March 15, 2021. News

Thames Valley VRU supports PhD opportunity

Thames Valley VRU are supporting a PhD opportunity researching education inequalities.

Thames Valley Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) is supporting an innovative PhD research opportunity at the University of Sheffield.  The study will focus on tackling educational inequalities and improving outcomes for young people, benefiting from access to Thames Valley Together, a new data collation and analytics platform developed by the VRU.

It is known that poor education outcomes increase the risk of being drawn into, or being more vulnerable to, crime and serious violence.  There are a multitude of variables in a person’s life that can influence this, as well as opportunities for interventions to prevent offending.

Thames Valley VRU’s Thames Valley Together project is developing a unique data-set, integrating over 120 live data feeds from agencies across policing, criminal justice, education, health, social care and other sources. Through this multi-agency analysis, it provides the opportunity to study patterns in accessing services, the opportunities for interventions and where they are made. 

This PhD-level research will explore educational difficulties and variables, helping to inform how earlier support and interventions can be made both within and outside the education system.

The PhD will be supervised by Nathan Hughes, of University of Sheffield.  To apply and for further information contact: nathan.hughes@sheffield.ac.uk

Closing date for applications is 9 April 2021.