Update on violence reduction research

The University of Leicester secured research funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to establish a Violence Reduction Information Network (VRIN) to support East Midlands police services and beyond.

VRIN is part of the University of Leicester Centre for Hate studies, which integrates three core hubs (1) Violence (2) Extremism and (3) Policing. The academic team at VRIN is led by Associate Professor Matt Hopkins, and its aims are:-

1. Develop a network for knowledge exchange
2. Disseminate good practice in order to influence policy and practice. This will be facilitated through a VRIN webpage
3. Become a repository of good practice in violence reduction accessible to practitioners
4. Map current interventions used nationally and internationally to reduce weapons related violence and to ascertain ‘what works’
5. Map data sources and assess the feasibility of building composite datasets regionally using data from a range of agencies
6. Design and conduct future research that meets the needs of practitioners and is easily transferable into practice, making a positive impact
7. Ensure the sustainability of the partnership beyond the initial funding period
8. Provide opportunities for post graduate researchers in violence reduction
9. Evaluate interventions
10. Organise a project conference at the end of year one

Updates

The VRIN have collated an overview of current regional activity and interventions. This is a first important step in clarifying is who is doing what and what works best to share best practice using the available evidence.

The report can be viewed here:-

VRIN Mapping Interventions Briefing Paper

There is also a free training course on evaluating crime interventions, which can be accessed here: https://le.ac.uk/hate-studies/training

There is a national conference being panned for the 16th March 2023 with Leicester VRIN and the Home Office, and finally here is a recent published paper on the serious violence duty published:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41300-022-00157-x

To know more about VRIN activities or have any queries or suggestions, please direct them in the first instance by email to matt.hopkins@leicester.ac.uk.