Blog written by Dr Alice Siberry.
On the 9th and 10th September, I had the privilege of attending and presenting my research at the ESRC Vulnerability & Policing Futures Research Centre Annual Conference 2025: Vulnerability and Policing: Reducing Harm, Strengthening Justice. The event brought together researchers, police, policymakers, health and social care professionals, and third-sector organisations to explore how we can better respond to vulnerability across systems.
About the conference:
The two-day conference in Leeds covered a wide range of issues:
- Preventing harm among vulnerable groups
- Violence against women and girls
- Modern slavery
- Diversion for children and adults with vulnerabilities
- Neighbourhood policing and partnership working
- Trauma
- Co-production
Across the sessions, one theme was clear: vulnerability cannot be addressed in silos. We need research, practice and policy working together, and we need to look beyond crime reduction to quality of life, care and needs, balanced with justice.
My presentation:
I spoke on “Reframing the Narrative of Neurodivergent Suspects of Counter-Terrorism: The True Victims of Exploitation by Algorithm”. Drawing on my Translational Fellowship research with the Vulnerability and Policing Futures Research Centre, I shared findings about how practitioners often link neurodivergence (especially autism) to extremism.
Key insights I shared included:
- Neurodivergence is frequently pathologised, with autism and ADHD traits framed as “risk factors” for extremism.
- Radicalisation pathways are often shaped by digital fluency and online algorithms (the so-called “rabbit hole”) rather than neurodivergence itself.
- Lack of support, isolation, and systemic failures (particularly in education and mental health services) are critical drivers of vulnerability.
- Practitioners across all sectors responsible for referring into Counter Terrorism, as well as Counter Terrorism practitioners, often lacked training on neurodiversity, reinforcing stereotypes instead of building nuanced understanding.
Conference highlights:
Several presentations resonated strongly with me as Academic Lead at Creased Puddle:
- Professor Carlene Fermin on contextual safeguarding, and that our justice system is not yet equip to support the overlaps between vulnerable victims and offenders. The lens that is highly relevant to counter-terrorism and to an upcoming chapter in my book “Diversity, Difference or Disorder: Neurodiversity in British Policing” about situational vulnerability.
- Dr Leah Burch and Dr Andrea Hollomotz on disabled complainants, revealing how ableism and gaslighting undermine trust in police responses.
- Colleagues on my panel, Sat Kartar Kaur Chandan, Anna Comerford and Kelly Laycock, on the vital links between trauma, neurodiversity, and the experience of disclosure for police practitioners in relation to police culture.
Reflections:
- I was so surprised by the discourse of police as ‘Jack of All Trades’. Whilst we acknowledge that police roles are stretched, it was clear that we are still asking police to be “everything to everyone”, law enforcers, social workers, mental health practitioners, without systemic support.
- Training is important but cannot be the only solution. Structural change, accountability, and partnership are essential.
- Care and accessibility were visible at this conference in ways that felt genuinely meaningful. It was a reminder of the culture shift we need in research and practice alike.
Conferences like this remind me that the future of vulnerability and policing research is not only about new findings, but about how we work together, listen to lived experience, and challenge the systems that perpetuate harm. I am so grateful to the organisers of this conference, for bringing such a diverse range of practitioners together, and stimulating such thoughtful conversation.
You can read more about my research with the Vulnerability and Policing Research Centre by clicking the button below.