News

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…

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…

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…

On Friday 19th September Paula, Kemi and Gill spoke at an event hosted by Penal Reform International in Amsterdam. The discussion aimed to explore and advance the meaningful inclusion of people with lived experience in prison reform efforts, in line with international human rights standards. Gill drew on historical research by the research team to…

In September 2025, team members attended the European Society of Criminology conference in Athens, Greece. Gill Buck, along with Professor Ben Crewe from the University of Cambridge, were invited to an ‘Author meets Critic’ session. They responded to the excellent book ‘Prisoner Leaders‘, by Paula Harriott and her colleague Marion Vannier, frrom the University of…

Gill Buck and colleague Philippa Tomczak from the University of Nottingham have published a new article. It demonstrates: ⚠️Women in prison have key insights into problems and solutions related to imprisonment but their voices are often peripheral, or they are constructed as ‘pathetic’. 💡There is unrealised potential for prison regulators to network women in prison…

A new paper co-authored by Gill Buck and Philippa Tomczak, from the University of Nottingham, explores Suicide in prison: The potentials and pitfalls of film-research collaborations. When somebody dies in prison, grief may not be openly acknowledged. Trauma can be embodied, difficult to express in words. Collaborative film can centre and validate lived experiences, emotionally engage…

📣In September 2025 our research partners Tasha and Kemi from Reformed Development will launch a new empowerment programme. The Mindset Programme is aimed at women with convictions. It will run for 12 weeks from 3rd September and focus on: ✨️Employability.✨️Goal Setting.✨️Increased self-belief and confidence. To register your interest, visit: https://www.reformed16.com/mindset

In July 2025 the Imagining Possible Futures team shared some initial pilot studies at the annual British Society of Criminology conference. In partnership with Experience for Justice, a collective dedicated to promoting radical change in the criminal justice system through prioritising the perspectives of individuals and groups with lived expertise, we: ✨️Shared a co-created Manifesto…