The University of Lincoln has been commissioned by Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) for Lincolnshire to conduct a mapping study of interventions addressing serious violence across the county.
Within Lincolnshire, serious violence is defined as homicide, assault with injury/intent, public disorder/affray, robbery, domestic abuse, rape and sexual assault.
The purpose of this study is to ascertain what interventions currently exist within the county to prevent and respond to serious violence. By ‘interventions’, the study is referring to any project, service or programme specifically designed to prevent serious violence or support those affected by it.
Any intervention that may potentially contribute to the prevention of serious violence, even though this may not be its primary purpose, such as a youth club, education or awareness-raising programme for example, is eligible for inclusion in the study.
The data collected will be used to create an interactive service map providing details of all existing provision across Lincolnshire and to inform future commissioning decisions and funding bids.
You are invited to complete a short survey about intervention(s) delivered by your organisation that address, directly or indirectly, serious violence to inform this mapping activity.
If the intervention is due to end within the next 12 months, please still complete the form.
WARNING: This study will be exploring serious violence, please read the information below
carefully before deciding to take part.
The purpose of this study is to ascertain what interventions are currently available within Lincolnshire for serious violence. The study has been funded by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) for Lincolnshire to support Safer Lincolnshire Partnership (SLP), with partners, to take stock of current interventions and consider these against the findings of the county’s recent Violence Reduction Needs Assessment and the Serious Violence Duty.
The findings of the study will be utilised to produce an interactive service map containing details of all available interventions within the county. The map will act as a source of information, a toolkit to support inter-service collaboration, and as a basis to inform future commissioning decisions.
If you are Lincolnshire based and deliver an intervention addressing serious violence you are eligible to participate. You have been approached to participate in this study as a partner of the SLP and an organisation that may have direct involvement in, or knowledge of , interventions for serious violence. Details of current interventions will be gathered through an online survey.
Participation is completely voluntary. You should only take part if you want to and choosing not to take part will not disadvantage you in anyway.
You will be asked to provide your consent to participate at the beginning of the survey. You will be asked to complete a series of questions about the intervention(s) your service delivers. This should take no longer than 10-15 minutes to complete.
The research team will use AI software to support the creation of the interactive service map.
You will not be paid to participate in the study.
There are no risks associated with participating in this study. There are several benefits to participating in this study. Your participation will ensure that SLP has fully up-to-date information about all interventions currently available within the county, which will be reflected in the interactive service map that will be produced. This will enable SLP to work with partners to ensure improved signposting to services for users and more informed commissioning decisions for future interventions (avoid duplication and address gaps in provision for example).
The University of Lincoln (UoL) is the sponsor for this study based in the United Kingdom. They will be using information from you to undertake the research and will act as the data controller for this study. This means that they are responsible for looking after your information and using it properly. The research team will keep your name and contact details confidential and secure.
If you are the named designated lead for the intervention, the survey will ask for your name and a method of contact to be included in the service map if you are willing to provide this (see below). The research team will also use this information to contact you about the research and make sure that relevant information about the study is recorded for your care, and to oversee the quality of the study. Certain individuals from UoL may look at your research records to check the accuracy of the research study.
The data gathered from the survey will be used to write a short project report and produce the interactive service map. The service map will contain details of the intervention(s) you provide information about in the survey. The map will also contain a named individual and their contact details for each listed intervention to support communication and joint working between services – this name will be yours if you are the designated lead.
The data obtained from the study will be stored securely on the university OneDrive in password
protected files. Only the researcher/researchers will have access to it.
They will keep identifiable information (e.g. contact details) about you for until after the study has finished in March 2026. This information may be used in relation to further projects – you will be asked to provide your consent if this is the case.
You are free to withdraw at any point f rom this study, without having to give a reason, by contacting Dr Anthony Ellis (aellis@lincoln.ac.uk). If you choose to withdraw from the study, the information you have given us up to this point will be deleted/destroyed.
The results from the research will be written up in a short report and used to create an interactive service map. These two outputs will be shared with all participants. The results will also be shared at an event that will be hosted by the University in February 2026 for the funder, SLP and its partners.
This research is being organised by Dr Anthony Ellis at the University of Lincoln and is being funded by Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Lincolnshire.
All research conducted by the University of Lincoln is looked at by an independent group of people, called a Research Ethics Committee, to protect your rights, dignity and wellbeing. This study has been reviewed and given favourable opinion by a University of Lincoln Research Ethics Committee – 22639.
It is very unlikely that this study would cause you any harm. If you have a concern or a complaint about any aspect of this study, you should ask to speak to the researchers who will do their best to answer your questions. The researchers contact details are given at the end of this information sheet.
If you remain unhappy and wish to complain formally, you can make a formal complaint through the University complaints procedure or by contacting ethics@lincoln.ac.uk.
Further information and contact details:
Dr Anthony Ellis (Project Lead) – aellis@lincoln.ac.uk
Prof Karen Harrison – karenharrison@lincoln.ac.uk
Ms Rachael Mason – rmason@lincoln.ac.uk
The survey contains 19 questions divided into four themed sections that ask for information about the intervention offered.
The survey should take around 10-15 minutes to complete.
Please complete one survey response per intervention.
This may mean you complete several forms to capture everything your organisation offers that helps to prevent serious violence.
To access the study, please follow this link to the online Microsoft Form.
