Trust and confidence in policing: Research & Innovation Consortium (Grant)

Apply for funding to develop and test dynamic tools and approaches to measure public trust and confidence in policing. The consortium will develop methods to capture the views of the wider community, underrepresented groups, groups who are a priority for policing and their partners, with particular focus on the voices of under-18s and victims and survivors of violence against women and girls. Project leads must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for UKRI funding. The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £2 million. UKRI will fund 80% of the FEC. The Consortium must start by 1 February 2027 for a duration of 36 months. Demand management Demand management is not currently being applied to this funding opportunity. However, should the level of interest exceed what can be managed within the assessment process, UKRI may introduce limits on the number of applications that can be submitted. Further details will be clearly communicated where this is the case. UKRI encourages organisations to support applicants in preparing well-planned, high-quality applications that are competitive for funding relative to the funding opportunity. Aim The core aims of this consortium are to: • develop novel, engaging and dynamic methods which support police and their partners to gain real time feedback on trust and confidence • test new and innovative ways of improving trust and confidence in the police Scope As part of the Safer Streets Research and Development Missions Accelerator Programme (R&D MAP), UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) is launching a funding opportunity focused on understanding trust and confidence in policing in the UK. The aim is to develop new, engaging and dynamic ways of measuring communities’ views, which address gaps in current approaches and remain affordable for police and their partners. Public trust and confidence in policing have declined in recent years, thought to be driven by a range of factors. Strategies, such as the Safer Streets Mission and the Police Reform White Paper, have been introduced to address this. Currently trust and confidence in policing in England and Wales is measured through several valuable tools, including: • Crime Survey for England and Wales (Office for National Statistics) • the Public Perceptions Tracker (Independent Office for Police Conduct) • Police and Crime Commissioner Local Crime Surveys However, while the currently available tools provide a snapshot of public trust and confidence, they do not provide continuous measurement or at a level of granularity to consistently understand the impact of specific policing activities and interventions. Further, the voices of less heard groups and communities, such as children, victims and survivors of abuse, and justice involved individuals, can be missing through conventional methods of data collection, limiting the representation included in the data. The challenge aims to address this limitation by investing in the development of new standardised measures, which provide police with real-time data on trust and confidence in their communities, to guide their interventions and activity. The measures will use evidence based, innovative methods to engage less heard groups, including children, and victims of abuse. To ensure that outputs are useable by police to guide their activities and interventions, they must be affordable, scalable and appealing to the user. Further, the challenge aims to increase trust and confidence through pilots in at least four areas which identify and test specific policing interventions or approaches. In combination with the measures, this will build understanding of what works well and less well in building and sustaining trust and confidence. This could include testing the use of technologies, volunteer police, community engagement and public contact methods, understanding the impact of social media campaigns, or piloting new tactics or protocols with ethical policing at their centre. Under this funding opportunity, one Research & Innovation Consortium will be established. The consortium will bring together academics (including those with research, lived experience or both, within relevant communities), police, community safety and justice leads, policymakers, third sector organisations and community groups, and relevant industry partners, to co-produce innovative, practical and inclusive measures of confidence and trust in policing. The consortium will engage with police and other organisations to design and implement a series of pilots intended to increase trust and confidence. The impact of these will be tested through the innovative measures. The consortium must prioritise understanding and capturing the experiences and perceptions of: • children under the age of 18 • victims of violence against women and girls The consortium should also include other underrepresented groups, prioritised with their local forces, and detail and justify their selection. However, it is exp

This opportunity is open to organisations with standard eligibility. Check if your organisation is eligible The project lead must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for UKRI funding . Business, third sector or government body Individuals from business, third sector or government body organisations based in the UK can be included on applications as a project co-lead. Please read the project co-leads from business, third sector or government bodies policy guidance for details of eligible organisations and costs. International researchers International researchers can apply as ‘project co-lead (international)’. You should include all other international collaborators (or UK partners not based at approved organisations) as project partners. Equality, diversity and inclusion We are committed to achieving equality of opportunity for all funding applicants. We encourage applications from a diverse range of researchers. We support people to work in a way that suits their personal circumstances. This includes: • career breaks • support for people with caring responsibilities • flexible working • alternative working patterns UKRI can offer disability and accessibility support for UKRI applicants and grant holders during the application and assessment process.

Click here to start an application on the UKRI Funding Service: https://funding-service.ukri.org/OPP1409/apply/1437 We are running this funding opportunity on the new UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service so please ensure that your organisation is registered. You cannot apply on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system. The project lead is responsible for completing the application process on the Funding Service, but we expect all team members and project partners to contribute to the application. Only the lead research organisation can submit an application to UKRI. To apply Select ‘Start application’ near the beginning of this Funding finder page. • Confirm you are the project lead. • Sign in or create a Funding Service account. To create an account, select your organisation, verify your email address, and set a password. • Answer questions directly in the text boxes. You can save your answers and come back to complete them or work offline and return to copy and paste your answers. If we need you to upload a document, follow the upload instructions in the Funding Service. All questions and assessment criteria are listed in the How to apply section on this Funding finder page. • Allow enough time to check your application in ‘read-only’ view before sending to your research office. • Send the completed application to your research office for checking. They will return it to you if it needs editing. • Your research office will submit the completed and checked application to UKRI. Please be aware that research office and finance teams undertake checks on hosting arrangements and financial eligibility. The ultimate responsibility for ensuring compliance with all opportunity requirements lies with the applicant. Where indicated, you can also demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. When including images, you must: • provide a descriptive caption or legend for each image immediately underneath it in the text box (this must be outside the image and counts towards your word limit) • insert each new image on a new line • use files smaller than 5MB and in JPEG, JPG, JPE, JFI, JIF, JFIF, PNG, GIF, BMP or WEBP format Images should only be used to convey important visual information that cannot easily be put into words. The following are not permitted, and your application will be rejected if you include: • sentences or paragraphs of text • tables • excessive quantities of images A few words are permitted where the image would lack clarity without the contextual words, such as a diagram, where text labels are required for an axis or graph column. For more guidance on the Funding Service, see: • how applicants use the Funding Service • how research offices use the Funding Service • how reviewers use the Funding Service References References should be included within the word count of the appropriate question section. You should use your discretion when including references and prioritise those most pertinent to the