An introduction to the project team

Having introduced the project in the previous post, I thought  it would be worthwhile introducing the project team.

Based in the School of Law at the University of Sheffield, there are four of us working in the project in various capacities. Layla Skinns is the principle investigator:

I am a Senior Lecturer in Criminology and a member of the Centre for Criminological Research at the University of Sheffield. My main areas of interest are currently police, policing and police legitimacy, in the context of the police custody process in England and Wales, and in other common-law jurisdictions. She also has a strong interest in multi-agency criminal justice partnerships, such as the community safety partnerships, which was the subject of my PhD, and a growing interest in the use of restorative justice in schools. I also have a keen interest in mixed-methods research. For up-to-date information about my academic life please see my blog:http://laylaskinns.blogspot.com/.

Before joining the Centre for Criminological Research, I worked at the University of Cambridge, where I was the Adrian Socio-Legal Research Fellow at Darwin College and a Teaching Associate at the Institute of Criminology on the MSt. in Applied Criminology for senior police, prison and probation staff. Whilst working as a Research Fellow at Darwin College, I co-organised the prestigious Darwin College Lecture Series on the theme of risk. I have also previously worked as a Research Fellow at the Institute for Criminal Policy Research, King’s College London.

My name is Andrew Wooff and I have joined this project as a Research Associate.  Before joining the University of Sheffield, I spent 9 years at the University of Dundee in the Geography department.  I am in the process of completing a PhD there which explores anti-social behaviour in rural Scotland.  This research involved working closely with the police and with 'at risk' young people.  I also have an undergraduate and MSc  in Geography from the University of Dundee. 

I have done various research projects with the police in Scotland, including a three month placement working on police reform in the national police training college. This work involved looking at partnership working in the new police setup in Scotland. Through the Scottish Institute for  Policing Research, I have also assisted on various policing related projects, including examining the community policing model in Fife and looking at occupational culture pre-police reform in Scotland. 

My name is Amy Sprawson and I am the Research Assistant on the ‘Good’ Police Custody Project. I received a BA in Criminal Justice and Criminology from the University of Leeds and completed the M.Phil in Criminological Research at the University of Cambridge last year.

I have previously worked on several research projects that have focussed on disadvantaged or ‘at risk’ young people, the most recent being the London Education and Inclusion Project – a collaborative research project between The University of Cambridge, Catch 22 and The Greater London Authority.

                                             

Dr Lindsay Stirton joins the project as a statistician, providing guidance and support for the research design and multilevel analysis phase of the project. He studied public law and jurisprudence at the University of Glasgow, graduating with first class honours. He undertook postgraduate study at the London School of Economics and Political Science, obtaining an MSc in Regulation before undertaking doctoral studies in the regulation of health services in the UK (PhD awarded 2005). Before joining the University of Sheffield, and held academic appointments at the University of the West Indies (Mona), the London School of Economics and Political Science, the University of East Anglia and the University of Manchester. During his doctoral studies he was awarded the Lady Alma Birk Prize for Outstanding Work in Pursuance of a PhD. His paper with T T Arvind (University of York) on "Using Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis to Explain the Reception of the Code Napoleon in Germany" was awarded the SLS Best Paper Prize 2009.

Feel free to contact any of the project team with any questions or for further information.