Centre for Operational Police Research » News & Events

Fully funded PhD Studentship on "Understanding Homicide Data"

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 15:10:00 GMT

We welcome Dr Emily Gray, Assistant Professor of Criminology in the Department of Sociology, to COPR.

Dr Gray is partnering with the London's Violence Reduction Unit, alongside the Mayor's Office for Policing And Crime (MOPAC) and the Metropolitan Police to host a collaborative PhD studentship generously funded by the Midlands Graduate School ESRC DTP focusing on "Understanding Homicide Data: Institutional Practices, Analytical Innovation, and the Prevention of Serious Violence in London.

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Upcoming talk: “Professional Liars and Unreliable Sources”: documenting and narrating the “multi-storied” #spycops scandal

Sat, 10 Jan 2026 18:15:00 GMT

Talk on January 28th at 1pm, S2.12
A joint COPR/ ��TV Law School seminar.
Speaker: Chris Brian from the Undercover Research Group.

This project documents and analyses the “multi-storied” Undercover Policing Inquiry by addressing the fundamental problem of the unreliability of police sources and the sheer volume of material.

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Upcoming Seminar: Arts-led approaches to anti-racism in policing

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 09:37:00 GMT

Wednesday 14 January at 1pm in room s2.12.

In the context of a widespread, and decades-long, crisis in police legitimacy in England and Wales, punctuated by inquiries and reports repeatedly demonstrating entrenched racism, homophobia and misogyny within the police, our work positions arts-based approaches as both a methodology for scholarly engagement with policing, and as a tool for supporting change in police culture and practice.

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Creative Methods in Research: Special Issue Call for Papers

Fri, 14 Nov 2025 16:34:56 GMT

Jackie Hodgson (University of ��TV), Nicole Bogelein (University of Cologne) and Sophie Marois (University of Toronto) are pleased to invite submissions for a special issue of the Journal of Creative Research Methods, dedicated to exploring the role of creative methods in research on courts and policing.

FIND OUT MORE & SUBMIT.

COPR Talk

Mon, 06 Oct 2025 08:19:00 GMT

Monday 1st December (week 9) - Professor Yvonne McDermott Rees & Dr Maryanne Brassil

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Research funding success!

Tue, 03 Jun 2025 11:46:00 GMT

COPR members have secured funding for two of the 11 projects funded through the Police STAR fund for 2025-26. This is especially great news as fewer projects are funded each year (there were 15 in 2024-25 and 19 in 2023-24). You can read more about the projects funded on the Police STAR Fund pages. The projects involving COPR members are: READ MORE.

Insightful discussions on the challenges of conducting police research at COPR Early-Career Researcher Symposium

Mon, 12 May 2025 09:40:00 GMT

On the 29th of April COPR hosted an ECR symposium bringing together students from Universities across the UK whose research looks at the challenges posed both to and by policing. Researchers from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds presented on topics ranging from the use of AI to streamline evidence processing in VWAG investigations; identifying common features of domestic homicides to strengthen preventive strategies; the role of text analytics in investigating online criminal behaviours; to understanding the relationship between dark personality traits and police use of force.

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Creative Methods as Research - Workshop

Thu, 01 May 2025 08:46:00 GMT

This workshop invites papers that explore the contributions of creative methods to the study of courts and policing. The workshop seeks to convene a transnational dialogue that bridges academic research, artistic practice and community engagement. We focus on creative methods as research, i.e., as modes of knowledge production, rather than dissemination alone. We pose three provocations that contributors may wish to address: collaborations and/or co-creations; emotions; ethics.

The workshop will take place over two days, 11-12 September 2025, in the Scarman Conference Centre at the University of ��TV (UK).

If you wish to present a paper (or other eg creative format), please submit your abstract via the button below by 16 June. For all participants, including those wishing to attend but not present a paper, registration opens on 14 July when the programme will also be published.

Find out more.

COPR/CJC Research Seminar - 15 May 2025

Thu, 17 Apr 2025 14:34:00 GMT

Title: ‘Domestic threats to state sovereignty in the ‘frontier zone’. Federal State policing performance and population disputes on the margins
Speaker: Sabina Frederic (Visiting Professor, IAS, School of Law, University of ��TV; National University of Quilmes-National Council of Scientific Research)
Chair: Prof Jackie Hodgson, co-director COPR
When: 15 May 2025, 1-2pm, Room s2.12 (Lunch from 12.30 in s2.09; Seminar 1-2pm in s2.12) & Online (this is a hybrid event - please contact Sandra.Phillips@warwick.ac.uk if you wish to join online).

New Blog: The #spycops scandal: Subversion and Collateral Intrusions

Mon, 13 Jan 2025 12:06:17 GMT

By Chris Brian

Between 1968 and 2010, 144 undercover officers were deployed into groups, filing 1000s of reports on their activities and intertwining themselves, often damagingly, into the lives of political activists.

The Undercover Policing Inquiry has revealed that of the thousands of now-published Special Branch reports, only a few contained information relevant to the undercover unit Special Demonstration Squad’s (SDS) stated primary objective: controlling public order. READ NOW