Experience-Led Transformation: Understanding the Needs of Veterans in Custody Support Officers Through Co-Produced, Practitioner-Led Research

His Majesty's Prison and Probation Service CFO and the Centre for Excellence in Equity in Uniformed Public Services(CEEUPS) at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) have established a collaborative partnership to advance knowledge and practice in the field of veterans' and justice. This collaboration brings together policy, research and frontline expertise to better understand and support veterans in custody or on probation and VICSOs, and comprises of two distinct but complementary programmes of work.

The first programme centres on the appointment of Carrie Rogers as a Policy Fellow at CEEUPS ARU. In this role, Carrie will engage in a structured set of activities designed to critically examine the relationship between research, policy and practice as they pertain to veterans in the criminal justice system and those who support them. 

The second programme of work invites a team of VICSOs to join Carrie Rogers, Dr Emma Murray and Richard Harding (ARU) as co-researchers on a short research project. The project aims to capture and document the experiences and insights arising during the initial months following the launch of the guide, providing a timely and grounded account of its early use and implementation. Recognising the value of lived and practice-based expertise, VICSOs will be supported to participate fully as co-researchers through dedicated research training and supervision.

Together, these two programmes reflect a commitment to meaningful collaboration across the research-policy-practice interface, placing those with direct professional experience of Veterans' and justice sector support at the heart of the knowledge-generation process.

This project aims to centre the experiences, knowledge and insights of Veterans in Custody Support Officers (VICSOs) as co-researchers in order to understand their needs and the early implementation of practice guidance, generating evidence that meaningfully informs policy and practice at the research-policy-practice interface.

This project positions Veterans in Custody Support Officers (VICSOs) as co-researchers in a participatory action research framework. VICSOs will actively contribute to shaping the research design, data collection and analysis, ensuring that findings remain grounded in real-world experience and directly relevant to practice.

This project employs qualitative methods to capture the richness of VICSOs' experiences and insights in the months following the guide's launch. Researchers will use semi-structured interviews, focus groups and reflective diaries to capture and share their perspectives in depth, generating a nuanced, practice-informed account of early implementation.

Central to this project is dedicated research training and ongoing support and supervision to ensure rigour and consistency of the project and at the same time investing in the long-term capacity VICSOs to lead on evidence-informed practice beyond the project's lifetime.

This study seeks to address the following: 

1. What are the professional experiences and support needs of Veterans in Custody Support Officers (VICSOs) in carrying out their role?
2. What factors enable or hinder the effective implementation of the guide in operational settings?
3. What role can VICSOs play in shaping evidence-informed policy and practice for  veterans' in the justice sector?
4. How does a co-produced research approach strengthen the quality and relevance of knowledge generation in this field?