Welcome to Imagining Possible Futures
Our ambitious plan is to undertake the first large scale, participatory study of lived experience-led criminal justice across the five countries of the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Former prisoners and criminalised people take active roles as researchers, lecturers and trainers, practitioners (peer supporters, prison council and equality representatives, co-producers and leaders of services), policy and practice advisors, and (academic) authors advancing criminological theory. Despite growing forms of participation in criminal justice internationally, there is a need for a fuller evidence base.
The project has 3 core aims
To document a history lived experience-led criminal justice.
To critically examine current models of participation, coproduction and lived experience-informed criminal justice practice.
To use artistic and speculative design practices to explore future possibilities for participatory criminal justice.
If you are interested in being a participant in the research or collaborating on a project, get in touch, Gill Buck g.buck@chester.ac.uk
Meet the Team
Publications
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Free Resources
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Photo & Artefact Gallery
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News & Events
- A safer criminal justice system
Dr Gill Buck will facilitate a workshop on Thursday, 8 May at the Criminal Justice Research Symposium, Manchester Metropolitan University: Fostering lived experience in research. She will be joined by Jenni Berlin, User Voice, Professor Line Lerche Morck and Martin Celosse-Andersen, Aarhus University to discuss: How can research be done safely and responsibly with people directly impacted… Read more: A safer criminal justice system - Is Prison the Answer for Women?
Prison for women tab: Dr Gill Buck will join a panel as part of Storyhouse Women on 10 May 2025. Gill will draw on (collaborative) pilot studies with formerly imprisoned women to centre women’s agency, voices and creative potential. - Correctional Research Symposium 2025
Dr Gill Buck will give a keynote address at the Correctional Research Symposium, 13-15 May 2025 focused on Peer Mentoring in Criminal Justice. - Social Sciences Festival 2025: Co-produced Research in the Justice System
Dr Gill Buck will join a panel at Birkbeck, University of London, 9 June 2025, 18:00 — 20:00. This event will explore co-production, lived experience and peer research within the Social Sciences and beyond. It will bring together a panel of experts – including those with lived experience of the law – to discuss and reflect… Read more: Social Sciences Festival 2025: Co-produced Research in the Justice System