A University of Birmingham researcher has been invited by the West Midlands Police & Crime Commissioner to join his new Academic Advisory Board.
The West Midlands Police & Crime Commissioner, David Jamieson invited Siddhartha Bandyopadhyay, Professor of Economics and Director, Centre for Crime, Justice and Policing with fellow academics from across the West Midlands to contribute to join his new Academic Advisory Board.
One of the main purposes of the board is for academics to come together and present their research to the PCC and identify new and creative ways they can work together to reduce crime in the West Midlands.
Academics from the University of Birmingham, Birmingham City University, Aston University, Newman University, Coventry University, Wolverhampton University and Warwick University have all agreed to join the board.
The board will include academics who have expertise in political governance, policing, social cohesion, criminology and social work. The Academic Advisory Board will provide the opportunity for members to present relevant research they or their institution have conducted.
The West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson said: “I am really pleased that academics from across various universities have agreed to join the Board.
“Throughout my time as Police and Crime Commissioner I have listened to the priorities of the diverse communities in the West Midlands. This board provides me with the chance to learn about the work academics are doing and listen to what they think needs to be done to reduce crime.
“I am looking forward to seeing the Academic Advisory Board fully running over the next few months”.
Chief Constable of West Midlands Police, Dave Thompson, said: “The Academic Advisory Board is an opportunity for West Midlands Police to learn more about their research and how their thinking can help reduce crime.
“I am looking forward to seeing the work that is being done and strengthening West Midlands Police’s relationship with academics across the region”.
Siddhartha Bandyopadhyay, Professor of Economics and Director, Centre for Crime, Justice and Policing at the University of Birmingham said: “I am really pleased to be joining the advisory board which will help me feed in relevant research done at our university and centre as well as learn what other impactful work is being done in this area.
“The nature of crime is changing and the collective expertise of the board will ensure that we provide early advice on changes on the horizon that will help the police to respond more effectively to the changing nature of vulnerability.
“I also hope our collective expertise will help towards building an even more resilient police force to adapt to the challenges of 21st century transnational crime, which is a major area of work at the University of Birmingham”.
The PCC has commissioned a wide range of initiatives which focus on diverting young people away from criminality, reducing school exclusions, addressing challenges faced by young people in care and supporting early intervention, mental health and victim support efforts.
The PCC listens to a wide range of community voices, including those from different social and religious backgrounds, those with lived experience and young people; all from the diverse communities of the West Midlands.
For more information or interviews, please contact: Hasan Salim Patel, Communications Manager (Arts, Law and Social Sciences) or contact the press office out of hours on +44 (0) 7789 921 165.
About the University of Birmingham
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Siddhartha Bandyopadhyay is an internationally recognised economist in the field of political economy and public policy. He was the recipient of the Duncan Black prize awarded by the Public Choice Society in 2015 for his work on the electoral incentives of prosecutors with Bryan McCannon. His work on political coalitions has been published in internationally leading journals and has been widely cited by leading scholars in the field. His papers are on the reading list of a number of courses in political economy in reputed universities. He has a particular interest in the economics of crime and economic evaluation of policy. His research interests in this area includes game theoretic modelling of criminal behaviour, econometric (statistical) analysis of factors determining crime, cost benefit analysis of alternate interventions, and the impact of initiatives such as citizen reporting. He has published several papers in reputed journals across disciplines in this area and has been cited in both academic papers as well as policy reports, including the Official National Statistics. He is well versed in the methodological tools required to do analysis of the economic efficiency of various interventions and developed a course at the PG level in this area. He has also given short training sessions on economic evaluation to police and other practitioners.
His work on crime has been featured widely in the media and he has been interviewed by the Economist. He has links with think tanks such as Centre for Crime and Justice Studies and CIVITAS. Along with regularly speaking in academic seminars, he also participates in high profile public engagement activities as well as for radio and television. His public talks include an annual lecture at the ESRC Festival of Social Sciences and he recently delivered his professorial inaugural lecture on ‘Who to Trust: Forming Policy Beliefs in a Polarised World’.
Siddhartha is the lead economist on a number of externally funded projects that includes the Police Knowledge Fund (jointly funded by HEFCE and the Home office via the College of Policing) and another funded by Norfolk and Suffolk constabulary (see Recent Grants under Research) and been PI or Co-I in funded grants of over £3 million. He the director of the cross disciplinary Centre for Crime, Justice and Policing and leads the 21st century transnational crime theme, one of the main themes of the Institute of Global Innovation.