The Crime and Security Research Institute brings together Cardiff University's significant interdisciplinary expertise in crime and security research.

The effective management of crime and security is one of the biggest challenges facing today's world. Our response to this challenge is to provide rigorous evidence and insight using innovative methodologies.

Across all its work the Institute has achieved international renown for its conceptual, methodological and empirical innovations that help tackle local, national and global crime and security problems.

Our work is organised around four key research units:

  • Universities’ Police Science Institute (UPSI) has particular expertise in topics related to the conduct of policing and social control.

  • Distributed Analytics and Information Sciences (DAIS) group is a long-term, joint UK-US investment in basic computer science research to support multi-partner coalition missions.

  • Violence Research Group (VRG) has a well established record of blending basic and applied approaches to inform policy and practice development for tackling violence and alcohol related harms.

  • Open Source Communications, Analytics and Research (OSCAR) programme explores the impact of digital distortion and deception communicated via social media with a particular focus upon disinformation.

These groups have achieved significant impact upon policy and practise through co-defining problems, co-designing responses, and co-delivering solutions with our partners. We have established long-term collaborative relationships with South Wales Police, the Home Office, the UK and US militaries, IBM, the NHS, Counter Terrorism Command and the European External Action Service.

Featured
De-Platforming Covid Conspiracy Theories from Facebook Has only Limited Impact in Reducing Their Influence, Research Finds
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De-Platforming Covid Conspiracy Theories from Facebook Has only Limited Impact in Reducing Their Influence, Research Finds
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Removing high-profile Covid conspiracy theorists from Facebook has had only limited impact upon the spread of misleading information, research from Cardiff University has found.

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The DAIS ITA Showcases 5 Years of Research Excellence
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The DAIS ITA Showcases 5 Years of Research Excellence
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Academics, government and industry come together to highlight success of inter-disciplinary research programme.

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High-Profile Western Media Outlets Repeatedly Infiltrated by Pro-Kremlin Trolls
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High-Profile Western Media Outlets Repeatedly Infiltrated by Pro-Kremlin Trolls
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A major influence operation is systematically manipulating Western media to spread propaganda and disinformation that supports Kremlin interests, a report from Cardiff University concludes.

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Deriving Disinformation Insights from Geolocalized Twitter Callouts, Singapore
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Deriving Disinformation Insights from Geolocalized Twitter Callouts, Singapore
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David Tuxworth of the Crime and Security Research Institute (CSRI) presents research to the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (KDD).

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Serious Violence Falls By a Third
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Serious Violence Falls By a Third
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A&E data show 2020 was �?safest year on record’

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Price of Food May Influence Decision To Buy Alcohol, New UK Research Suggests
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Price of Food May Influence Decision To Buy Alcohol, New UK Research Suggests
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People consume less alcohol as the price of food increases, suggesting this may influence the decision to buy it, a new study led by Cardiff University has found.

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Study Reveals Impact of Lockdown on Violence in Welsh Capital
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Study Reveals Impact of Lockdown on Violence in Welsh Capital
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Study uses emergency department data to show �?large reduction’ in violent injury during lockdown – but no change in violence in the home.

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CSRI Wins £450k Sêr Cymru Research Award To Tackle Security Challenges in the Digital Information Environment
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CSRI Wins £450k Sêr Cymru Research Award To Tackle Security Challenges in the Digital Information Environment
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The Sêr Cymru funding has enabled the institute to bring on three researchers who will extend the OSCAR team’s capacity to explore the causes and consequences of disinformation.

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Recognition, Belief and an Emotional Response to Disinformation Are Key Factors in It Being Shared on Social Media, Report Finds
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Recognition, Belief and an Emotional Response to Disinformation Are Key Factors in It Being Shared on Social Media, Report Finds
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A new report offers insights into the reasons why seemingly outlandish claims on social media can gain traction.

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Hundreds of Fake Twitter Accounts Linked to China Sowed Disinformation Prior to the US Election, With Some Continuing To Amplify Reactions to the Capitol Building Riot
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Hundreds of Fake Twitter Accounts Linked to China Sowed Disinformation Prior to the US Election, With Some Continuing To Amplify Reactions to the Capitol Building Riot
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A sophisticated China-linked social media operation played a key role in spreading disinformation during and after the US election, a report from Cardiff University concludes.

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Future Leaders Fellows
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Close collaborator of the CSRI, Dr Jose Camacho Collados, is awarded the prestigious Future Leaders Fellowship for his work into disinformation.

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Go Simple and Pre-Train on Domain-Specific Corpora: On the Role of Training Data for Text Classification, Barcelona
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Go Simple and Pre-Train on Domain-Specific Corpora: On the Role of Training Data for Text Classification, Barcelona
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Aleksandra Edwards, a Research student from the Distributed Analytics and Information Science (DAIS) group, has recently presented online at the 28th International Conference on Computational Linguistics (COLING) based in Barcelona, Spain.

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AI Research Helps Coalitions Navigate Complex Situations
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AI Research Helps Coalitions Navigate Complex Situations
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New research develops an artificial intelligence architecture that enhances trust and coordination between humans and machines.

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An Experimentation Platform for Explainable Coalition Situational Understanding
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An Experimentation Platform for Explainable Coalition Situational Understanding
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Professor Alun Preece brings research from the DAIS ITA programme to this year’s Annual Fall Symposium on “AI in Government and Public Sector Applications”.

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Partnerships
What Works Centre for Crime Reduction
What Works Centre for Crime Reduction

The government has selected the College of Policing to host the What Works Centre for Crime Reduction - part of a world-leading network of centres providing robust, comprehensive evidence to guide public spending decisions.

Open Source Communications Analytics Research (OSCAR) Development Centre
Open Source Communications Analytics Research (OSCAR) Development Centre

The Open Source Communications, Analytics Research (OSCAR) Development Centre is a new, innovative, multi-disciplinary Centre bringing together academics and police practitioners to develop a research evidence base around the use of open source information for policing and community safety services.

IBM: International Technology Alliance in Network and Information Sciences
IBM: International Technology Alliance in Network and Information Sciences

Network and Information Sciences International Technology Alliance (ITA) is a collaborative research alliance between the UK Ministry of Defence (via the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, Dstl), the US Army Research Laboratory, and a consortium of leading academic and industry partners, led by IBM.

Violence Prevention Group, Cardiff Community Safety Partnership: World Health Organisation
Violence Prevention Group, Cardiff Community Safety Partnership: World Health Organisation

The Violence Prevention Group is the operational arm of the University’s Violence Research Group and is a member of the World Health Organisation's Violence Prevention Alliance. As part of the statutory Cardiff Community Safety Partnership it is responsible for violence prevention across the capital city of Wales.