An interview with Dr Jake Phillips, Director of the MSt. Programme in Applied Criminology, Penology and Management

Can you summarise the MSt in Applied Criminology, Penology and Leadership?

The course is designed for people working in the criminal justice system, mainly for people working in managerial and leadership positions. Essentially, it is for people who want to become leaders in their respective organisations.

The course is about helping people working in the system to better understand criminological knowledge and apply that to their work. It's not about teaching people how to be a prison officer, or how to be a probation officer. It's about encouraging people to understand why we deliver prison, probation and criminal justice services in the way that we do, what that means for practitioners, what that means for people who are subject to punishment and how we might improve things.

What aspect of this MSt made you accept the role of Course Director?

I've been aware of the MSt for many years. I taught on it a little during my PhD and afterwards, and I knew people who had been through the programme. I've worked with graduates from the MSt across my professional life, so I've seen firsthand the impact that it has on people on their careers, and their understanding of the criminal justice system. The course has had a really big impact on individuals, but also on the organisation as a whole over the years. I've seen people really thrive, having done the MSt. So, to be the Director was a real honour.

What makes Cambridge's programme different from other courses in the same subject area?

There are several things. First, there’s the calibre of the students, and the knowledge they bring to the programme. Because we recruit students who have already got years of professional experience, the learning opportunities come as much from listening to seminars and lectures from established academics as it does from talking to peers and learning about how things work elsewhere.

The residential blocks are a really unique part of the course, as they allow students to combine part-time masters study with working in a full-time role. Those two-week teaching blocks are intense, but in a really positive way. They allow students to take some time away from their day-to-day work so they can stop and reflect on what they're doing. Writing the essays then allows them to further reflect and put some of those ideas down on paper.

The third important thing would be the way that we deliver the course, through the use of experts in the field. Seminars are very much led by people's research expertise, and it's an excellent example of research-led teaching. In lots of cases, students have seminars with people who have literally written the book on the topic they’re learning about.

Finally, there’s the fact that students on the course get their own named supervisor, who works with them throughout the course and provides academic support. We provide academic support to carry out the dissertation, so that students get access to that person throughout the programme.

How does the course address current trends and challenges in Criminology?

There's always change in criminal justice and criminology, as it tries to make sense of those changes. The way we do that is by inviting leaders within criminal justice to come and talk to our students, so they get an insight into how leaders are tackling the problems of the day.

Recently, we've had the Chief Inspector of Probation come to talk to our students. We've had senior civil servants working in HMPPS talk about how they're managing the change process in relation to probation. We've had current and former politicians come and speak to our students about their experiences trying to implement and sustain change over the years. Essentially, we combine the theoretical and academic knowledge from the field of criminology, penology and leadership with input from people with first-hand experience of doing that in the field.

Beyond the degree, what unique skills, experiences, or credentials will your students gain?

We place a lot of emphasis on critical thinking and critical analysis skills, right from the day that students arrive. We're always pushing students to try and be more critical in the way they look at their own work, at the system, and how they deal with academic knowledge. These critical thinking skills are things that they can use when they go back to their work, both between the teaching blocks and after the degree.

Students also learn research skills. A key part of the masters is to carry out an 18,000- word dissertation in the second year. As part of that, students receive research methods training, which they are then supported to put into practise through an independently designed and executed dissertation. Students also do regular presentations, which are more academic in style than what they might be used to doing in their work.

One of the really significant benefits from the course is the relationships that students build with each other. Every year, without fail, students stay in touch after graduation, and those networks are then used by individuals to develop their own practice and careers and develop and implement new policy. And because it's an international course, those networks comprise people who work within England and Wales’ criminal justice system, but also international students who might be working in law, the judiciary, or psychology around the world.

What would you say to somebody who was starting this MSt, to help them get the most out of it?

Come with an open mind. You will be exposed to ideas that you might not have been exposed to before, some of which might feel quite radical, or at least different to the way you normally think about things in your day job. It might be from students, it might be from seminar leaders. You might not agree with everything that you hear on the course, and that's fine.

We don't expect students to agree, but we do expect them to come with a critical mind. Come prepared to develop your knowledge, in a way which is underpinned by academic theory and academic research. That also involves lots of reading, so you definitely need to be prepared to become a reader.

Come prepared to ask questions. Make contacts. Don't sit quietly in the back of the classroom. Engage with the various opportunities that are made available to you by the course, and I can assure you that you’ll get a lot out of it!