Funding opportunity coming soon: Probation and criminal justice system linked dataset
Categories: Datasets, ADR England, Office for National Statistics, Crime & justice
17 January 2022
Please note: this opportunity has now closed.
ADR UK will soon be launching a funding opportunity for fellowship applications to conduct research using a new ‘probation and criminal justice system linking dataset’. Grants will be available for a maximum of £130,000 for up to 12 months.
These Research Fellowships will enable researchers to improve our understanding of the criminal justice system. Examples of research could include what factors affect the likelihood of different groups receiving different sentences or how the use of non-custodial and custodial sentencing has changed over time. Research could also include insights on end-to-end user journeys across the criminal justice system. For example, who are the ‘repeat users’ of the criminal justice system? What are their characteristics? How often do they return? How do outcomes change on each return to the criminal justice system?
This opportunity is expected to open for applications in late February 2022. Sign up for email alerts to be notified as soon as the call is live and/or when further linked administrative datasets become available through ADR UK’s Research Fellowship scheme.
About the data
The new ‘probation and criminal justice system linked dataset’ is the most recent Data First product to be shared with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Secure Research Service (SRS). It is part of the Data First project led by the Ministry of Justice. The probation dataset contains information on service users (offenders), offences, disposals, community order requirements, license conditions and post sentence supervision requirements. This probation dataset has been linked to other Data First products, including magistrates’ court, Crown Court, and prison datasets.
ADR UK will be providing funding for researchers to make use of this data for policy-relevant projects in the public interest and aligned with Ministry of Justice: areas of research interest 2020.
Eligibility and applications
Proposals will be welcome from individual researchers from eligible research organisations, as per the Economic and Social Research Council’s standard eligibility criteria. This includes early career researchers, who will require a mentor. Researchers on fixed term contracts will be eligible to apply if their institutions are willing to extend their contracts to cover the period of the Fellowship.
We will be looking for demonstrable experience of working with large datasets coupled with a willingness to engage with other researchers across the ADR UK partnership as well as policymakers. Experience with MoJ data is not essential.
The application process, including data owner approvals, will be coordinated by ADR UK. Full details of how to apply will be provided when the call opens in February 2022. The deadline for applications is expected to be in May 2022 (to be confirmed when the call is launched).
In the meantime, you can sign-up now for the applicant webinar on Friday 25 March where you will hear from MoJ and ADR UK about the data, application process, and research priorities, and will have the opportunity to ask questions.
