Research4Justice: An International, Open Access Research Database

Introduction:
Over recent years, formal partnerships have been established between law enforcement, forensic practitioners and academic institutions, facilitating knowledge exchange in the criminal justice system. However, justice system related research is both multi and interdisciplinary, with a significant proportion of research remaining unpublished and inaccessible to practitioners internationally. This research includes student outputs and in 2017, a clear mandate was provided by both practitioners and researchers to develop an open access, multi-discipline repository of undergraduate and postgraduate research relevant to any aspect of the justice system.

Aims:
The Research4Justice repository therefore aims to:
- Provide a free, easily searchable database for academics to deposit and practitioners to access relevant research undertaken in higher education institutions;
- Facilitate institutional collaboration and networking across academia and industry;
- Support research and development in any discipline relevant to the justice system;
- Share standardised approaches and increase availability of robust data for use in court;
- Minimise research repetition and build larger, statistically valid datasets for use and application to support casework.

Material & methods:
The database has been developed in partnership with Jisc, a provider of digital solutions in higher education, as well as practitioners and professional bodies from a range of disciplines. Research outputs include thesis/dissertations, literature reviews, reports, posters and presentations from disciplines such as forensic and crime science, policing, medicine and nursing, criminology, psychology and law.

Results:
This presentation will provide an introduction to the Research4Justice repository with a live demonstration, discuss the benefits and limitations for practitioners, researchers and academics, and highlight future repository developments. Following the presentation there will be the opportunity to explore the online resource and provide user feedback to the presenting author.