Stable Lives Safer Streets North-South funding award

Stable Lives Safer Streets project has been awarded over 3million in funding from the North-South Research Programme.  The funding will facilitate the establishment of the Stable Lives Safer Streets All Ireland Research hub.

The hub builds on previous policy-led research in Youth Crime by both Research into Policy Programmes and Practice Project REPPP, School of Law, University of Limerick and The Violence Prevention Lab, Queens University Belfast and in Implementation science by the Centre for Effective Services. 

Youth crime and antisocial behaviour are complex and enduring issues and areas of the public concern because they impact on a sense of community safety.

Research in both Ireland and Northern Ireland clearly demonstrates that young people involved in crime tend to have experienced multiple adversities at home, at school and in the community and are vulnerable to child exploitation.

The hub will provide evidence about accessible, practical approaches to understanding and responding to youth crime, criminal exploitation, and community safety.

Policy makers, programme designers and practitioners can use this evidence to make more effective and efficient decisions. The Hub will enable a sustainable cross-border approach for evidence building and its use in developing good policy and practice.

The Stable Lives Safer Streets hub will be led by Dr Catherine Naughton, REPPP, School of Law, UL, in partnership with Dr Colm Walsh, The Violence Prevention Lab, QUB and CES. 

There are three funded PhDs available for this programme. View information on applying to work with us here.

Initial projects include

1. Support for policy making in youth crime: increased insights into the prevalence and nature of youth crime and what works to help communities engage and support vulnerable young people.
2. Child Criminal Exploitation: identifying ways to disrupt recruitment of children by organised crime groups, testing responses and building on established relationships with both Departments of Justice. 
3. Effective strategies for making effective policy, programmes and practice work on the ground.
4. The methodologies, findings and efforts to implement best practices will be of significant value to a wide range of other complex policy areas.