Academic highlights the effects of knife crime in a public lecture

A University of Wolverhampton academic will speak about the impact of violence at a forthcoming virtual public lecture – highlighting the ongoing problems of knife crime and its effects on young people and communities. 

Dr Elaine Arnull, Director for the University’s Institute for Society and Community in the University’s Faculty of Education, Health and Wellbeing, will talk about her work with young people and communities to understand the impact and outcomes of violence. 

The lecture – What Connects the Knife Angel, the Youth Justice Board and the United Nations – is a free virtual event hosted by the University Centre Telford and will be held on Thursday 22 April from 6.00 pm until 7.00 pm. Tickets can be booked on Eventbrite. 

Dr Arnull said: “In the talk I will reflect on why it matters that different audiences at a local, national and international level hear about the work that I’m doing with young people and our communities and to look at how we use it to reduce violence and violent experiences.” 

Dr Arnull recently led a peer research project with young people from Telford to understand the public response to the Knife Angel exhibition in Telford during the sculpture’s visit to the town as part of its UK tour and to find out whether there were any wider lessons to be learned.  The project was supported by support workers, Sian Makin and Sarah Durnall, and West Mercia Police. 

The Knife Angel is a state-of-the-art, 27-foot sculpture, made of more than 100,000 confiscated knives, which was created by artist Alfie Bradley, along with the British Ironwork Centre.  

Dr Arnull has peer reviewed journal articles, books and research monographs. Her research work focuses on questioning delinquency and transgression and includes a number of studies focused on girls’ and women’s experience of crime. 

She is the current Chair of the Division of Women and Crime, part of the American Society of Criminology – the largest organisation of criminologists in the world. She is also an academic advisor to the Ministry of Justice and Youth Justice Board and served on a specialist board for the Youth Justice Board for many years. 

The University of Wolverhampton is set to open a new £5 million Marches Centre for Health and Social Care at its Telford Campus.  The new Centre, which has received £3.5m Growth Deal funding from the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), will provide state-of-the-art training facilities for the next generation of key workers to proactively address shortfalls in health professionals across the Marches area. More information on courses available can be found here: https://www.wlv.ac.uk/schools-and-institutes/faculty-of-education-health-and-wellbeing/institute-of-health/. 

ENDS