Forensic Operational Research Group - Exchange (FORGE)

The Forensic Operational Research Group-Exchange (FORGE) exists to provide a forum for researcher-practitioner exchange, to inspire collaboration and innovation, and to impact on operational practice in criminal justice and clinical forensic settings. 

We aim to ‘forge’ new collaborations and in particular new pathways to resolution of operational problems, by understanding and creating, testing, learning and adapting, and re-testing researched solutions. In doing so we will be a hub for practice-based forensic psychological research on the south coast.

Our research

Our research advances society by improving engagement with and effectiveness of services for users and the general public. The knowledge gains we're making will assist in practitioner training/supervision, policy advice, and wider service delivery.

Problems tackled by FORGE include disengagement, breach, and re-offending by people subject to interventions or supervision by forensic services. These problems exist partly due to operational challenges in assessment, management and interventions with troubled service users.

This problem exists due to inadequate understanding of the development and maintenance of antisocial behaviour, and the mass use of imprisonment, poor prison conditions, and policies of deterrence rather than rehabilitation. 

FORGE will be a hub for researcher-practitioner exchange, and we strive to impact directly on operational services, reducing the divide between research and practice and assisting with the professional development of its members.   

Research by group members can have economic and social impact – a recent example is our work around digital technology for prisoners, which highlighted how such access reduces prison administrative costs by increasing prisoner autonomy, and assists social connectedness by enhancing opportunities for prisoners and their families to maintain contact (see McDougall & Pearson, 2020). 

Group members