Welcome to Cambridge
Shaping Safer Futures
The challenges of crime, harm, and security are more complex than ever. From digital threats and serious violence to the responsible use of new technologies, today’s leaders need fresh tools and rigorous evidence to deliver solutions that work.
For more than 60 years, the Institute of Criminology has been internationally recognised as a leading research centre for shaping evidence-based approaches to policing, crime reduction and justice. The Police Executive Programme builds on this strength, offering you the depth of Cambridge research combined with direct application to contemporary challenges in safety and security.
The Cambridge Police Executive Programme offers a two-year, part-time Master’s degree designed for professionals responsible for tackling crime, reducing harm, and improving safety. It combines Cambridge’s research strength with practical approaches that help you modernise practice and make an impact in your organisation and beyond.
Our latest brochure can be downloaded here.
Why This Programme?
- Solutions That Reduce Harm
Learn from tested interventions—such as targeted patrols that cut violent crime and evidence-based strategies that improve victim outcomes—that can be adapted across diverse contexts. - AI, Technology and Data
Explore how artificial intelligence, predictive analytics and digital innovation can be applied responsibly to crime problems, transforming data into tools for prevention and decision-making.
What Will You Gain?
- Skills to apply criminological research directly to your operational or strategic challenges.
- The capacity to evaluate and test new approaches with academic rigour.
- Confidence to implement reforms that can withstand scrutiny.
- Access to a professional network that extends well beyond Cambridge.
Programme Format
Year One
Three residential blocks (April, July, September) that establish your foundations in criminological theory, research methods, and applied practice. You will be assessed through three essays designed to test your ability to connect academic knowledge to real-world policing and security challenges.
Year Two
The heart of the programme. Across three further residential blocks, you will work under individual Cambridge supervision to produce 1 further essay, as well as a research proposal and finally a 18,000-word thesis. This is not simply an academic exercise—it is your opportunity to design and deliver original research that addresses a pressing issue from your professional context. The thesis represents a direct contribution to evidence-based practice, with the potential to influence both policy and frontline decision-making.
Notable recent dissertations:
- Hotspot foot patrols demonstrated that just 15 minutes of patrol per day in targeted areas could reduce serious violence significantly—findings that have since shaped force deployment strategies.
- Behavioural nudges to increase attendance at mandatory drug treatment sessions, leading to a measurable improvement in compliance and informing national policy discussions on rehabilitation.
- Applied AI-driven predictive modelling to domestic abuse cases, identifying patterns of escalation and high-risk households earlier. This work has guided resource allocation across England & Wales.
Who Should Apply?
The programme is designed for:
- Senior officers and managers seeking to modernise policing and security practice.
- Analysts and professionals working with data, crime prevention, or strategy.
- Practitioners in justice, safety, or public policy who want to ground their work in rigorous evidence.
Applicants with professional experience, even without a traditional academic background, are welcome.
Fees and Financial Support (over two years)
- The Institute has a limited number of studentships that MSt students from overseas can apply for. Details and application deadlines can be found on the Funding Opportunities webpage.
- University Composition Fee (£15,450 total) covers the University tuition fee.
- Residential and Supplementary Costs (£15,550 total) which includes mandatory residential teaching blocks, college accommodation (excluding weekend accommodation) and other related expenses
For further information about the course please read the former students’ stories, including their experiences at the Institute and what they are doing now.
Applications
- Next intake: Easter Term 2027
- Applications open early September 2026. Click the button below from early September to join a course that blends academic excellence with practical impact—helping you design and deliver solutions to today’s most pressing crime and safety challenges.
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Click here for useful information on “How to Apply”
This MSt course is underpinned by four key pillars that shape how participants think, analyse and act in tackling harm and crime:
- Targeting Harm Effectively
Matching interventions with proportionately harmful risks to ensure resources are directed where they can make the greatest difference. - Measuring Harm Systematically
Using tools such as the Crime Harm Index to assess the seriousness of offending and its impact, rather than relying solely on volume counts. - Making Better Decisions
Applying the “Triple-T” of Targeting, Testing and Tracking as the foundation for a fourth “T”: Transformation. These methods ensure strategies are designed, assessed and refined for real-world impact. - Bridging Practice and Research
Developing practitioner-academics (“pracademics”) who can generate, apply and promote research to improve decision-making, leadership and management in their organisations.
Together, these pillars frame our commitment to modernising practice, safeguarding vulnerable people, protecting communities, and reducing harm.
Course Structure
Teaching Blocks
There are three teaching blocks in the first year:
- Block A (March/April)
- Block B (July)
- Block C (September)
The residential teaching blocks cover four key modules: Criminological Theory, Evidence-Based Policing, Leadership and Management, and Research Methods. Delivery includes seminars, lectures, symposia, project work and practical exercises.
2026 Dates
Year One
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Block A |
6 April - 17 April |
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Block B |
13 July - 24 July |
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Block C |
7 September - 18 September |
Year Two
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Block D |
30 March - 10 April |
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Block E |
6 July - 17 July |
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Block F |
14 September - 25 September |
Reading Lists
Required and recommended readings are provided in advance of each teaching block.
Personal Supervisor
Every student is allocated a supervisor for one-to-one academic guidance, including essay choices, dissertation planning, time management, and sources of evidence. Independent study is also built into the programme.
Library Facilities
Students benefit from access to their College library, the Radzinowicz Library (Institute of Criminology), the Squire Law Library (Faculty of Law), Cambridge Judge Business School, and the University Library.
Other Resources
A virtual learning environment (Moodle) provides additional support and course materials.
Postgraduate Certificate Option
Students who successfully complete the first year without progressing to the dissertation will be awarded the Postgraduate Certificate in Applied Criminology and Police Management
Teaching Staff and Industry Experts
| Professor Barak Ariel is the Director of the MSt in Applied Criminology and Police management and a Professor of Experimental Criminology. Professor Ariel has played an active role in both teaching and supervising MSt students since 2009, fostering the next generation of pracademic experts. He actively engages in evaluation research projects alongside numerous criminal justice agencies worldwide; he is the immediate past Chair of the Division of Experimental Criminology and a Member of the Executive Board of the Division of Policing within the American Society of Criminology. He is also the Chair of the Ethics Committee at the Institute of Criminology. Professor Ariel's research output includes over 160 papers published in leading criminological journals. His work spans a broad range of critical topics in law enforcement, from the integration of technology in policing to place-based criminology and innovative alternatives to traditional criminal justice approaches. His recent research interests include the exploration of behavioural economics and the use of machine learning in police field settings. |
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Dr Peter Neyroud CBE QPM is an Associate Professor in Evidence-Based Policing. He is a former Chief Constable of one of the largest UK forces, Thames Valley (2002-7) and founding Chief Constable of the National Policing Improvement Agency (2007-2011), which he recommended in an Independent Report commissioned by the Home Secretary be converted into the current College of Policing. From 2011-2014 he was the Director of the Birmingham Turning Point Project, a randomised controlled trial testing the effect of deferred prosecutions on 400 first offenders randomly assigned to be offered immediate rehabilitation programs within hours of arrest, or to standard prosecution. He completed his PhD at the Cambridge Institute of Criminology in 2017. He is the Co-Chair of the Campbell Collaboration Coordinating Group on Crime and Justice; editor of Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice; and a Fellow of Wolfson College. |
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Dr Sara Valdebenito is an Assistant Professor in Applied Criminology & Police Management at the Institute of Criminology, and Director of Studies for the Police Executive Programme. Her current research focuses on risk assessment algorithms and their implementation within operational settings. During the last three years she has been teaching quantitative methods at the Institute of Criminology and the Social Sciences Research Programme at Cambridge. |
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Suzette Davenport MBE QPM served for over 31 years in policing in five different forces. Her service started with West Mercia Police and she retired as the Chief Constable of Gloucestershire in 2017. In addition to her force roles Suzette was the police lead for Roads Policing during which time she established transparent and accountable governance arrangements for the National Driver Re-offending Scheme. She remained chair of the wholly owned stranding subsidiary, UKROEd as a non-executive director until May 2022, qualifying as a Chartered Director in 2017. She is a Fellow of the Cambridge Centre for Evidenced-Based Policing and an Honorary Fellow of the University of Gloucestershire. She holds an MBA. |
| Dr Brandon Langley was a police officer for 30 years starting in Staffordshire Police and then West Midlands Police, with experience in neighbourhood policing, crime and counter terrorism. From 2015-2021 he was the national project manager of ‘Project Insight’, a UK wide randomised controlled trial testing the effect of procedural justice training on police self-legitimacy and legitimacy perceptions of the public subject to police counter terrorism powers. He completed his PhD at the Institute of Criminology in 2022 and is a former graduate of the Police Executive Programme. His research interests include procedural justice, police legitimacy and self-legitimacy. |
| Dr Eleanor Neyroud is an affiliated lecturer at the Institute of Criminology supervising and lecturing on the MSt program. She also works for the Cambridge Centre of Evidence Based Policing and the Metropolitan Police, teaching evidence-based policing and carrying out research. This research includes topics such as domestic violence, youth offending, the victim-offender overlap and hotspot policing. Eleanor has both a PhD and an MPhil in Criminology from the Institute of Criminology, as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Equine Science from the University of the West of England. She has extensive and in-depth experience of working on Randomised Control Trials in policing; and was involved with both the first Turning Point Project based in Birmingham and the replication in North West London, as well as other randomised controlled trials testing interventions in custody, knife crime prevention orders and creation of a digital toolkit. She is also one of the authors of the Cambridge Crime Harm Index. |
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Sir Denis O’Connor CBE QPM is a lecturer and advisor at the Institute of Criminology, Cambridge University and College Research Associate at Wolfson College. He is an Independent Non-Executive Director of the Board of the College of Policing. He was Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary between 2009-12. Prior to joining the Inspectorate in 2004, he was Chief Constable of Surrey between 2000 and 2004 where he led the piloting of the National Reassurance Policing Programme, the pre-cursor to Neighborhood Policing. At the Inspectorate his team provided support to the Olympics Programme in testing the Olympic assurance process. He introduced Value for Money profiles for all police forces in England and Wales in 2008/9 to assist comparisons to achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness during austerity. This was followed by a series of studies to track police availability (2010) and the preparedness of police forces and authorities for the austerity spending period (2011, 2012); police relationships with the media and other parties (2011). He also contributed to the Scarman Inquiry (1981, the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry (1999), and the Leveson Inquiry (2012). He received the Queens Police Medal for distinguished service in 1996, CBE in 2002, and knighted in 2010. Sir Denis has a Bachelor’s degree in Education from Southampton University and an MSc in Social Policy from the Cranfield Institute of Technology. In 2011 he was awarded a place in George Mason University’s ‘Evidence-Based Policing Hall of Fame’. He received an Honorary Doctorate in Laws from Wolverhampton University in 2012. |
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Professor John Parkinson OBE is a Professor of International Security and a criminologist supporting international security and policing development programmes worldwide. He is a former UK Chief Constable with 35 years of specialist experience in counter terrorism, major and serious organised crime, along with strategic leadership and organisational development. He holds several Chair and Associate positions supporting innovation in international development at several universities providing strategic and contextual insight to contemporary policing and security issues including Chair of the Centre of Excellence in Terrorism, Intelligence and Organised Crime Research (CENTRIC). He supports the development of research programmes in Security, Counter Terrorism, Forensics, Modern Slavery and Cyber Crime as Chair of the Secure Societies Institute. He was a Director and Trustee of the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) for six years and continues as a strategic advisor to their efforts to remove child sexual abuse content online. John is a Visiting Scholar lecturing and supervising post graduate studies at Institute of Criminology at Cambridge University and was formerly an Associate Tutor for Executive MBA Programme at the University of Bradford Business School. He has lectured extensively across the world supporting the development of police, crime investigation and security issues. Including recent presentations in the USA, Australia, Canada, Scandinavia, Middle and Far East, and at the National Police Academy in Hyderabad. |
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Olivia Pinkney CBE QPM was Chief Constable of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary for seven years, where she was CEO of a monopoly, risk-based, highly accountable public service, which is always in the public eye, serving 2 million residents, balancing fighting crime with safeguarding the public, and leading 5000 people. Her role has also been to build and optimise meaningful partnerships across the public, private and academic sectors. She is trusted within those partnerships to deliver results and be a team player, delivering what works to reduce crime and vulnerability at every level. Having joined policing as a constable straight from Cambridge University, Olivia has worked in many fields of overt and covert policing. As one of the most senior officers in the UK, she has led across UK policing for all Local Policing matters of policy and practice, comprising the policing which people see & feel, and which is the gateway to all specialist operational services. She has led UK policing for children & young people, including youth justice, Police Chaplaincy, and been a member of Sentencing Council. Olivia has Chaired the statutory multi-agency Local Resilience Forum for major incident preparedness and response for over a decade. Olivia has a reputation for integrity and excellence: she is a Senior Associate Fellow with the Police Foundation and Chairs their committee for the annual Cumberland Lodge Conference. She is an Associate Chief Officer with the UK College of Policing and was proud to direct the flagship executive leadership programme across UK policing in 2022. Olivia is an alumnus of FutureVision public sector executive leadership 2021 and contributes to Windsor Leadership programmes. She was awarded QPM in 2016 and CBE in 2023. Olivia chose to leave policing after 31 years in 2023. |
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Dr Jacqueline Sebire is a former Assistant Chief Constable for Joint Protective Services for Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire. She oversaw specialist operations, major crime and forensic services across the three counties. The majority of her service was as a detective in homicide and serious crime investigations in the Metropolitan Police. She was the senior investigating officer for a number for a number of high profile cases including the ‘Spy in the Bag’ case and the conviction of Britain’s youngest hit man. Jacqueline has a PhD in Forensic Psychology and has been a supervisor on the MSt in Applied Criminology & Police Management course at the Institute of Criminology since 2016. She has published a number of articles in relation to domestic abuse and risk management and lectured nationally and internationally on her research. Now retired from the police force, she is currently Assistant Professor in Policing and Security at Rabdan Academy, United Arab Emirates. |
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David Shaw QPM was a police officer for 36 years starting in West Midlands Police. He served in a wide variety of roles culminating in the rank of Assistant Chief Constable responsible for Crime and Counter Terrorism. In 2008 he transferred to West Mercia Police as Deputy Chief Constable and concluded his police service after 5 years as Chief Constable. David held two national policing roles: Conflict Management which included public order, police use of firearms, non-lethal weapons, mounted, dogs and police use of force and was the lead for Fingerprints and Forensic Databases. He now acts as a consultant to the Home Office supporting police technology programmes and innovation and is an Associate of CityForum which specialises in public policy and in particular policing, justice and security. These roles enables him to remain very current and complement his role as a Cambridge MSt supervisor. |
| Professor Lawrence Sherman is Emeritus Wolfson Professor of Criminology. He was the Director of the Cambridge Police Executive Programme. He earned his PhD from Yale University, and has been awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Stockholm and Denison University. His research interests are in the fields of crime prevention, evidence-based policy, restorative justice, police practices and experimental criminology. He has conducted field experiments, for example, on finding more effective ways to reduce homicide, gun violence, domestic violence, robbery, burglary, and other crime problems, in collaboration with such agencies as the Metropolitan, Northumbria and Thames Valley Police, London’s Crown Courts, HM Prisons, the Crown Prosecution Service, the Youth Justice Board of England and Wales, and the National Probation Service, as well as 30 US police agencies and the Australian Federal Police. Professor Sherman has served as president of the American Society of Criminology, the International Society of Criminology, the American Academy of Political and Social Science, and the Academy of Experimental Criminology. He has worked on several projects of the (US) National Academy of Sciences, and as a consultant to the FBI, the (UK) Home Office and Youth Justice Board, the Swedish Ministry of Justice, the (US) National Institute of Justice, the New York City Police Department, the National Police Agency of Japan, the Korean Institute of Criminology, the Justice Ministry of Lower Saxony, and many other agencies. The author, co-author or editor of 9 books and over 100 book chapters and journal articles, Professor Sherman has received the American Society of Criminology's Edwin Sutherland Award; the Academy of Experimental Criminology’s Joan McCord Award; the American Sociological Association's Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Crime, Law and Deviance; the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences’ Bruce Smith Jr. Award; and the Campbell Collaboration's Robert Boruch Award. Professor Sherman has also received the Benjamin Franklin Medal of the Royal Society for the Arts in London and is the founding co-chair of the International Jury for the Stockholm Prize in Criminology. |
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Debbie Simpson QPM began her career in Bedfordshire Police in 1984 where she remained for the next 24 years working predominantly within the detective arena. She transferred to Devon and Cornwall as Assistant Chief Constable for Crime and Operations before transferring to Dorset. In 2012 she became Chief Constable until retiring in 2018. Within Dorset, she led an ambitious collaboration programme alongside local and regional approaches to austerity, whilst building capability within the region as the Chief Constable lead for serious and organised crime. Debbie worked to transform how forensic services were provided across law enforcement; she also led the UK approach to Disaster Victim Identification for ten years and was responsible for overseeing many international deployments. Debbie was a Co-Director for SPNAC, fast-track and direct entry and was also the Director for the Strategic Command Course for her final two years of service. She holds an MBA and is an alumna of Wolfson College having attended the Wolfson Course in 1999. |
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Chris Sims OBE QPM began his career in the Metropolitan Police in 1980 and was Chief Constable of Staffordshire Police before retiring as Chief Constable of West Midlands Police in 2016. He led work in the fields of forensic science, counter terrorism and the national response to austerity. At the West Midlands Police, he constructed a transformation programme to reset policing delivery and introduce new technology that involved a unique relationship with the private sector. He is currently Policing Advisor to the Home Office Biometrics Programme with a particular interest in Facial Recognition. In 2013 he was awarded the Peel Medal for his contribution to evidence-based policing. He is a graduate of St Peters College Oxford and holds an MBA from Warwickshire University. |
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Jayne Sykes has three decades of experience with West Yorkshire Police (WYP); most recently as Temporary Chief Executive of the West Yorkshire Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (WYOPCC). She is a graduate of both the Strategic Command Course for chief officers and the University of Cambridge Police Executive Programme. Her experience includes Head of Performance and Intelligence Analysis for WYP and establishment of the Violence Reduction Unit at the WYOPCC. Her research interests include the design and implementation of a randomised trial in police body-worn video. Her current consulting portfolio includes the Cambridge Centre for Evidence-based Policing (Tutor) and Home Office (programme management and governance). |
The Cambridge MSt in Applied Criminology and Police Management has been at the forefront of evidence-based policing for over three decades. As one of the first programmes globally to embed scientific methods into senior police education, it has shaped the development of evidence-based policing (EBP) and established Cambridge as the intellectual home of this movement. The course has consistently pushed policing and public safety professionals to think critically, challenge assumptions, and apply rigorous research to pressing operational and policy challenges.
With more than 1,000 graduates worldwide, the programme has created a unique professional community. Many of today’s most senior policing leaders—including a significant proportion of Chief Constables across England and Wales—are alumni. These leaders carry Cambridge’s influence directly into the decision-making structures of modern policing, embedding EBP principles into national strategy, operational practice, and organisational reform.
The intellectual contributions of the MSt extend beyond its graduates. Cambridge faculty and students pioneered the Crime Harm Index (CCHI), now adopted internationally as a more accurate way of measuring the seriousness of offending and setting policing priorities. Graduates’ dissertations have become operational blueprints—from hotspot policing and focused deterrence to AI-driven risk forecasting—showcasing the tangible influence of the programme’s research on real-world practice.
The programme’s impact is also global. Alumni hold senior roles across Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, exporting Cambridge’s model of rigorous analysis and evidence-based solutions into their own jurisdictions. International collaborations, from randomised controlled trials of patrol strategies to policy innovations in safeguarding and cybercrime, demonstrate how research generated in Cambridge resonates far beyond the UK.
Taken together, the Cambridge MSt has not only produced generations of leaders but has also transformed how policing understands effectiveness: away from tradition and instinct, and towards evidence, innovation, and harm reduction. It is this blend of academic rigour and operational relevance that makes the programme a world leader in police education.
