Policing and Society Conference
The Policing and Society Conference is a venue where Icelandic and international academics and professionals meet and converse about policing in a broad sense. This year’s conference theme is Community Policing.
You register here for the conference
Call for abstracts
Extended deadline until 15.8.2024
The Police Science Research Center at the University of Akureyri (Iceland) invites abstracts for the 7th Policing and Society Conference on October 2 and 3, 2024. The conference is a venue where Icelandic and international academics and professionals meet and converse about policing in a broad sense. Professionals and academics who work in fields that involve policing in one form or another are encouraged to submit abstracts that build on their work and/or research.
The keynote speakers reflect the theme of this year’s conference: Community Policing. The main focus of community policing is close cooperation between the police and the local community for upholding law and order, preventing crime, and solving problems to work towards a better and safer society for all. Community policing has worked well in various places, and it is thus well worth exploring what lessons can be learned from this approach.
We strongly encourage abstracts that deal with community policing but we, of course, welcome all contributions that intersect with policing in one form or another. To reiterate: this conference is a joint venue for academics and professionals to share their research and experience involving policing, learn from one another, and engage with the public.
Lykilfyrirlesarar
MEGAN O’NEILL
is a Professor of Criminology in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Dundee and an Associate Director of the Scottish Institute for Policing Research (SIPR). Her work focuses on aspects of police culture, stop and search, community policing, public sector pluralisation in policing and surveillance practices of the state. She has published in several journals, including The European Journal of Criminology, The British Journal of Criminology, Criminology and Criminal Justice, Policing and Society and Policing: A journal of policy and practice. She has published two monographs: Policing Football (2005) and Police Community Support Officers (2019). She has received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council, Horizon 2020 (Unity), Nordforsk (as PI) and in 2023 was the coordinator for a successful application to Horizon Europe (Project Clarus, now serving as Scientific Lead). Prof. O’Neill’s work is largely qualitative, with a particular focus on ethnography.
JOHN FRANCO
is a Field Commander in the Swedish Police. An undocumented immigrant from Colombia as a child, John later enrolled in the Swedish National Police Academy and began working as a Police Officer in 2008. For most of his career, John has worked to make a difference in socioeconomically vulnerable areas using community policing as a guiding methodology. John understands both the challenges of implementing community policing and how evidence-based police work effects positive changes. He received His Majesty the King’s award for value-based leadership in 2014 and the Swedish hero 2015 award for his work with young adults in Botkyrka. From 2019-2023, John served as an advisor to the Colombian Police on community policing and was awarded the Colombian National Police Medal for “Distinguished Services”.
Useful information:
- The conference will be held October 2 and 3, 2024, in the Miðborg house of the University of Akureyri. The conference runs from 9:00 Wednesday October 2 to 13:00 Thursday October 3.
- Each presentation is allotted 25 minutes, which includes Q&A. Abstracts (maximum 250 words) should be submitted via email (goddsson@unak.is) no later than June 14. Abstracts should include a title, short description, methods, main results and/or arguments. Include information about academic position, profession, and the order of the authors (if more than one).
- The conference registration fee is €55 per person and the program, coffee and refreshments are included. University students attend free of charge. Conference attendees pay for their own travel and accommodation.
- There will be a conference dinner Wednesday October 2.
- Several airlines fly to Iceland, including Icelandair.
- Icelandair flies from Reykjavík to Akureyri
Further information:
For more information contact Guðmundur Oddsson, Professor of Sociology at the University of Akureyri goddsson@unak.is; tel. +354 460 8677.
