had to cancel many of SSI’s activities and collaborative events. But the future looks bright as plans are being implemented to revive 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 have various activities planned for 2022."

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.

I’m very pleased to be able to join SSI at this time, when we are reviewing and refreshing our work.  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. I feel we have a real opportunity to contribute to supporting practitioners and communities to address both emergent and longstanding community safety issues, some of which have become further heightened, or more visible, during the 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).

 

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

 

Podcasts

Listen to Director of Secure societies Institute Professor Jason Roach discuss self-selection policing, evidence based policing, his career and many other things on  podcast The Reducing Crime Podcast, 24^th February 2022 https://soundcloud.com/user-780649270

 

Videos

Watch SecureSocieties Director Professor Jason roach presenting  on moving beyond nudge in crime prevention at the 2021 virtual 'Society of Evidence Based Policing Conference'. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmfPLOWa4zg

Housing vulnerable people and anti social behaviour: Researcher/Practitioner Workshop 30th June 2022

We were pleased to be joined by Joanne Todd, Richard Tedder and Chris Walsh from Safer Kirklees. They shared the challenges of housing vulnerable people, who have complex needs, yet are themselves involved in anti social behaviour. There was much discussion and suggested actions proffered by participants and the team felt they took away  some useful suggestions to explore.

 

 

Program Precision: Researcher/Practitioner Workshop 30th March 2022

SSI were pleased to welcome Detective Superintendent Fiona Gaffney and Detective Inspector Michael Cox from West Yorkshire Police to lead our ‘Researchers meet practitioners workshop’ in March 2022.

Having provided an overview of Program Precision, West Yorkshire Police response to serious and organised crime, they sought ideas about how they could improve the identification and capture of disruption outcomes from operational activities undertaken as part of Precision. Researchers from a range of disciplines including, law, psychology, social work, forensic science and criminology brought their expertise and made a range of suggestions for the officers to take away and consider.

 

 

Lunchtime Workshops

On the 1^st of December 2021, SSI hosted the first of a series of lunchtime workshops which are bringing together SSI members with practitioners. Tom Wheatley, Governor of Wakefield Prison, led the first workshop of the series. Tom was able to present a ‘real current’ issue from the prison to SSI member attendees, taking away ideas to address this from SSI security and safety experts from a range of disciplines.

 

SSI will continue to hold a series of lunchtime workshops during 2022.

“These will be led initially by local practitioners from within Kirklees and West Yorkshire and attended by SSI members to help address a particular pressing challenge brought to the workshop for discussion. We will then work together to generate potential solutions or come up with external funding bid ideas so research can be carried out to help address the problems highlighted.”

SSI Director Professor Roach