Drs Amy Ludlow and Ruth Armstrong have received an award from the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge in recognition of their excellent work in public engagement. The University inaugural Public Engagement with Research Awards were set up to recognise and reward those who undertake quality engagement with research.
Using criminological, educational and sociological research Amy and Ruth have designed and delivered an innovative educational initiative called Learning Together whereby students from universities and prisons study together and form learning communities within the prison environment.
They have worked collaboratively with their students to design an innovative methodological approach to understanding the contours and impacts of Learning Together. Through writing blogs, tweeting, hosting events, and producing a film, they have broadly communicated the early findings of their pilot study and encouraged and supported many other universities and prisons to form Learning Together partnerships. They are grateful to all of their students, course mentors, facilitators, and many colleagues from the Institute of Criminology and the Faculty of Law who have participated in Learning Together, and the support of the Centre for Community, Gender, and Social Justice, Institute of Criminology.
The 2016 Awards were supported by the RCUK Catalyst Seed Fund and were coordinated by the University’s Public Engagement team.
In making the awards, the judging panel were looking for:
- A strong relationship between the high quality engagement and the high quality research;
- The benefits of the engagement to the research, researcher and publics which should be clear and evidence-based;
- Applications that demonstrate meaningful engagement with relevant publics throughout the research cycle;
- Demonstration of a reflective/evaluative approach by the researchers.
Amy and Ruth were interviewed about Learning Together on Cambridge TV in April: