Centre for Operational Police Research » News & Events

NEW BLOG: Wrongful Cold Case Homicide: When Convictions become Cold Cases

Tue, 26 May 2026 08:48:33 GMT

Cold case homicides are cases in which the homicide remains unresolved for an extended period of time, usually two years, typically due to insufficient evidence, lack of viable leads, or limitations in forensic technology at the time of the original inquiry. A growing body of academic research on cold case homicide has highlighted the issues of wrongful homicide convictions and miscarriages of justice in the global context. Building on this work...

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Highlights from the COPR Early Career Researcher Symposium 2026

Mon, 11 May 2026 16:37:00 GMT

On Friday 8 May, 2026, COPR hosted its third Early-career Researcher Symposium, bringing together 35 researchers from 15 universities across the UK. Twelve exceptional presentations highlighted how early-career colleagues are addressing key priorities in policing in the UK and beyond.Topics ranged from the custody experiences of female offenders, attitudes and views of elite police officers and teams, microaggressions of police staff, sexual misconduct in policing, domestic-violence related suicides, incel violence (VAWG), perspectives and uses of body-worn video/footage and VR, police ethics, and the consequences of police contact for individuals

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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/ Warwick 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 (��ӰƬ), 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 ��ӰƬ (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.