Nine Policing Academic Centres of Excellence to launch

7 Jul 2025 01:20 PM

UKRI is launching nine Policing Academic Centres of Excellence (P-ACEs), with £4.5 million in funding coming from the National Police Chiefs’ Council.

Credit: Hirurg, E+ via Getty Images

Working closely with police forces, the P-ACEs will drive collaboration among academia and policing after they launch in October 2025.

They will ensure that:

• policing is shaped by the latest and best scientific expertise
• the UK’s leading researchers are able to challenge and innovate in partnership with policing as they strive to improve public safety

Each P-ACE will be promoted across the policing sector as an accessible source of leading academic experts aligned with Policing’s Areas of Research Interest and evidence needs.

The P-ACEs will support policing by:

• adopting new technologies
• developing new tools and techniques
• improving training and skills
• increasing public safety

A better justice system

Stian Westlake, Executive Chair of the Economic and Social Research Council, yesterday said:

The Policing Academic Centres of Excellence will forge closer relationships between police forces and researchers, providing the police with data and evidence to make the justice system work better.

By bringing experts in policing practice together with social scientists and data scientists across the country, the centres will provide knowledge and insights to drive service improvement.

These centres of excellence demonstrate our commitment to reducing crime and making Britain a safer place.

Deep and lasting partnerships

Professor Paul Taylor, Police Chief Scientific Adviser, yesterday said:

Academia and policing have a long history of collaborative working on issues as diverse as forensic science, crime prevention, and analytical technologies.

The P-ACEs will fortify this connection, providing a focal point for research and knowledge exchange.

I’m particularly excited about what the P-ACEs can bring to early career scientists who are interested in tackling the complex challenge of keeping the UK public safe.

The P-ACE community will, I hope, provide them more opportunities and greater support as we look to forge deep and lasting partnerships over the next decade.

Mobilise and respond

The two key functions of the P-ACEs are to:

• mobilise, showcase and make key insights, findings and outputs from their work accessible to policing
• respond to the evidence needs, questions and problems raised by policing and work with policing to co-develop new research and knowledge exchange activities

The P-ACEs

The universities selected to be P-ACEs are:

• Edinburgh Napier University, Glasgow Caledonian University, University of St Andrews and The University of Edinburgh
• Lancaster University
• Manchester Metropolitan University and The University of Manchester
• Nottingham Trent University
• University College London
• University of Bath
• University of Birmingham, Aston University and University of Leicester
• University of Leeds and University of York
• University of Portsmouth

For updates about the P-ACEs visit Policing Academic Centres of Excellence.