On Thursday, 8 May, Gill Buck facilitated a workshop at the Criminal Justice Research Symposium, Manchester Metropolitan University: Fostering lived experience in research.
She was joined by Jenni Berlin from User Voice and Line Lerche Morck and Martin Celosse-Andersen from Aarhus University, who discussed: How can research be done safely and responsibly with people directly impacted by the justice system? How can this research and experience be best utilised in creating a system that makes society safer?
The event will brought together academics, policy-makers, practitioners, and people with lived experience to explore the theme of a safer criminal justice system.
Members of the Experience for Justice Collective (E4J), a key partner in Imagining Possible Futures, gathered at the University of Liverpool for a two-day workshop to shape a shared research agenda and spark momentum for a major community-led research proposal.
4–5 November 2025
Building on earlier gatherings, including the inaugural Sheffield symposium (2023) and E4J presentations at the British Society of Criminology conferences (2024 and 2025), the workshop explored research priorities related to participatory and coproduced criminal justice research.
Participants worked collaboratively to refine the group’s research ambitions and priorities. Sessions included short presentations, group discussions, and thematic exercises designed to strengthen shared principles and develop plans.
Guest contributor Emma Murray (Imagining Possible Futures and Anglia Ruskin University) shared insights on developing imagination based work with key stakeholders. Collaborators reflected on future possibilities for community-driven research and explored funding and infrastructure support.
Outcomes
The workshop:
Agreed a set of shared priorities and broad research questions.
Mapped potential funding routes and next steps for proposal development.
Strengthened the Collective’s capacity and networks for advancing its research agenda.
E4J will continue this work through follow-up meetings in 2026.
For 11 years, our Co-Investigator Emma Murray has volunteered as a Criminologist in Residence at FACT Liverpool.
This beautiful reflection considers what she has learned from this time, and what she will bring to ongoing and future collaborations.
The work articulates one of Emma’s superpowers: “to curate criminology… [is] to think of how to bring criminology into [the] gallery context… Curation is about creating conditions in which the relationship between artworks, artists and audiences can produce new insights and possibilities”
As part of our Imagining Possible Futures study, Emma is now applying her learning from Resolution to co-develop strengths‑based resources with people impacted by justice systems. These resources will support imagination based problem solving to build more inclusive learning and support services within and beyond criminal justice.
In September 2025, Dr Gill Buck spoke at an international event, co-facilitated by Sr Caroline Acha, Coordinator, Victim Offender Prison Care Support (VOPS), Cameroon.
Gill presented a history of lived experience led criminal justice in the UK and Ireland, informed by the historical work from the Imagining Possible Futures study. She then focused on empirical evidence of peer mentoring in a UK context.
The event was attended by people who live and work in prison in Cameroon. The discussion explored ways that peer mentoring could work in the local context, in ways that ensure people are well trained, supported and safe in their work. Resources were shared regarding different kinds of training provision, empirical evidence of UK schemes and restorative approaches to re-entry post imprisonment.
📖You can access Gill’s open access publications on peer-mentoring here.
📚 More open access resources on Lived Experience Criminal Justice research are available here.
