Dr Rebecca Phythian

Dr Rebecca Phythian is a Reader in Policing and a UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellow, leading research on international law enforcement information exchange. She is Co-Director of the Applied Criminal Justice and Policing Research Centre and leads its research strand. Her research focuses on policing, intelligence sharing and multi-agency working.

She completed her undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in psychology before being awarded the Sir Joseph Rotblat Scholarship to undertake her PhD in Applied Psychology, examining the criminal histories of serious violent offenders using police data.

Becky was previously seconded to Lancashire Constabulary’s Evidence Based Policing Research Hub, where she worked collaboratively with police officers, staff and analysts on applied research projects. She continues to work closely with industry, police forces and criminal justice organisations, and regularly presents her research at national and international academic and practitioner conferences.

Recent funded, national projects include examining the use of the Police National Database in agency information sharing (supported by CGI and the National Police Chiefs’ Council), alongside a commissioned research series on police wellbeing with Oscar Kilo and the National Police Wellbeing Service. She has also contributed to research on the multi-agency planning and delivery of Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool (2023) and Malmö (2024), examining partnership working, public safety and operational learning across international major event context.

Becky is also a judge on the sifting panel for the National Police Chiefs’ Council Problem Solving and Crime Prevention Programme’s Tilley Awards, which celebrates problem-oriented initiatives that successfully address issues affecting communities, partner agencies and policing. She is a member of the National Police Chiefs’ Council Intelligence Portfolio and the Home Office’s JESIP Research Working Group, and contributes to external networks including RUSI’s Strategic Hub for Organised Crime Research.

She supervises doctoral research in policing and criminal justice.

Before joining Edge Hill University in 2020, she held teaching roles in policing, psychology and research methods at the University of Lancashire, University of Liverpool, Manchester Metropolitan University and Laureate Online Education.