Three British universities are joining forces to create a dedicated research centre that will work directly with police forces to solve real-world policing problems. This matters because public trust in policing is fragile, especially among communities that have historically been marginalised or mistreated. Crime is also changing—cybercrime, fraud, and online exploitation now sit alongside traditional offences—and police need evidence-based tools to keep up. The centre will focus on five priority areas: building public trust, preventing crime, understanding how people and criminals move, identifying and tracing individuals, and analysing large datasets. If the centre succeeds, it could change how police use data and technology without eroding civil liberties. It could produce practical tools for officers on the ground, better ways to engage distrustful communities, and training programmes that embed ethical thinking into everyday policing. The researchers also plan to nurture the next generation of policing academics through early-career networks and doctoral training. The project is applied and problem-led, not fundamental science. Its success will be measured by whether it makes policing more effective and more trusted—not by publications alone.
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This application comes from a consortium of three Universities – University of Leicester, Aston University and the University of Birmingham, to form the Policing Academic Centre of Excellence, Leicester, Aston, Birmingham, or P-ACE LAB. The P-ACE LAB will be focussed upon these areas of research interest, (ARIs): ARI 1 Building and Maintaining Public Trust ARI 2 Crime Prevention ARI 4 Mobility ARI 5 Identification and Tracing ARI 7 Analytics The P-ACE LAB is an interdisciplinary consortium that will co-produce solutions, harnessing the latest advances in science and technology. The Institutions are leaders in policing research and P-ACE LAB will build upon this experience to incorporate the necessary diversity in people, resources, expertise, and partnerships, all underpinned by robust governance structures to ensure successful delivery. The P-ACE LAB will be: Problem-led rather than discipline-led Co-produced Transparent and ethical in its use of data analytics Future-facing and agile Sustainable The P-ACE LAB team has extensive experience delivering complex, ethically-sensitive policing research, frequently working with sensitive and confidential data, building trust with policing stakeholders and engaging the public as co-producers of research (particularly excluded, vulnerable and marginalised communities that are most distrustful of the police). Staff members specialise in problem-based research addressing policing needs, and regularly provide expert advice to Government, police services, think tanks and international bodies. In fostering research and innovation, we embed science and evidence based practice, undertaking rigorous and ethical research that serves to build trust and confidence in policing. The three institutes have an extensive track record (20+ years) of producing high-quality policing research, delivering real policy impact, and tangible benefits to police productivity and practice, supporting a mature policing-academic ecosystem. Our proven expertise in managing large inter-disciplinary grants, in partnership with practitioners and commercial enterprise, and leading research Centres, has led to the career-development of researchers across the three institutions in addition to Doctoral Training Centres (DTCs), practice-based PhDs, CPD opportunities and knowledge exchange activities. Experts from each institution will come together to form a collaborative leadership team delivering the P-ACE. This leadership team will be supported and held accountable by a Strategic Advisory Board and project partners. This robust governance and management framework will enhance current academic research capacity and capability, in-step with policing needs, creating efficient knowledge mobilisation pipelines to realise the benefits of science and technology effectively and safely, securing performance and productivity improvements while promoting public trust and confidence in policing. The P-ACE will operate a Flexible Fund Committee and an Early Career Researcher Network. There will also be cross-cutting governance/support including a P-ACE LAB funded Governance Support, a Comprehensive Quality Assurance Framework and a Capacity-Building Programme. We will create bespoke ethics/Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) training on conducting research in policing environments, while mentoring researchers unfamiliar with the policing domain. This will allow them to receive guidance from expert researchers within the P-ACE LAB, including signposting to emotional support resources where required. The P-ACE LAB will thus nurture and sustain the policing-academic research ecosystem necessary for future challenges.
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