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At the start of the week in which the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice hosted the prestigious annual conference of the British Society of Criminology, Professor Sarah Charman arranged a get-together for the nine PhD researchers she currently supervises, at the D-Day Museum in Southsea. The following blog by PhD student David Knowles, describes that day.

Amongst the topics often discussed about being a PhD researcher are loneliness and the need for personal resilience. This can be due to a number of reasons such as distance between home and university, or the consequence of juggling work and family commitments. Being a member of a student cohort can reduce loneliness and create a support network, but this is difficult to foster when the cohort is spread across the country and is available at different times. The ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú has made a good effort at creating a cohort culture amongst postgrad researchers but when the number of researchers in a department or those conducting research on a similar topic is small, that sense of loneliness can be compounded. Of course, the idea about researching for a PhD is that you have identified a gap in knowledge that you are seeking to fill; so no one else is studying exactly what you are, so the likelihood is that your cohort colleagues don’t really understand what you are doing. Or really care.

So when my supervisor, Professor Sarah Charman from the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice planned a day when all of the doctoral researchers that she supervises could get together, I was simultaneously happy and cynical. Happy that I might meet others in the same boat as me but also cynical that I would not understand or really care about their research. I should also add that cynicism is one of the 7Cs of police culture (Charman, 2024) that any serving or ex-police officer will understand, but I also wonder whether the same could be true of researchers into police culture.

Thoughtfully, Sarah booked a venue away from the University that made the day unique and memorable; the D-Day Museum in Southsea which is adjacent to the historic Southsea Castle. Nine of us, plus Sarah and some guest speakers started off the day with some polite chat over coffee, as is normal when meeting new people. I knew 3 others already which put me at a bit of an advantage but since several of the group had travelled long distances from the Midlands and East Anglia the only initial chat was of roadworks and the Glastonbury Festival, which had taken place over the previous weekend.

Nerdy Icebreaker

Not all PhD students are nerds and not all researchers are introverts, but asking people to introduce themselves is one of those cringy things often asked, which can make people uncomfortable, but Sarah put a clever twist on it. Knowing that the one thing most academics are comfortable talking about is their own research, everyone was given 2 minutes to explain their topic and a particular challenge they were currently dealing with. From the moment the first person spoke, I realised that this cohort of researchers was the one I shared most with and on reflection it is fairly obvious why. We are all supervised by the same professor, whose interest and expertise in police research is well known but more than that, it became clear that the research being conducted by each and every one of us, has huge crossover with each others. Instead of me listening to a biochemist PhD researcher whose plan for changing the structure of a particular enzyme might improve soil quality in South America, I was listening to someone whose knowledge and experience was similar to mine and whose desire to improve policing, was similar to my own. It was excellent to hear the plans explained by all those present; some were closer to completion than others but I could empathise with everyone in the room, for the first time in my PhD journey. Clearly, communication and particularly listening, is a crucial skill of a good researcher.

It was noticeable to me from the moment I arrived that I was in the minority of one as the only male amongst Sarah’s doctoral students. This was not the first time I have been the only bloke at a gathering but in the context of discussing police culture, it was interesting to wonder why this research area attracts such a gender imbalance. In truth, this was irrelevant to the day, which began to feel a bit like one of those family reunion TV programmes where you realise you have a shared ancestor, which in our case was true in an academic sense.

During my 2 minute elevator-pitch to my empathetic new sisters I tried to explain how I hoped the educational use of virtual reality could reduce the impact of the code of self-protection where police officers ignore sexual misconduct by their colleagues. As might be expected of the comradeship amongst my newfound siblings, I received a lot of encouraging head nods as I spoke. The other researchers also provided Ted-Talk-on-speed style overviews of their research which included police leadership culture, investigation of domestic abuse, reasons why police officers leave the service, and the professionalisation of police education.

Speed Dating

The next part of the morning was spent speed-dating in which we took it in turns to spend 2 minutes with each person, discussing a particular research challenge. This was another fun way of getting to know a little about each other; having a time limit, with Sarah ringing a bell when time was up, focused the mind and ensured we listened which also helped us develop understanding and compassion for each others work.

The final part of the morning was spent listening to Cath Vollentine who recently submitted her doctoral thesis for examination. Cath is at the point in her journey that the rest of us long to be, although she is already anxious about her final step; the viva. Cath gave us a precis of her research about recent police education involving the PEQF, which I found useful in 2 ways; on a professional level, hearing her perspective as a police trainer about the challenges of working with a university; but also on an individual level, hearing how she dealt with the personal challenges involved in her research.

After a luxurious lunch, we settled down for 3 mini-lectures, the first of which was from the wonderful Emma Cripps, herself a doctoral researcher, on the use of NVIVO for data analysis. Emma made the complex categorisation of themes and codes sound very simple, so thank you Emma, this was very useful.

Viva Voce Vomit

No, we didn’t bring lunch up unexpectedly, but the thoughts of sitting a viva examination does make many of us, especially Cath at the moment, very nervous so Dr Jemma Tyson provided a personal account of her own viva experiences from 2019. Jemma’s viva lasted 2.5 hours, which meant answering questions, from experts in the field about her research, her methodology and her recommendations which she admitted made her feel very anxious in the hours beforehand. Despite being green with nerves, Jemma passed her viva and described how she was quick to quell her nausea with a comforting bottle of prosecco. For medicinal reasons obviously.

Sarah finished off the series of mini-lectures by talking about how we could publish and disseminate our research in a number of different ways, not only as a final product like a book but as a series of smaller products along the way such as journal and magazine articles. Or blogs like this one.

Before the afternoon came to an end, we did some brainstorming with quickfire chats and post-it notes. This was remarkably reassuring because it became clear that we were all thinking along the same lines; whilst we all share Sarah’s supervision as academic DNA, this was not about familial conformity, it was about supporting individuality. In the course of just a few hours, fuelled by coffee and a decent slab of cake, we had become a support group for each other, linked by our common themes and supervision. No more PhD loneliness, with my academic sisters for company.

We posed for a family photo with Southsea Castle in the background and asked Sarah to organise another get-together soon. And after that, we did what all good students should do… we went down the pub.

And so it seems that researchers in police culture also share the 7Cs (Charman, 2024); did you spot them all?

David Knowles
PhD Researcher, SCCJ, ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú

Reference
Charman, S. (2024). Steering a path to cultural change: Emerging and enduring characteristics of policing cultures in the UK. International Journal of Police Science & Management, 26(4), 443-451.