Collaboration and Co-Creation Research in the Behavioral Sciences: Assisting Policing and Criminal Justice Practice

Dear Colleagues,

There is increasing awareness that practitioner–academic collaborations, or work by ‘pracademics’, in the behavioural sciences can have significant impact on professional practice. Research on this topic is developed with pragmatic needs in mind: to enhance the ability to understand professional experiences and difficulties; to improve access to ‘in-house’ potentially confidential data; and to increase the likelihood that resultant findings can be applied in practice, enabling societal impact.

In addition, there is a growing appetite for an enhanced evidence base to underpin practice, alongside an increased professionalisation of roles, which often includes the requirement of, or aspiration towards, enhanced levels of post-graduate academic qualification. As such, behavioural science research combining bespoke knowledge exchanges between researchers and practitioners has significantly increased. This has been witnessed specifically within law enforcement and policing roles, where enhanced professionalisation has led to an academic surge in those seeking to develop their knowledge and improve services through evidence-based research in areas of psychology, criminology and the behavioural sciences, in the pursuit of effective criminal justice. This edition will therefore bring together examples of academic research by psychologists and behavioural scientists, co-created with and for policing and law enforcement.

The following Special Issue calls for contemporary examples of research involving collaborative endeavours between academics and law enforcement, which aim to assist and improve criminal investigations and the delivery of justice.

Dr. Terri Cole
Dr. Sarah Hambidge
Guest Editors

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