Northampton’s Dr Helen Poole to advise United Nations on how education can prevent crime

Invited by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the University of Northampton’s Dr Helen Poole is one of just 25 experts from around the world heading to Vienna next month to discuss how education for young people can help prevent crime, terrorism and corruption.

Dr Poole, who took up her role as Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Health and Society in October last year, will attend the meeting as part of the Education for Justice (E4J) initiative. E4J is an innovative and comprehensive educational project designed to support the integration of crime prevention and other rule of law aspects into all levels of education – from primary and secondary schools through to University.

Dr Poole will join other academic experts to discuss and make recommendations on how to achieve E4J’s aims. The group will discuss activities to teach the next generation to understand and address problems that can undermine the rule of law, and ways to encourage students to actively engage in their communities.

She will advise on how best to facilitate these aims at a University level, to promote teaching relating to anti-corruption, organised crime, human trafficking, migrant smuggling, terrorism prevention, cybercrime, criminal justice and arms trafficking, as well as on integrity and ethics.

Dr Poole commented: “I am very excited to work with the United Nations and colleagues from across the world to look at how we can help to fulfil the Doha Declaration through Higher Education. Through developing a model of education to integrate into programmes in universities in the UK and elsewhere, the University of Northampton has the opportunity of contributing to creating the global culture of lawfulness that the UN promotes.”

During the meeting, Dr Poole will draw upon her expertise in criminology and prison education. Before joining academia, she worked for Warwickshire Probation Service as a Probation Services Officer, and HM Prison Service as a prison officer in a Young Offenders’ Institute. In 2016, Dr Poole jointly led an EU funded project into gun enabled crime across Europe. Project EFFECT reported to the European parliament in May 2016 and examined the nature and prevalence of gun crime across Europe, as well as the movement of firearms throughout the EU and neighbouring territories.