Impact case study database

Increased stakeholder participation, empowerment and engagement

Our research has directly influenced the development of 131 episodes of programming across five series, with both national and international audiences, reaching around of 330 million people. This is evidence of the unit’s considerable capacity to influence perceptions of crime and criminality across the globe. According to industry calculations, DW and EY generated advertising value equivalents (AVE) in excess of £9million, through media coverage of their research and associated programming during the assessment period (S01).

Our involvement and research insights enhanced the legitimacy of programming, increasing stakeholder confidence in the productions and the likelihood of their participation. We also advocated the need for the perspectives of stakeholders, such as psychologists, police detectives, families and friends of victims and perpetrators to be heard, which led to these individuals’ voices being included in the programmes.

“Having the strong academic research behind the programme gave the families of the victims the confidence to be part of the programme and share their experiences, with the hope of preventing it from happening again” Director of Programming, CBS Reality (S02)

“Professor Wilson’s involvement in the programme was important in bringing other experts on board due to his status as an established scholar in this field. This also enhanced the confidence of the audience in the validity and reliability of the programme’s investigation and conclusions.” Executive Producer, BBC Studios (S02)

The involvement of such stakeholders represented a meaningful change in the way true crime programming has been produced. As opposed to families simply being ‘talking heads’, reinforcing a producer-led narrative, our research, in placing victims and their families at the heart of cases, ensures that their voices have informed programme content. The cooperation of such stakeholders was a necessary step in creating rich, informative programming that highlighted the previously misunderstood aspects about serial homicide and professional killers.

Informing, enriching and influencing television content

Our research acted as an evidence base to enable programmes to move away from a focus on homicide offenders to better encompass social and political-economic contexts (S03)

Furthermore, programmes have directly used our work to highlight the structural inequalities that lead to vulnerabilities in specific victim groups. R05 was drawn upon in exploring Stephen Port’s use of Grindr as a predator serial killer. Click for Murder highlighted the broader context of homophobia identified in R01. Murderers and their Mothers, referred to the social and cultural ideological frameworks around gender roles to increase awareness and understandings of individual behaviour.

Our typology of homicide perpetrators and social media use (R05) informed the concept for the highly successful Netflix show Click for Murder, which was also screened on CBS Reality.

“Research such as Dr Yardley’s paper ‘Making Sense of Facebook Murder’ creates a strong starting point for television series in the true crime genre” (S02).

R04 provided the structure for, Assassins: Ireland’s Contract Killers, which aired on Irish channel TV3. By applying our academic knowledge on British Hitmen to Irish cases we were able introduce the concepts to Irish audiences and programmes (S03).

BBC documentary Jack the Ripper: The case reopened (2019), was shaped by our multilevel model of homicide and serial homicide (R01, R02) and applied both the victim-centred approach (R01) and criminological autopsy (R03). This programme was made by the BBC Science department and their use of our research is testament to the quality of our scholarship. This programme secured considerable reach for our research with viewing figures of 3.6 million people of different ages and genders from across the social class spectrum (S02). The Executive Producer for BBC Studios stated,

“[the] criminological autopsy technique was an important component of the programme’s content. Professor Wilson’s research informed the content and structure of Jack the Ripper: The Case Reopened and played a significant role in producing a forensic, empirical and rigorous programme that stood apart from other programmes about unsolved murders which tend to focus heavily on style, dramatic reconstructions and opinion.”(S02)

Enriching the narrative to influence television portrayals of homicide

Our research has directly informed TV programme narratives, challenging orthodox understandings of homicide (R01, R02) by emphasising how homicide is presented and examined. Traditionally, homicide is presented as an act perpetrated by someone who is inherently ‘bad’. The analysis is often abstract, focusing wholly on the psychology of the perpetrator, and precluding a consideration of how their harmful behaviour developed within the familial, community, social, cultural and political context, which creates a misinformed idea in the minds of the audience. Instead, our unique approach enabled production companies to create a detailed picture of the crimes and the forces that drove the criminal(s). This serves the audience by demonstrating how the range of factors, operating at different levels, combine to create the circumstances in which perpetrators decide to kill (S04)

“…Your research enables our shows to go into more depth and therefore gives the audience a deeper understanding and more information. This is vital as the true crime genre progresses – we can’t simply say ‘who dunnit’ – we need to say ‘why’ and look at how we can prevent it in the future…your insights definitely help drive the storytelling of each programme” CEO, Woodcut Media (S02)

“The involvement of the criminologists from Birmingham City University has resulted in insight-led Sky Crime programmes, shaped and informed by their cutting-edge research…resulting in detailed and educational Sky Crime programmes.” Scheduling Controller, Sky Crime (S02).

EY’s research (R05) has been particularly significant in shaping the narrative of Click for Murder,

“The paper informed how our series could look at individual cases and discuss how and why the murderers acted as they did and how social media enabled their crimes……it did give us a strong editorial basis for Click for Murder. We also used it as the basis for analysis within each programme and for PR purposes…her research and onscreen commentary as an expert criminologist underscored the journalistic thrust and narrative of these programmes and others” (S02).

Click for Murder was also successful in communicating our multilevel understandings of homicide, as evidenced in a TV Guide review which typically receives 2.5 million hits per month (CBS, 2017),

“One of the excellent things about the series is that it is not tunnel-visioned to see social media as the one and only cause of heinous crimes. It is not just the online world that is presented as a danger on the show, as others factors are taken into consideration too. It is refreshing to see a crime documentary tackle the fatal consequences of stigmatisation and repression of homosexuality, for example.” (S01)

Increasing audience awareness, understanding and engagement

Our involvement in informing television content has equipped and stimulated programme audiences by enhancing their awareness and understanding. As a result, audiences are more engaged due to the new knowledge. One production company executive stated,

“By drawing on factual research, it is easier to mould and shape the programme to allow the audience to have an in-depth understanding of a specific area of crime. Rather than looking at a single crime case in isolation” (S02)

Our commitment to explaining the complexities of homicide in an accessible manner for the general public has ensured that audiences learn and understand specialist terminology associated with homicide, as well as the potential indicators of criminal behaviour. The Director of Programming for CBS Reality stated that,

“Crime documentaries often bandy around a lot of 'lingo' describing perpetrators, without actually providing the audience with a comprehensive understanding of what that means. By collaborating with experts such as those mentioned above, we provide new and accurate information to an audience who believe they already know everything about crime, victims and perpetrators. As such the audiences consume the programmes with more dedication and interest as they are also learning than programmes on many other channels. By providing the general public with factual research base information, not only does it make better programming, but it also provides them with knowledge to enable them to understand people, and in many cases red flags of crimes, far better. It helps people determine warning signs that may otherwise have passed them by allowing them to protect themselves and their families, and in some cases, gives them the catalyst they need to remove themselves from a situation which may be destructive.” (S02)

“Criminologists at Birmingham City University have succeeded in building relationships with media organisations and in doing so have put their research to work in gradually shifting popular attitudes towards serious forms of violence.” Scheduling Controller, Sky Crime. (S02)

4. Details of Impact (indicative maximum 750 words)

**Influencing policy direction and training for anti-Muslim hatred organisations **

Awan’s work with Tell MAMA was directly used by the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Islamophobia (now the APPG on British Muslims) at a policy level to help direct specific inquiries about the global threat of online Islamophobia. Awan was invited to present evidence to the APPG on six different occasions between 2013 and 2017, and prepare briefing papers and conduct workshops and seminars for over 27 key Parliamentarians, government officials and lay members of the public about his findings (R01, R04, R05, R06) [S01]. Awan was able to ensure that his research underpinned the governmental policy process because hate crime, in his view, was not a static problem (R06).

In his first invitation to the APPG in September 2013, Awan explained the need to understand the impacts of online Islamophobia (R03). Awan was invited by the APPG in December 2014 to present one of the first ever studies about Islamophobia on social media. It was attended by the Minister for Faith and Communities, who subsequently asked Awan to join the Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group (AMHWG) to use his evidence-based research to identify gaps on anti-Muslim hatred policy that the Government could address.

In 2015, Awan was invited on two further occasions to the APPG. First, in June, to present evidence about the impacts of Islamophobia (R02) and then in October to present findings from his Tell MAMA report about social media victimisation (R01). The following October, the APPG once again requested Awan to present findings about gendered Islamophobia. This study was based on his experiences of doing autoethnographic research (R05). He was invited again in October 2017, during Hate Crime Awareness Week, to present new research about the experiences of non-Muslim men who suffer Islamophobia (R06).

As a direct result of his recommendations to the APPG about revising social media guidelines (R01, R04), the Director of Public Prosecutions at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) invited Awan to sit as an expert member of their National Hate Crime Security Panel (NHSP) to provide evidenced-based recommendations on how social media guidelines and current policy and legal guidance could be improved in relation to racial and religiously aggravated hate crime. Awan used his research and expertise to highlight to the CPS that victims of online Islamophobia felt the current guidelines did not allow them to share harmful content to the appropriate authorities. This led to the CPS adopting Awan’s recommendation to change their guidelines to better enable victims to report hate crimes.

“Dr Awan made a significant contribution to the NHSP…Awan recommended that we consider the impact of online abuse and the sharing of harmful content should be part of the new revised guidelines,” stated the Head of the CPS Hate Crime NHSP. “The guidance was subsequently amended to include sharing harmful content as a distinct category.” [S02]

Awan provided evidence-based training for practitioners in helping them implement effective case management and recording systems, serving as the first point of contact in dealing with anti-Muslim hatred. This directly benefitted Tell MAMA in identifying key triggers for Islamophobic abuse online and applying the appropriate sensitive interventions. The training was pivotal in helping Tell MAMA find hard-to-reach groups, and supporting those groups using Awan’s bite-sized-toolkits by explaining how communities can report online Islamophobia. These toolkits have been accessed by over 100 mosques across the UK, empowering local communities to break down the barriers of reporting Islamophobia (R01, R03). “Awan’s work has directly fed into our guidance and training for our staff…his toolkits and online PDFs have helped victims who have reported to us when they have suffered hate crimes. These resources have been useful and provide practical solutions for those victims…” [S03].

Awan’s research (R01, R04, R05) led to further training for Faith Associates, which resulted in changes in policies and strategies.

These include how mosques record anti-Muslim hatred, safety measures they can use and creating positive case studies to inform mosques how to encourage worshippers to report online hate speech. This enabled over 200 mosques and Imams across the UK to have a greater understanding of how Muslims should report Islamophobia [S04]. Working with Faith Associates, Awan provided key training at Twitter Headquarters, which was attended by over 50 Muslim leaders and Imams from across the UK. As a direct result, mosque leaders reported that they were better equipped to use digital space to identify and report Islamophobic abuse, something they previously did not have guidance and training for. The CEO of Faith Associates stated that Awan’s research “ helped to directly lead to mosques having a better awareness of how they can tackle Islamophobia in the digital world…our professional standards, guidance and training methods have been influenced by his research…we have used Professor Awan’s research…to help change policy strategies within mosques in Britain…his work has directly helped change how people perceive Muslims in the UK and help confront the negative perceptions of Muslims.” [S05]

Awan directly worked with the Head of Twitter UK, utilising his research to develop solutions in tackling anti-Muslim hatred through roundtables and workshops where his research, interviews and data (R01, R02, R03) were used by Twitter to help empower Muslim communities.

In a joint blog by Twitter and Awan, published on their website, they said, “Twitter has come together with the independent members of the Cross Government Working Group on Anti-Muslim Hatred (AMHWG) as part of a shared commitment to counter hateful conduct online…much of the content identified by this critical research…was removed for breaking the Twitter rules…Critically, we can only develop scalable solutions by working in partnership with experts.” [S06]

Working with Parliamentarians to define Islamophobia

In 2014, Awan was appointed by the Deputy Prime Minister to sit as an independent member of the AMHWG. Awan used his research at a policy level to help the Government identify trends and gaps on Islamophobic hate crime.

The (then) Deputy Director of Integration and Faith commented that Awan, “has played an important role in helping Government better understand the causes and drivers of anti-Muslim hatred…his work around social media has paved the way for a better awareness of what social media companies could do when confronting online hate crime.” [S07]

Currently, not all monitored hate crimes are treated the same; this can result in Muslims being reluctant to report hate crime, due to a belief that it will not be taken seriously. Awan identified the need therefore for a new legal definition of Islamophobia, which would help support victims of anti-Muslim hatred. Awan met with the (then) Government Minister for Faith and Communities, who commissioned him to deliver a new independent report, entitled A Working Definition of Islamophobia for the UK Government. This report led to the first ever formal process of defining Islamophobia by a British Government.

The Government used his findings to establish a new process in creating a working definition of Islamophobia, a process in which Awan played a key role. The Minister for Faith and Communities stated: “His research into Islamophobic hate crimes has informed the evidence base for our policy development…Awan’s contribution has been instrumental and…has helped to develop and improve both Government policy and Parliamentary understanding…” [S07]

His work has directly contributed to the Government’s National Hate Crime Action through his role with the AMHWG, where he was able to use his research on the offline impacts of attacks against mosques (R03) to argue that more funding was required to secure buildings from attacks. The Home Office agreed to allocate £1.6 million over three years for the protection of faith institutions. This was increased after the attack on Finsbury Park mosque. In March 2020, 49 places of worship received funding from the Home Office, including 27 mosques [S08].

Following Awan being commissioned by the government to establish a new working definition for Islamophobia, he partnered with the UK’s leading independent race and equality think tank, the Runnymede Trust, and helped create a new working definition for Islamophobia in a landmark report for the Runnymede Trust, alongside his report for the Minister for Faith and Communities. Prior to this new definition the Runnymede Trust, two decades ago, were first credited with coining the term ‘Islamophobia’, as ‘the shorthand way of referring to dread or hatred of Islam…’ (Runnymede Trust, 1997: 1). In 2017, the Runnymede Trust invited Awan to write a chapter that would formulate a separate new community-based definition for Islamophobia. It formed part of the report: Islamophobia: Still A Challenge for Us All. As a result of this research, Awan was invited by the Co-Chairs of the APPG on British Muslims to present oral and written evidence on a new working definition of Islamophobia. The APPG on British Muslims adopted Awan’s recommendation about using perceived Muslim identity in their public inquiry in 2018 [S09].

Since then, this definition of Islamophobia, despite being in its infancy, has been officially adopted by over 800 organisations, including the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats, Scottish Nationalist Party Westminster, the Mayor of London, Plaid Cymru, the National Union of Students and seventeen borough, city and town councils [S10].