Tell us about yourself

I have worked at Cardiff University since 2001 and am currently the Director of the Universities’ Police Science Institute (UPSI) and Co-Director of the Security, Crime and Intelligence Innovation Institute. My research generally includes a strong policy focus, and I am particularly interested in advancing knowledge in relation to how the police and criminal justice system, health and community-based agencies can best respond to violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence.

Notable examples of my research include:

• the evaluation of the first Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) in Cardiff;
• the first national evaluations of Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVAs) and Independent Sexual Violence Advisors (ISVAs), funded by the Home Office;
• and a national review of the Domestic Abuse, Stalking, Harassment and Honour Based Violence Assessment (DASH) risk tool in collaboration with the College of Policing, and later collaborative work to develop the Domestic Abuse Risk Assessment (DARA).

More recently, I have been involved in developing and testing the Priority Perpetrator Identification Tool to more effectively identify and disrupt the most harmful perpetrators of domestic abuse. Current projects include:

• an evaluation of a specialist domestic abuse investigator unit for South Wales Police;
• the development of the Wales Safeguarding Repository, to enable dynamic thematic and machine-learning across different types of death reviews, on behalf of Welsh Government;
• cross-national research projects on family harm practitioners (UK, New Zealand and Spain) and multi-agency service delivery protocols (Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea);
• and a forthcoming National Institute for Health and Care Research funded project on an integrated intervention for domestic abuse perpetrators with substance misuse problems.

Why did you want to become a Research Affiliate?

I already have connections with some of the Co-Investigators and I would like to expand these with other people involved in the Vulnerability & Policing Futures Research Centre. My research background, current role as Director of UPSI and links in Wales (e.g. Cardiff representative on the All-Wales Policing Academic Collaboration) would similarly expand the scope and networks for the Vulnerability & Policing Futures Research Centre.

How does your research connect to the Centre’s mission and values?

The police response to a particularly vulnerable group (victim-survivors of domestic abuse) has been my most active research area since my postgraduate days in Alabama and later in Michigan, and throughout my career I have been committed to generating new evidence and insights into the problems faced by vulnerable people and the service providers working to support them.

I am a collaborative researcher who seeks out opportunities to involve and mentor early career researchers. I work closely with practitioners and policy-makers to co-produce and disseminate research findings to drive positive change at a national level. For example, I was a member of the committees that produced the NICE guidelines on multi-agency responses to domestic violence and abuse (2014), guidelines on risk assessment and management for police in EU Member States (2019), and the College of Policing guidelines on recognising and responding to vulnerability related risks (2021).