Anna Barker

Rima Ahmed - 20/11/2025 - BBC Sounds Waking you up each weekday morning, it's Rima Ahmed.

📣School of Law academic in the news!
Our Professor Graham Farrell leads a national conference urging rounded kitchen knives to curb stabbings, presenting research on knife-harm reduction to victims, campaigners and Home Office ministers.
Clip 👇
tinyurl.com/zre95dru

📢 Call for abstracts 📢

We’re delighted to open the call for abstracts for LEPH2026, to be held in Leeds, UK from 6-9 September 2026.

We encourage submissions from researchers, practitioners, policymakers, & community leaders.

Deadline: 16/03/26

Read more and submit 👇
leph2026.org

Background of a branching tree. #News flare. Text reads: The School of Law launches a groundbreaking research group to tackle ecological law and justice concerns!

We are delighted to announce the formation of The Ecological Law and Justice Group. The Group provides a focal point for the School's outstanding research and teaching in areas related to the environment.
For more about their ambitions, experts, and how to get involved 👇
tinyurl.com/bdhkh7av

1 week until our webinar “Policing, climate vulnerabilities and pathways of resilience”, which will explore findings from @dralimalik.bsky.social's & Dr Anna Matczak's projects.

📅 13 November
🕛 12-1pm GMT

@lawatleeds.bsky.social

Register: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/webinar-po...

Frank Dawtry Lecture on Friday on the subject of alcohol addiction.
Register and come along! ⬇️

Background image of a resource from the programme. Smiling photo of Dr Shaw in a circle. Text reads: 'Dr Rebecca Shaw’s vital new educational programme aims to tackle prevalent narratives around domestic abuse. ‘Changing the Narrative of Domestic Abuse’ is a creative, evidence-based programme of Relationships, Sex and Health Education lessons on domestic abuse aimed at secondary school students from Year 7 to Year 11.' #news flare.

Dr Rebecca Shaw’s ‘Changing the Narrative of Domestic Abuse’ is a creative, evidence-based programme of Relationships, Sex and Health Education lessons on domestic abuse aimed at secondary school students years 7-11.
Learn more about this vital resource👇
tinyurl.com/yhpzs2wa
@ccjsleeds.bsky.social

Could you be our next Chair Of Trustees? Following the launch of our new three year strategy, we are recruiting a new Chair Of Trustees to take us into our next phase.

Make Space for Girls is looking for a new Chair of Trustees.

We campaign for better parks and public spaces for teenage girls and young women - spaces where they feel welcome, safe and valued.

Apply by 28 November
www.makespaceforgirls.co.uk/blog/could-y...

Today is National Personal Safety Day 2025 🎉

This year, alongside our sponsors @Peoplesafe, we are #ChangingShifts, #ChangingSafety by launching new research on workplace violence across hospitality, retail, transport and healthcare.

🚨Application window extended 🚨

Colleagues from @universityofleeds.bsky.social can now apply for the next Building Impact Momentum programme - helping researchers to define their research impact (impact beyond the academy & not academic impact) & build it into their research projects. Full details👇

As things stand, child poverty is on track to reach record highs by 2029-30.

By then, we predict that more than one-in-three British children (34 per cent) would be growing up in poverty.

That's the highest rate of child poverty we'd have seen since 1961 ⤵️ buff.ly/qVc9CWs

Police failed to tell me about my partner's violent past. He ended up strangling me Delays have been widespread in a scheme protecting potential abuse victims, police data suggests.

Our Dr Charlotte Barlow is in the news, weighing in on Clare's Law, the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme. Her research shows Clare's Law is most effective for safeguarding when it is accessed earlier in a relationship, before a victim is fully under their partner's control. 👇
tinyurl.com/mpzt8fr6

The digital divide continues to limit the life chances of millions of children in Northern England. The government must prioritise building a country that works for all children and young people. #ChildrenFirst. Featured logos of Child of the North, N8 Research Partnership, Health Equity North and Centre for Young Lives.

The digital divide continues to limit the life chances of millions of children in Northern England.

Join our campaign to put #ChildrenFirst

www.n8research.org.uk/research-foc...

Head to the comments for more info and resources...

#DigitalDivide #DigitalInclusion #DigitalFutures

Outdoor Exercise - Women’s Safety Perception Survey Please take the time to complete our survey. Your feedback is important.

📣Call #Leeds residents

Please complete this @leedscitycouncil.bsky.social survey on how safe women and girls feel when running and exercising in parks and public spaces.

Closes 30th November 2025.

surveys.leeds.gov.uk/s/WNPXZ8/

Please re-share with your Leeds networks

Children in the North are losing up to 10 years of life due to inactivity and inequality - N8 Research Partnership Latest analysis from Child of the North reinforces how schools should not just be sites of learning, but key settings for support and holistic approaches to childhood health.

🚨 Children in the North face a health crisis due to inactivity & inequality🚨

Leeds Institute for Societal Futures backs the #ChildrenFirst campaign calling for urgent change. Read the report and find out more👉 bit.ly/3KVmiTN

#ChildOfTheNorth #HealthInequalities #N8 @universityofleeds.bsky.social

💡Stay tuned for our upcoming project report + evaluation, sharing key insights and recommendations from workshops delivered across six regions of England and Wales!
Resources 👇
🔗 Green Flag Award - Safer Parks Toolkit: www.greenflagaward.org/safer-parks-...

Events The Suzy Lamplugh Trust's upcoming events are listed here, including all webinars and conferences which are taking place over the next few months.   'The 5D's are excellent and allows everyone to...

💡 Our mission continues — and training remains FREE!
👉Park staff, policing and community safety teams or volunteers: Request a session for your team (70+) → training@suzylamplugh.org 🌿
👉For anyone (including the public): Join a 30-min online session → www.suzylamplugh.org/Pages/Events...

Because of your efforts, hundreds of park staff, volunteers and visitors are now better equipped to be active bystanders, creating a culture where harassment is not ignored. 🫶

Massive thanks to everyone who:
🌳 Delivered the campaign in their local areas
🎓 Took the training online
📜 Put up posters and shared the guidance
👥 Booked in-person sessions for their teams
📣 Spread the word
👏👏👏

🌳 While the official #SaferParks: #StandUpAgainstStreetHarassment campaign comes to a close today, our work continues because everyone deserves to feel safe, welcome and respected in our parks. 💚

Join us for our upcoming webinar “Policing, climate vulnerabilities and pathways of resilience”, which will explore findings from @dralimalik.bsky.social's (@lawatleeds.bsky.social) and Dr Anna Matczak's (THUAS) projects.

📅 13 November
🕛 12pm-1pm
📍 Online

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/webinar-po...

Support the #StandUpAgainstStreetHarassment campaign to create #SaferParks.

💡Learn the 5Ds to intervene safely

✅Get free active bystander training

🚩Display eye-catching posters

⬇️Download Safer Parks guidance

📣Lets StandUp together

🔗 Visit campaign at: shorturl.at/AP3uK

Girls' use of parks drops after the age of 11. At a time when they should be gaining independence, many girls start to avoid parks.

Why? They feel that parks aren’t for them - there is nothing to do. Also, many state they don’t feel safe.

🌳Parks are essential green spaces for exercise, socialising, relaxation, but 1 in 6 UK women feel unsafe in them even in daylight. That's why @annabarker.bsky.social @suzylamplughtrust.bsky.social & @keepbritaintidy.bsky.social have launched the #StandUpAgainstStreetHarassment campaign

YouTube video by Secured by Design Police CPI endorses Safer Parks Guidance

👏 Endorsed by #PoliceCrimePreventionInitiatives, the 2nd edition of the #SaferParks guidance was launched at the #NationalProblemSolvingConference

🎥 Michael Brooke reflects on the vital link between crime prevention and safe park design and calls for the guidance to be used to make a difference.

@local.gov.uk @parksforlondon.org.uk @thebandstandman.bsky.social @mhclgmedia.blog.gov.uk.web.brid.gy @apsenews.bsky.social

📣 Take part in free Active Bystander Training by @suzylamplughtrust.bsky.social with @keepbritaintidy.bsky.social @universityofleeds.bsky.social

Help your teams respond safely and empathetically when harassment occurs:
👉https://www.greenflagaward.org/safer-parks-campaign-toolkit
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🔹 Promote safe, respectful parks that highlight bystanders as allies
🔹 Support staff with clear messaging and visible reminders (like posters)
🔹 Adopt the 5Ds framework — Distract, Delegate, Document, Delay, Direct

Together, we can create parks where everyone feels safe and respected. 🌳✨

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Heads of Service for #Parks can lead change:

🔹 Make active bystander training mandatory for all staff
🔹 Take a quick win: arrange a FREE bystander session for your team
🔹 Extend training across #streetcleansing, #communitysafety, #saferneighbourhoods & #FriendsofParks

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Around one-third (31%) had witnessed harassment, while 27% were unsure — suggesting some may not yet recognise certain behaviours as harassment, especially without prior training or guidance.

This shows why awareness and shared understanding matter.

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Of the 245 park staff and volunteers who attended our training across England and Wales,
65% were taking part in sexual harassment training for the first time — a positive step forward, but also a sign of the gap in workforce preparedness across parks and green spaces.

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