Expert academics appointed to guide and champion Data First

In March 2020, ADR UK announced a grant of almost £3 million to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) for Data First: an ambitious data-linking project harnessing the potential of administrative data from across the justice system to better understand ‘what works’ to address key social and justice policy issues.

To help Data First achieve its full potential, a number of leading academic experts in this field have now been appointed to advise and champion the programme.

Professor Andromachi Tseloni appointed as Academic Lead for Data First

Andromachi is Professor of Quantitative Criminology at Nottingham Trent University, where she leads the Quantitative and Spatial Criminology (QSC) research group. The QSC are responsible for conducting research that directly impacts crime prevention and community policing. Professor Tseloni is also an active member of the British Society of Criminology Executive and of the Social Statistics Section Committee of the Royal Statistics Society.

Andromachi’s expertise in translating academic findings to answer real-world questions within criminal justice and policing makes her ideally suited for this role. She will foster engagement about the project with the academic community, shaping research questions and supporting data access. Find out more about Professor Tseloni and her vision for Data First in this blog.

Professor Betsy Stanko OBE appointed as External Champion and Advisor to Data First

Betsy has spent nearly two decades utilising the power of administrative data in policing and in the justice sector, both as an academic and as head of evidence and insight within the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) in London. She had provided many years of strategic analysis for the Metropolitan Police.

Professor Stanko’s first-hand knowledge of administrative data research within the field of crime and justice, coupled with her experience of applying this in practice, makes her well-placed for this role. She will champion the project with external stakeholders and provide strategic expertise and advice. Find out more about Betsy and her motivation for supporting Data First in this blog.

Also supporting Data First is an eight-member Academic Advisory Group (AAG)

Using their wide-ranging technical and justice expertise, the AAG will provide advice and constructive challenge to the Data First team. They will help the project maintain visibility within academia, and support its goal of facilitating and promoting research through administrative data.

The AAG members are:

• David Ford (Chair), Professor of Informatics at Swansea University, Co-Director of Administrative Data Research Wales (ADR Wales) and Co-Director of the Nuffield Family Justice Data Partnership
• Helen Margetts OBE FBA, Professor of Society and the Internet at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, and Director of the Public Policy Programme at the Alan Turing Institute
• Imran Rasul FBA, Professor of Economics at UCL, Co-Director of the Centre for the Microeconomic Analysis of Public Policy at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, and Research Programme Director in the Firms portfolio at the Internal Growth Centre
• Karen Broadhurst, Professor of Social Work in the Department of Sociology at Lancaster University, and Society Lead within Lancaster University’s Data Science Institute,
• Kerina Jones, Professor of Population Data Science at Swansea University Medical School, and Associate Director for Information Governance and Public Engagement
• Peter Christen, Professor at the Research School of Computer Science at Australia National University
• Ruth Gilbert, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health
• Susan McVie, Chair of Quantitative Criminology at the University of Edinburgh, and Co-Director for the Scottish Centre for Administrative Data Research (SCADR, part of ADR Scotland)

Find out more about the AAG and its members in this profile.