Welcome to Imagining Possible Futures
Our ambitious plan is to undertake the first large scale, participatory study of lived experience-led criminal justice across the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Former prisoners and criminalised people take active roles as researchers, lecturers and trainers, practitioners (peer supporters, prison council and equality representatives, co-producers and leaders of services), policy and practice advisors, and (academic) authors advancing criminological theory. Despite growing forms of participation in criminal justice internationally, there is a need for a fuller evidence base.
The project has 3 core aims
To document a history lived experience-led criminal justice.
To critically examine current models of participation, coproduction and lived experience-informed criminal justice practice.
To use artistic and speculative design practices to explore future possibilities for participatory criminal justice.
If you are interested in being a participant in the research or collaborating on a project, get in touch, Gill Buck g.buck@chester.ac.uk
Meet the Team
Publications
Explore our list of publications for valuable insights and information
Free Resources
View and download our range of free resources
Photo & Artefact Gallery
View our galleries
News & Events
- Training to be Imagination Activists
At the start of December, Emma, Paula and Gill attended the very first “Becoming an Imagination Activist” weekend training at Hawkwood College, Stroud. Led by Phoebe Tickell, they embarked on an immersive journey of the imagination, learning new techniques for imagining different futures. Together we imagined a future world where prisons had been closed and… Read more: Training to be Imagination Activists - Community Led Research: Co-producing a Shared Research Agenda
Members of the Experience for Justice Collective (E4J), a key partner in Imagining Possible Futures, gathered at the University of Liverpool for a two-day workshop to shape a shared research agenda and spark momentum for a major community-led research proposal. 4–5 November 2025 Building on earlier gatherings, including the inaugural Sheffield symposium (2023) and E4J… Read more: Community Led Research: Co-producing a Shared Research Agenda - New Publication: Criminologist in Residence
For 11 years, our Co-Investigator Emma Murray has volunteered as a Criminologist in Residence at FACT Liverpool. This beautiful reflection considers what she has learned from this time, and what she will bring to ongoing and future collaborations. The work articulates one of Emma’s superpowers: “to curate criminology… [is] to think of how to bring… Read more: New Publication: Criminologist in Residence - Peer Mentoring Webinar in Cameroon
In September 2025, Dr Gill Buck spoke at an international event, co-facilitated by Sr Caroline Acha, Coordinator, Victim Offender Prison Care Support (VOPS), Cameroon. Gill presented a history of lived experience led criminal justice in the UK and Ireland, informed by the historical work from the Imagining Possible Futures study. She then focused on empirical… Read more: Peer Mentoring Webinar in Cameroon