Welcome to the information pages for the 12th SIPR Scottish International Policing Conference #SIPC2026
Delivered by the Scottish Institute for Policing Research (SIPR), the conference brings together policing professionals, researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and partners from the UK and internationally.
The 2026 theme, Police Academic Partnerships, will focus on how collaboration between policing and academia can support evidence informed practice, innovation, and impact across policing and public safety.
As always, our aim for our conference is to provide an opportunity for valuable discussions, identifying key challenges and potential solutions, and sharing examples of best practice. We hope to provide plenty of opportunities to network, and meet your colleagues across policy, practice, and academia.
This year, the 54th James Smart Memorial Lecture 2026 will be delivered by Gary Ritchie and the 4th Nick Fyfe Lecture will be delivered by Professor Cynthia Lum, a Distinguished University Professor of Criminology, Law and Society and Director of George Mason University’s Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy.
We look forward to welcoming you!
Further information will be posted here as the programme for the SIPC 2026 is developed.
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Professor Cynthia Lum
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Gary Ritchie
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Dr Andrew Wooff
Gary Ritchie is a Managing Partner in the Global Consortium Group(GCG). Prior to this he was an Assistant Chief Constable with Police Scotland, retiring in 2025 after 34 years policing service. During his time as a member of the Police Scotland Executive team he oversaw portfolios and directorates for Organisational Change; Partnerships, Prevention and Community Wellbeing, International Policing Development and Operational Support.
He was appointed Assistant Chief Constable in 2019 and during his tenure, he oversaw directorate of Partnerships, Prevention and Community Wellbeing where he developed new public health led approaches in partnership with other public services to reduce and prevent harm and achieve better outcomes for communities and vulnerable people. As head of Drug Strategy, he compiled the first specific drug strategy for Police Scotland, shifting the emphasis from enforcement to harm reduction. As part of this new approach, he led the roll out of Naloxone (Narcan) to police officers which has resulted in Scotland becoming the first nation in the world to equip all its frontline police officers with nasal Naloxone. Since then Police Officershave regularly used Naloxone in cases where people have taken overdose, helping to savehundreds of lives.
He also led on the establishment of Police Scotland’s International Academy, founded on the principles of police senior leadership development through international study, engagement and networking. He established several internal policing leadership development programmes with police agencies in the USA, Australia, South East Asia, South America and Africa based around principles of Values Based/ Adaptive Leadership, strategic incident command, leadership modelling for conflict de-escalation, policing culture and international collaboration.
Gary also sat on the board of the Scottish Institute of Police Research, a nexus of 8 Scottish Universities in partnership with policing and supporting post-graduate research reflecting the most prominent policing and societal issues in order to assist policing in the development of evidence-based policy and practice. He has recently taken on the Chair of SIPR’s International Board He was awarded the King’s Police Medal in 2025 and, in recognition of his collaboration with academia over the past few years, he was made an Honorary Professor of Edinburgh Napier University. Following his retirement from policing he emigrated to Australia and lives in Sydney.
Professor Cynthia Lum is a Distinguished University Professor of Criminology, Law and Society and Director of George Mason University’s Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy. She is a leading authority on evidence-based policing, an approach that advocates that research, evaluation, and scientific processes should have “a seat at the table” in law enforcement policymaking and practice. Prof. Lum has studied and written extensively about patrol operations and police crime prevention activities, police technology, investigations and detective work, and evidence-based crime policy. Additionally, she has developed numerous tools and strategies to translate and institutionalize research into everyday law enforcement operations. Her and Professor Christopher Koper’s foundational book on these topics–Evidence-Based Policing: Translating Research Into Practice (Oxford University Press)–received the American Society of Criminology Division of Policing 2020 Outstanding Book Award.
Professor Lum is an elected Fellow of the American Society of Criminology (ASC) and is the recipient of the 2025 Joan McCord Award (Academy of Experimental Criminology), the 2023 recipient of ASC’s Herbert Bloch Award, and the 2023 Distinguished Scholar Award (Division of Policing, ASC). She was an appointed member of the Committee on Law and Justice (CLAJ) for the National Academies of Sciences (NAS), and has served on the NAS’s ad hoc committees on Proactive Policing and Evidence to Advance Reform in the Global Security and Justice Sectors. She is a Board Trustee of the Council on Criminal Justice and a Board Director for the National Policing Institute. Prof. Lum is the founding editor of Translational Criminology Magazine and was Editor-in Chief (with Professor Christopher Koper) of Criminology & Public Policy, the flagship policy journal of the American Society of Criminology from 2019 to 2024.
Professor Lum is the recipient of the 2017 inaugural Mason Presidential Medal for Excellence in Social Impact and the 2020 Virginia State Council for Higher Education Outstanding Faculty Award.