This seminar is the second in the "Blue-Sky Thinking" seminar series, which aims to stimulate new connections and collaborations between researchers and practitioners in Criminal Justice.

A key question of crime prevention is 'where do we start’, but an often neglected follow-up question is ‘where does it end?’ This seminar brings together experts with decades of experience in looking at the key ingredients of ‘what works’ in crime prevention (Prof. David Farrington) and practitioners from St. Giles Trust (Maria and Brendan) with a wealth of experience working with, and supporting, prisoners within the criminal justice system. What works in preventing crime before it begins and what works in prisons to help individuals better integrate into society?

Our panellists for this event are Maria McNicholl & Brendan Ross from St Giles Trust and Professor David Farrington. This seminar will be co-chaired by Professor Jane Hurry and Dr. Lynne Rogers.

Maria McNicholl

Maria has worked for St Giles Trust for 20 years and started their first flagship “Peer Advice Project” in HMP Wandsworth in 2002 training prisoners to NVQ Level 3 in Advice & Guidance and enabling them to support their peers in prison. This project went on to win the Andy Ludlow Award, the Butler Trust Award and the Times Charity Award and has now been developed in 30 prisons across England and Wales and transferred successfully into the community. St Giles recognises the value and contribution people with lived experience bring to an organisation and now 40% of their paid staff have lived experience working in a range of projects including gang exit programmes, county lines, training, employment etc.

Maria has also contributed to pan-European projects transferring the peer model into different settings, for example training peer mentors in the Roma Community in Budapest.

Maria has a MA, with distinction, in prisoner education from the Institute of Education, UCL and is currently a Senior Manager with responsibility for developing St Giles Trust peer programmes in custody and the community and developing and training staff with lived experience. She is also leading their EPOP (Engaging People On Probation) programme which aims to implement culture change within the Probation Service and enable Probation Practioners to fully involve the people who use their services.

Brendan Ross

Brendan Ross is the London Skills and employment Manager for St Giles Trust , Brendan manages a range of teams supports people every day who are vulnerable, are homeless, have had mental health difficulties, who have been in prison; those who are marginalised. Practically, the challenges of this role are vast and complex; emotionally, the journey for someone can be just as overwhelming. Brendan brings with him the knowledge and skills to equip those he supports to move their lives forward into employment; and his own life experience to do so with empathy and with recognition of the humanity in each case that he sees. Since 2011, Brendan has supported over 650 significantly disadvantaged people into work directly and recently led a Peer-led complex needs project which covers central and south London which has supported over 1200 people in the past 5 years.

Brendan has 5 years direct experience of the criminal justice system UK & Ireland and over 14 years’ experience working in the Charity sector. Brendan is dedicated to work to strengthen relationships in the lives of adults to add value, support, coach and empower them to identify their own strengths, goals, and motivation. Brendan has proven experience in prioritising and strategising effective employment, learning and training programmes. 

Brendan is a firm believer that those that have been through the system are the key to reducing re-offending, reducing victims, and breaking the cycle.

Prof. David Farrington

David P. Farrington, O.B.E., is Emeritus Professor of Psychological Criminology at Cambridge University. He has received the Stockholm Prize in Criminology and he has been President of the American Society of Criminology. His major research interest is in developmental criminology, and he is Director of the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development, which is a prospective longitudinal survey of over 400 London males from age 8 to age 61. He has authored numerous narrative and systematic reviews of the literature on the prevention of offending, and he edited the 2016 book What Works in Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation: Lessons from Systematic Reviews. In addition to 896 published journal articles and book chapters on criminological and psychological topics, he has published 132 books, monographs and government publications, and 164 shorter publications (total = 1,192). According to Google Scholar on April 29, 2022, his publications have been cited a total of 122,314 times; his h-index was 180, which means that 180 of his publications have each been cited at least 180 times, and his i10-index was 750, which means that 750 of his publications have been cited at least 10 times.

Chair: Prof. Jane Hurry

I am a UCL psychologist with a longstanding interest in supporting the learning and development of young people caught up in the criminal justice system or at risk of doing so. With colleagues, over the last two decades I have been researching engagement and the consequences of engagement with education and training amongst these young people both in custody and the community. In the process I have come to understand the importance of not only the provision available but the contexts providers must work in and also the lives and mindsets of these learners.

Chair: Dr. Lynne Rogers

Dr. Lynne Rogers is a Reader in Education at IOE and Co-Director for the Centre for Post-14 Education and Work. She has long-standing interests in teacher/lecturer training and learning in further and higher education and other professional settings. Currently she is the Academic Head of Research Engagement and Impact. She was the Faculty Director of Teaching and Learning throughout 2011–14 in addition to leading the MA in Teaching and Learning in Higher and Professional Education. During 2008–2010 she was the Director of the London Centre for Excellence in Teacher Training. She has extensive experience of education as a teacher and in a range of management positions prior to becoming an academic. She has undertaken research and published in relation to behaviour in school; disengagement from education including the role of alternative curricula; learning, studying and homework in adolescents and issues relating to music education. Her book, Disengagement from Education, focused on the experiences of young people aged 11 to 19 across a range of contexts including secondary, FE, young offender institutions and alternative provision.