Inaugural Lecture | Chuck Them Out and Throw Away the Key

We are delighted to welcome Professor Adeela Shafi MBE's to present her Inaugural Lecture: Chuck Them Out and Throw Away the Key: The Education of Incarcerated Children.

Adeela's research is focused on how to re-engage incarcerated children and young people with education and learning. Most of this work has been on international projects with the aim of raising the profile and attention of this little researched area on an international stage. Adeela’s work reflects passion and skill for collaborating across boundaries to generate the thinking for new solutions to old problems.

Adeela has been Principle Investigator on large Erasmus+ projects, such as Re-Engaging Young Offenders with Education & Learning (RENYO) and Active Games for Change (AG4C) with the aim of developing policy and practice in this area.  As well as an established publishing profile, Adeela has led a Special Issue in an International Journal ‘Children’s education in secure custodial settings: Towards a global understanding of effective policy and practice’.

Adeela is currently lead editor on a new International Handbook by Palgrave entitled ‘The Education of Incarcerated Children and Young People’ with contributions from 41 world- leading scholars across 13 countries, including Turkey, China Italy, Spain, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, USA, Abu Dhabi, Brazil, Greece, Australasia and the UK - on the role education can play in improving the lives of incarcerated children and young people.  It will be the first such authoritative title in the field.  

To further this work Adeela established TRYJUSTICE, the Transdisciplinary Research for Youth Justice Network www.tryjustice.org.uk, bringing together key academics on youth justice from the disciplines of psychology, criminology, sociology, social work and law.  The aim is to generate cutting edge thinking which transcends disciplinary boundaries. A new centre that Adeela is leading with other collaborators is the Centre for Whole Society Resilience (CWSR) www.glos.ac.uk/wholesocietyresilience, focused on leadership, decision making and cultural change for resilience in individuals, teams, organisations, communities and society.   

Adeela is also an active community worker, standing for MP in 2010, is Chair of the Avon & Somerset Police Scrutiny Panel, founder of the Bristol Muslim Strategic Leadership Group and Commissioner for Race Equality in Bristol. Adeela was recognised for her contributions in research and services to social justice with an MBE in the Queens 2020 New Year’s Honours List.

Starting at 4.30pm, this free lecture takes place at The Park campus in Cheltenham. Pay and Display parking is available on campus (Entrance 3) and registration is at our Elwes Reception, (Entrance 1b). The lecture is taking place in TC014, a tiered lecture theatre, and please email corporateevents@glos.ac.uk if you have any queries. Please register your free ticket via Eventbrite.