Dr Keely Duddin

Lecturer In Policing Organisation And Practice

keely.duddin@open.ac.uk

Biography

Professional biography

Keely joined the Faculty of Business and Law in 2019 as a Lecturer in Policing, Organisation and Practice. Her background is in Psychology and she is a Chartered member of the British Psychological Society. She is currently module chair and leads a team responsible for designing and implementing the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship, as well as contributing to the overall development of programmes under the Police Education Qualifications Framework (PEQF). Keely also is a member of the Centre for Police Research & Learning (CPRL) which aims to develop research and knowledge exchange with the police members/partnerships involved in the centre and is actively involved in research that CPRL undertakes.

Previously at British Transport Police (BTP), Keely was the Head of Research and Development and responsible for leading a centre of research excellence, ensuring research evidence was used to inform best practice and deliver service improvements. During her time at BTP Keely conducted significant research to contribute to the overall strategy of tackling sexual offences on the railway and in 2017 was nominated for an award in recognition for her leadership and research on suicide prevention and well-being. She was also responsible for implementing an effective force-wide policy function and has received qualifications in project management and leadership.

Prior to working for the police Keely completed her Masters and PhD in Health Psychology at the University of Bath specialising in well-being research. During this time she worked for Avon and Somerset Constabulary as a Special Constable and undertook specialist training allowing her to work in the Domestic Violence Unit for a number of years.

She brings a wealth of practical and strategic knowledge through her previous roles and experience and has a variety of research interests.

Research interests

Current Research Projects:

"Are forces past their ‘due date’? The impact of a mother’s experience during pregnancy and returning to the workplace after a period of maternity leave".

"The impact of police forces and football clubs working together to provide a platform for coaching and mentoring for young people who have received a Threat to Life Notice." With Greater Manchester Police and Manchester United.

Research Interests:

Keely has a variety of research interests and expertise which centre around well being, suicide prevention, maternity and perinatal mental health, health psychology, and evidence based policing. She has a particular interest in impact-focused research.

Projects

CPRL The impact of mothers' experiences during pregnancy and returning to the workplace after a period of maternity leave (Analysis Phase)

As we drive forward recruitment drives such as Operation Uplift, there are increased proportions of female officers and staff recruited. Two of the main priorities for many UK forces are wellbeing and inclusion. It is therefore essential we better understand the organisational health and personal wellbeing of officers and staff, as a direct consequence of maternity leave. This research seeks to join up the actual experiences of mothers who are officers or staff. In the last few months, the research team have met with organisations who have wide reaching connections nationally (Unison and The Police Federation), they have shown great interest in the research, the women’s steering group for the Federation have also made it one of their priorities for 2022. We launched our survey on 23rd May 2023, with the initial aim of receiving 500 responses. However, the engagement we have received as been unprecedented with over 5,500 responses in 5 weeks. It is likely that by the close of survey, on the 8th of July we will have surpassed 6,000 responses. We now believe this research has the largest number of responses of any pregnancy and maternity survey ever completed nationally within the public sector. The sheer scale of response for this research demonstrates clearly that this is a research topic that is worthwhile exploring. Due to the momentum this research has gathered and potential national impact, we have brought this research under the umbrella of CPRL. As a research team we wish to request funding in order to fund an expert to help with our analysis. We are looking for expertise to ensure we are able to develop substantial and impactful outputs.