The Universities’ Police Science Institute (UPSI) has achieved international renown for its innovative and ground-breaking research on policing. Based upon a unique partnership between Cardiff University, South Wales Police and the University of Glamorgan, UPSI works to develop the research evidence-base about all aspects of the art, craft and science of policing. Studies conducted by UPSI engage with theoretical, methodological and applied themes and has achieved national and international impact. The following programmes of work have been especially influential:
- Radicalisation and Preventing Violent Extremism: commissioned by the Association of Chief Police Officers our work was a key influence upon the UK government’s recent reconfiguration of the ‘prevent’ strand of the cross-government Contest strategy.
- Reassurance and Neighbourhood Policing: The UPSI team achieved international recognition for their work in developing Reassurance Policing and thus providing the intellectual architecture for the development of Neighbourhood Policing
- Community Engagement for Community Intelligence: UPSI has been working with a number of partners nationally and internationally (including Lancashire Constabulary, the London Borough of Sutton, Victoria Police – Australia, and the Police College of the Netherlands) to develop and test an innovative community engagement methodology, that supplies community intelligence about what problems function as the key drivers of insecurity across different neighbourhoods.
In addition to these areas, we also have particular expertise in the following areas, where ongoing studies are being conducted:
- Police homicide investigations, cold case reviews and the impacts upon communities of major crime events such as murders;
- The police role in counter-terrorism;
- Policing domestic violence and child protection;
- Gun crime in the United Kingdom and elsewhere;
- Violent youth gangs and crime in inner-city areas;
- Spatial analysis of crime data;
- Witness Identification
About Us
UPSI provides an integrated model that develops and uses research to directly inform the education of police officers at all levels and to shape the direction of policy and practice. Of particular importance in enabling our work to achieve ‘real world’ impact is the highly collaborative approach to research and training that we have developed. At the University of Glamorgan police probationer training is undertaken by a team of academic staff working directly alongside experienced police trainers. In conducting research, the team at Cardiff are frequently engaged in direct collaborations with police officers. This helps to ensure that our findings and recommendations fully reflect the complexities of the realities of modern police work, whilst also being rigorously informed by robust methodological frameworks.
This does not mean that our relationship with our police partners is always necessarily comfortable and easy. Indeed, part of UPSI’s role in working with the police is to challenge and critique accepted ways of doing things, in order to encourage reform and improvement where it is needed.
Another important facet of the UPSI approach is that it is genuinely inter-disciplinary in its orientations. The team at Cardiff University includes experienced field researchers with backgrounds in: Criminology; Experimental Psychology; Geography; Research Methods; Educational Research; History; and Sociology.
It is this combination of ingredients that has led us to be recognised internationally as a leading centre for innovative thinking about the future of policing.
Learn about the UPSI Governance and Management structure - Click here