Author Archives: Farah Mendlesohn

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About Farah Mendlesohn

The School of Law, Policing and Forensics at Staffordshire University offers the LLB, MA and LLM; degrees in Policing and Criminal Investigation, Sociology, Criminology and Terrorism and Forensic Science and Investigation. With over fifty staff members we have expertise in rape testing, prevention and prosecution, ballistic testing, fibre analysis, soil analysis, family law and employment law among others. We offer BA and BSc, MSci and MScs along with a Masters by Applied Research in a range of areas including forensic archaeology. @StaffsUniLPF @StaffsFACS_Dept @StaffsUniLaw

A chance to meet Chief Constable of Staffordshire Police, Jane Sawyers; International Women’s Day at StaffsUni

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International Women’s Day 2017: Celebration of the Great Women of Staffordshire

Tuesday March 7th

‘Be Bold for Change’

 You are invited to join us at an event to celebrate International Women’s Day on Tuesday 7th March.  We are delighted to welcome Chief Constable Jane Sawyers and key inspirational women of Staffordshire to debate the theme of International Women’s Day – ‘Be Bold for Change’

Programme overview:

5.30pm: Arrival, Networking and Refreshments

Science Centre Atrium/Lecture Theatres

Staffordshire University, Leek Road Campus, Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 2DF

6.30pm: Welcome, Vice-Chancellor, Professor Liz Barnes

6.35pm: International Women’s Day Lecture, Chief Constable of Staffordshire Police, Jane Sawyers, will give an insight into her career journey, Inc Q and A

7.10pm: BSc Hons Music Technology and Management student, Lorraine Lionheart to perform

 7.15pm: Celebration of the Great Women of Staffordshire, ‘One Show’ format on sofas with invited key inspirational women of Staffordshire leading the debate entitled ‘Be Bold for Change’

 Panel:

Prof Liz Barnes, Vice-Chancellor of Staffordshire University

Cllr Abi Brown, Deputy Leader of Stoke City Council, Chair of City of Culture bid for Stoke-on-Trent

 Jaime Lee Cunningham, President of Students’ Union

 Theresa Heskins, Artistic Director, The New Vic Theatre

 Fleur Robinson, Commercial Director, Burton Albion FC

 CC Jane Sawyers, Chief Constable of Staffordshire Police

 Sara Williams, Chief Executive, Staffordshire Chambers of Commerce

7.45pm

Closing Remarks: Vice-Chancellor, Professor Liz Barnes

 If you would like to attend this event please email: public@staffs.ac.uk

 

 

Fighting Cyber-crime

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On Tuesday the 7th February, the West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit’s (WMROCU) Cyber crime team attended Staffordshire University.

Detective Inspector Rob Harris (Pictured) and Detective Sergeant Gary Sirrell hosted a workshop for the Crime Prevention and Urban Criminology students, on what was a very a fitting day, Safer Internet Day

Cyber crimeWMROCU has the responsibility of protecting the communities in the West Midlands from serious organised and complex crime.  Gary and Rob gave a fantastic insight into the current cyber threat landscape, and the UK Cyber Strategy, whilst also providing some local case studies. They concluded with some advice around what businesses and the public can do to protect themselves against a cyber-attack.   The input clearly linked to topics already discussed with students, such as partnership working, education and future threat.

Research News: The Society for the Study of Childhood in the Past

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In October 2016, the Society was involved in the Big Biology Day at Staffordshire University (UK). Activities delivered on the day focused centred around the biological development of children with hands on activities for all the family, including bone identification tasks, quizzes, and demonstrations (all using resin casts). Thank you to Claire Hodson (Durham University) and Dr David Errickson (Teesside University) for your help on the day.

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On Saturday 28th February 2017 the Society ran a joint event with Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA) to mark the closure of the Museum’s Heritage Lottery Funded “Hide and Seek: Looking for Children in the Past” exhibition.

 

The day involved tours of the exhibition by one of the curators (Dr Jody Joy) and a family day led by the education and outreach team (Sarah-Jane Harknett, Matt Buckley, and Bob Bourn). Dr Sally Crawford (University of Oxford and President of the Society) delivered a key note talk titled “New kids on the block: the archaeology of childhood comes of age”, which attracted around 50 visitors from an array of professional backgrounds. Sally explored the development of the archaeology of childhood and the importance of including children in our interpretation of archaeological sites and objects.

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The event closed with a wine reception which allowed visitors to discuss all aspects of childhood in the past and view the exhibition before its closure. This has been a ground breaking exhibition and has helped to publicize the value of acknowledging children in the interpretation of archaeological remains and historical documents. Many thanks to Jody Joy, Imogen Gunn, Eleanor Wilkinson, Sarah-Jane Harknett, Lorena Bushell, and the rest of the MAA team for all your hard work.IMG_3073

Further details about the “Hide and Seek” exhibition can be found at the following website: http://www.hideandseekexhibition.org.uk/

For more information about the Society for the Study of Childhood in the Past, please visit our website: https://sscip.wordpress.com/

Dr Kirsty Squires (Kirsty.Squires@staffs.ac.uk)

New Placements for Policing Students

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Juliet Prince, our newest member of staff, is using her experience knowledge and contacts to assist our major partner Staffordshire Police to develop opportunities for some students to secure short placements in their Justice Service Department.

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On Wednesday 1st February Juliet took a large group of Level 6 PCI students to the home of the Staffordshire Police Justice Department in Etruria not far from the University. This visit enabled police staff to provide compelling information to the students about their role and services. Juliet was extremely complimentary about the professional and competent approach which was displayed by our students in their demeanour and active responses. Well done them!
Policing 1Policing 2The hope is that this will now drive students to provide ideas for some suitable placement projects which will assist the Justice Department to enhance their performance, productivity, efficiency and effectiveness.

We are all looking forward to seeing the evolution of this exciting new project!

Performance and Intervention

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On Friday 23rd, thirty professionals from policing, social work and offender intervention programme came to Staffordshire University to take part in experimental research undertaken by the third year students. This project was designed and delivered by Em Temple-Malt and Sarah Page of the newly established Staffordshire University Crime and Society Research Group.
Global cafe discussion

The day began with a short presentation on the key findings from a study carried out in the summer of 2016 which focused on improvements that could be made to services for perpetrators of domestic abuse on behalf of Public Health commissioners from The Safer City Partnership. It involved speaking to a range of professionals (who work with victims of domestic abuse and perpetrators of domestic abuse), with perpetrators of domestic abuse, who at the time of the interviews were engaged in educational and rehabilitative programmes in Stoke on Trent that are aimed at giving them skills to change their behaviour and helping them to learn how to have ‘healthy’ relationships.

Workshop intervention 2The group produced 32 recommendations that they felt could inform alterations to strategies and service provision designed to reduce domestic abuse offending, and then produced a play expressing some of their findings.
Some of the scenes were ‘forumed’, and the audience had the opportunity to point out moments in the perpetrator’s journey where others the perpetrator encounters, could meaningfully intervene or change how they respond to his behaviour. The actors incorporated these suggestions into their scenes in ways that generated intense discussion.

 

Workshop intervention

“This experience has been invaluable as it has given me a confidence I didn’t have before. I now feel ready to act, research and report like a professional sociologist. Talking ideas with career professionals now comes naturally and I can’t wait to do it again” Daniel Gill

The Domestic Abuse event (what I saw of it in the morning) was interesting to be because it made me realise that sociological research can really make a difference in individual’s lives to an extent I perhaps did not realise before. Seeing all the professionals come together to brainstorm ideas was so powerful and it gave me hope that a difference can one day be made. Rosie Brindle-WilkinsonCast

“It was an amazing experience to participate in this fascinating research project from start to finish. I am extremely grateful to have been given the opportunity to join with my academic peers and mentors in seeing our summer research come to life in such an impactful way, the drama was to such a high standard that it did not fall short of being powerful, thought-provoking and all round amazing, it is a piece of art that can definitely change ideas and perceptions.” –Alex Robinson

“An invaluable opportunity to be part of the research process. “This event was the culmination of our research over the summer and I got a real buzz from seeing how the findings were interpreted and captured by Paul and the drama students. It was fascinating to see how the audience interacted with the forum theatre piece and to see a world cafe in action” Alison

“A great opportunity to be involved in discussions with local organisations about the research findings and possible changes that could be made as a result of the research.The forum theatre was a powerful and captivating tool to use to tell a story of domestic abuse and to also involve audience members and stimulate discussions.An all round amazing, thought provoking and memorable day. “Joni

Alumni news

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Desiree Elliot talking about her time at StaffsIt was wonderful to have BA (Hons) Sociology graduating class of 2016 and winner of last year’s University wide Vice Chancellor’s Award Desiree Elliot back on campus this week to share her story with over 600 staff and students about her time with us here at Staffs. You can watch and listen to Desiree’s story here: https://youtu.be/6CZ8pOyRw88

Moot Report – Man Uni v Staffs Uni

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After winning in the 1st Round of the UKLSA National Moot Competition we had a successful 2nd Round moot (mock trial) against Manchester University’s Ella Coverley and Harry Bithell. Dr. Bruce Wardhaugh, Manchester University and Dr. Keith Puttick, Staffordshire University were the judges (shown in the pic with both teams, us on the left).
We represented the Crown Prosecution Service in the High Court in an appeal by Bill Farmer after he was convicted of driving his tractor while drunk. To see off the appeal, and persuade the court to uphold Bill’s conviction, we had to convince the judges that the fields in which he had been driving were a ‘road’ and a ‘public place’ under the Road Traffic legislation. After a tough battle the score-sheets showed equal marks for both teams! The judges’ were highly complimentary in their marking and feedback – particularly on UKLSA marking criteria of quality of presentations, argument, and legal research.
The University of Manchester were graceful hosts and we thank them for a truly great experience (and the cake!).
We are waiting to hear from UKLSA if we and Manchester will go through to the next round. Hopefully yes. Let’s see! Who knows, if we progress (and the force is still with us!) we could go on to win the competition?
Whatever happens next we had a great time and did well to draw with a team from one of the world’s top universities.
Jack Bizzell
Staffordshire University Law School

Staffordshire University Law School Mooting Success!

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Congratulations to Staffordshire University Law student Jack Bizzell who won their first round tie against Wolverhampton University’s Aaron McKenzie and Hiba Asghar in the UK Law Students’ Association competitive moot competition.

They represented an appellant fighting a deportation order in the Immigration Tribunal. Jack  successfully argued that their client was assisted by his (and his family’s) ‘exceptional circumstances’, ECHR Convention rights, and Public Law ‘proportionality’ requirements. The court clerk was fellow SU student Simon Mitchell. The judge was SU Law School lecturer Keith Puttick, a former Unified Appeals Tribunal judge and a co-author of Civil Appeals. Keith in his feedback said the performances by both teams had been really impressive and he ‘scored’ the SU team as ahead on points given the quality of their legal arguments, use of authority, legislative schemes and pre-hearing research using on-line systems like Lexis Library and Westlaw. SU will now go through to the next round of the national competition.

News from the Policing Team

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After an extended period of discussion, departmental liaison and attendance at some key Police conferences, this week sees the start of the 15 credit Policing Science module for the level 4 Policing and Criminal Investigation students.

Ongoing consultation between staff and students over quite an extended period of time and with an ever watchful eye on key strategic developments in Modern Policing over a period of a couple of years has led to the development of this module It’s designed to pick up on the many exciting changes and opportunities occurring in the Police research and development environment.

The recently developed `what works` agenda is now seriously promoted by the College of Policing and has become the key focus for establishing the viability and effect of existing and new policing strategies and tactics and while as a group of lecturer`s the department have been aware and been busily implementing key aspects of change to the existing portfolio this new innovative introduction to the extensive range of policing and investigative topics on the course can only be seen as a welcome move in the right direction.

The introduction of this key aspect of modern day policing is designed to enable a greater level of understanding of what is required in the field of police research, what and how different material and data is perceived as necessary and essential, together with what kind of analysis can be conducted to enable good decision making to be a key component in what people see as one of the most essential of public services.

The intention is that as students progress through their course the research imperative comes to the fore. The development of this aspect of the course provides students with a greater level of understanding and awareness for what may be required in not only their academic work but also future careers and placement opportunities.

In order to effectively implement the module the key will be to make use of the existing and successful collaboration between staff from two separate departments ensures a high level of knowledge and experience comes into play as the course will be taught by staff from the Policing and Criminal Investigation degree course ably assisted by key individuals who teach on the Forensic Science and Investigation courses.