Seminars & events
Upcoming Seminars
To download a flyer with information on our upcoming seminars please click here.
Essentials of crime prevention - 6 June 2012
Date: 6 June 2012
Venue: Sydney Law School, New Law Building (F10), Eastern Avenue, University of Sydney
Cost:
One workshop: $200
Two workshops: $300
Register: online here.
Further information: online here.
Enquiries: Kate Hancott, Conference Coordinator, Australian Institute of Criminology, events@aic.gov.au, +61 2 6260 9272
The Australian Institute of Criminology’s Crime Prevention ASSIST program, and the Sydney Institute of Criminology (Sydney Law School, The University of Sydney) are presenting four Essentials of crime prevention workshops on June 6 2012 folllowing the Crime prevention and communities conference. These will be tailored for a wide range of practitioners - police, local government, NGOs - working in crime prevention project development and management. Each workshop will be led by experts who have hands-on experience designing and implementing crime prevention initiatives for a wide range of organisations and communities.
Morning workshops
9.00am - 12.30pm
Workshop 1: Essentials of Finding the Evidence for Effective Crime Prevention
Garner Clancey and Peter Homel
In this age of evidence-based policy and programs, it is critical to know where to find and how to access the best and most relevant information and research. This session will focus on the most important potential sources of information to help crime prevention and policing practitioners. Key databases will be identified and research methodologies and strategies reviewed, enabling end users to determine the relative merits of published research. The session will also review tools and resources that help to distil research evidence into a form that can be used by practitioners.
After they have explored ways of accessing and using research evidence, participants will have the opportunity to share with and hear from crime prevention and policing practitioners what other resources they require. Issues arising will help inform the work of the Australian and Sydney Institutes of Criminology.
Workshop 2: Essentials of of Project Management for Crime Prevention
Rick Brown
Crime prevention projects often struggle at the implementation stage because they have not been adequately planned and managed.
This workshop will examine some of the most common of these problems and then present some practical tools for managing projects.
The workshop will introduce the concept of the ‘dynamic project lifecycle’ and explore how it can be used to plan, implement and monitor project activity.
The workshop will also show how project logic diagrams and work breakdown structures can be used to plan timescales and manage project staff, especially those involving partnership working.
Afternoon workshops
1.30pm - 5.00pm
Workshop 3: Essentials of Problem Solving
Michael Scott
There are many essential elements to solving a problem - working out what the problem is, analyzing it thoroughly, developing and implementing interventions and coming up with a reliable evaluation of the results.
This workshop will focus on one of the more confounding aspects of effective public safety problem solving: persuading reluctant stakeholders to take greater ownership of the problem and to accept their share of responsibility for addressing it.
Too often the various actors do not think it is up to them to control the conditions that give rise to a problem - and the harm it causes - or don’t believe it is in their interest to do so.
This workshop will explore strategies and techniques that crime prevention practitioners can apply to overcome such resistance.
The workshop will provide an overview of the resources of the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing. The Center’s information is valuable and available to crime prevention practitioners.
Workshop 4: Essentials of Evaluation
Katie Willis and Anthony Morgan
Few would argue that evaluation is an important part of effective crime prevention. A well designed evaluation can help to answer a number of important questions about your project. Was it implemented according to how it was designed? Has it worked to address the targeted problem? Why did it or didn’t it work? What could you have done better?
Through the use of case studies, this workshop will equip practitioners with the skills and knowledge to design an evaluation, develop an evaluation plan, contract external evaluators and understand evaluation reports.
The Psychology of Crime - 17 July 2012
Date: 17 July 2012
Venue: Room 340, Sydney Law School, New Law Building ANNEX (F10), Eastern Avenue, University of Sydney
Cost:
Full fee: $240 (inc. GST)
University of Sydney staff: $190 (inc. GST)
Sydney Law School alumni: $190 (inc. GST)
F/T student: $150 (inc. GST)
Time: 9.00am - 5.00pm
Register: online here.
The psychology of crime is a workshop examining the profession of criminal psychology (also referred to as forensic psychology). It will introduce and expand on questions such as: What do criminal/forensic psychologists do to assist police, the courts, the prisons, etc?
The workshop will explore the role of the forensic psychologist with examples of real (anonymous) cases. It is a must for anyone considering a career in the field of psychology, or for psychologists who would like an introduction to the forensic field. The workshop will also be useful for legal professionals and correctional staff in understanding psychological reports, explanations of bizarre behaviours and pathological diagnoses.
What people will know by the end of the workshop:
- What forensic psychologists do and how we are trained to think
- How psychologists study and understand criminal behaviour
- Ways in which psychologists assess and explain criminal behaviour
- How psychologists assist the courts in dealing with criminal behaviour
- How psychologists treat certain types of criminal behaviour (violence, sex offences, murder)
Topics that will be covered during the workshop:
- "What is psychology?", with reference to famous experiments that taught us much about human behaviour. How does psychology assist people working with criminal behaviour?
- Assessment of a criminal offender: a look at how we do it. Real-life example of assessments (anonymous).
- Treating criminal offenders. Real-life examples of treatment that worked and some that didn't (anonymous).
Please note that the course content will at times involve details about violent crime that may be traumatic. If in doubt about your ability to emotionally deal with such course content, please contact the Sydney Institute of Criminology and discuss your concerns, or please DO NOT ENROL.
This workshop will be facilitated by Pan Tsomis.Pan is a forensic and clinical psychologist with a masters degree in psychology and a masters degree in criminology. He is a registered psychologist with the Psychology Board of Australia (Registration No PSY0001404883), and a member of the Australian Psychological Society's College of Forensic Psychologists and College of Clinical Psychologists (Member No 17562). Pan was a psychologist with the NSW Department of Juvenile Justice, and has worked for the Commonwealth Department of Veterans' Affairs,for a child protection agency, and for the Mental Health Team in Port Macquarie and at the St George Hospital. He has been in private practice since 1998, primarily assessing and treating criminal offenders, victims of violent crime, as well as combat veterans and their families. He has taught psychology at the University of Sydney and criminology at the University of Western Sydney. He has presented papers and lectured on forensic psychological assessment at international conferences. He also regularly runs workshops on assessment and management of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), especially with regard to victims and perpetrators of violent crimes.