Scholarship for Stephanie

An Airdrie student has been awarded a prestigious scholarship to carry out research in her chosen field.

Stephanie Spence, who is studying for a BA degree in criminal justice at the University of the West of Scotland, is the recipient of a Carnegie Trust undergraduate vacation scholarship for her research on mock c h i l d r e n ’s hearings and social workers’ professional development.

The 20- year- old will observe mock hearings this summer as well as conducting focus groups and interviews, before writing a report for the children’s hearings system to help inform their training p r o g ramme, and presenting her findings to the Carnegie Trust.

She said: “I took part in a mock children’s hearing as part of a youth justice module which was overseen by the Scottish Children’s Reporter for South Lanarkshire.

“When she told us they were rolling out this method out to train practitioners, I was immediately interested in carrying out research to develop an understanding of the impact mock panels will have on professionals as t h e r e ’s little contemporary research on this.

“I’m thrilled to be awarded this scholarship from The Carnegie Trust.”

Stephanie, who has recently completed her third year of studies at the university’s Lanarkshire campus, will have her research supervised by criminal justice and criminology lecturer Dr Johanne Miller – who called her scholarship success “a significant achievement”.

Dr Miller said: “The research Stephanie will conduct will be incredibly useful for the children’s hearings system as they roll out this new training mechanism ; while Stephanie will develop vital transferable skills around managing a research project.”

Scholarship Stephanie Spence