On Thursday the 25th of March, the 7th Annual Public Services and Criminology Conference hosted by Peter Lamb took place.

Due to national restrictions, the conference was held over Microsoft Teams, over 400 students attended with Guest Speakers from all over the UK and a Special Guest from Australia. These included: Amber McKinley (Clinical and Forensic Victimologist – Sydney, Australia) who talked about Serial Murder, Sergeant Sean Gray (British Army) Talked about Terrorism from a Military perspective, John Morrison (University of London) Who talked about counter-terrorism, Patrick Green (Ben Kinsella Trust) who talked about knife crime, Denise Ellis and Chloe Topley (NSPCC) who talked about Gangs, Jennifer Carthy (Disability Equality) who talked about Hate Crime and DCI Wilson (Lancashire Constabulary) who talked about investigating Murders.

These specialists in the field provided Public Service, Social Science, Criminology and HE students and staff with an insight into their day to day lives working on the country’s front lines. Guest speakers were engaging using their wealth of Industrial and academic experience on high profile cases or tours. Students were able to engage further by both asking questions, whilst also answering those aimed to them. The students asked some really well thought out questions to aid their development.

Really enjoyed it, very informative. Definitely an eye opener. Thank you to all of the speakers and of course you Peter for organising. Really appreciate being a part of this. ?- N.B

Students who attended will be able to apply what they learned to many of their units such as: Crime and Its effects, Criminology, Law, Psychology, Human Behaviour and many more. The case studies and examples shared can be used in assignments and will also allow them to understand the curriculum content to an advanced level. Students will be able to use the experience gained to help demonstrate their enthusiasm towards the services and potentially use the information to assist them to be successful at future interviews.

The conference was very intriguing to listen to and I enjoyed it, I learnt a lot about different topics and I’m glad I was able to attend, thanks for setting all of this up Peter! -T.R

Not only did this conference allow students to have an insight into life in the public services, as well as the chance to apply this to their current work, but it also provided them with the information needed to think about their next steps, whether that be employment or higher education. The diversity of the guest speakers allowed for a variety of insights into occupations students may aspire to reach, whilst allowing them to acknowledge potential qualities of the job they had not previously considered.

Thank you for organising this conference Peter and thank you to all the guest speakers for your talks.! It has been really interesting, and I have enjoyed it. I learnt a lot today, so thank you very much. I am grateful that we were given the opportunity to join. – M.B

On behalf of all the staff and students at Runshaw College, Thank-you to Peter Lamb and all the guest speakers!