Ministry of Justice: areas of research interest 2020
This document sets out the high-level areas of research interest for MOJ with the aim of supporting ongoing and new engagement with the external research community.
Applies to England and Wales
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The MoJ Areas of Research Interest (ARI) publication was delivered by the Evidence and Partnerships Hub in 2020. It sets out MoJ’s medium-term research priorities, aligned with the department’s strategic objectives for the justice system. It highlights where new research can have the most impact for policy and practice and has been the foundation of our partnerships with academia.
The ARI and our broader academic engagement reflects MoJ’s commitment to working in partnership with academic experts to enhance the use of external evidence and expertise in our decision-making.
Since publishing our ARI, the Evidence and Partnerships Hub have run of over 20 engagement events, written external blogposts, and recorded a podcast, to generate interest in collaboration with MoJ. This led to the establishment of an Academic Network of over 350 experts that we can reach out to for help in tackling specific evidence-based challenges.
Through a successful monthly ARI academic seminar series, we typically see around 100 colleagues from across MoJ join to hear the latest research findings and discuss the implications for policy and practice – demonstrating the appetite for academic knowledge across our department.
We have seen significant impact from embedding academic experts directly into teams across Data and Analysis via UKRI-funded secondments, including year-long academic fellowships and PhD student placements. Embedding academics ensures that research is relevant, timely, shaped by specialist expertise, and can feed directly into decision-making.
As a partner on the Capabilities in Academic Policy Engagement (CAPE) project we have also learnt what effective academic engagement can look like more broadly, through piloting a range of different engagement, funding, and collaboration mechanisms.
Please contact evidence_partnerships@justice.gov.uk if you wish to: discuss any aspect of the ARI; offer a seminar presentation; explore ways to engage and collaborate; or would like to sign up to our Academic Network.