Policing Academic Centre of Excellence

Our aim is to produce policing research that is effective, fair, ethical, and trusted by the public.

NABS+ / L-PACE Call Specification 2026

Open Call:

The National Police Chiefs’ Council ?(NPCC) funded Policing Academic Centre of Excellence (L-PACE) in partnership with the UKRI funded NetworkPlus for Analytical Behavioural Science in Security and Defence (NABS+) is commissioning synthetic and original research activity to address current challenges facing the UK.

Covert and Overt Surveillance in Law Enforcement:

Surveillance has long been a cornerstone of effective law enforcement. Advances in technology have transformed the surveillance landscape for both overt and covert capabilities as well as the challenges of counter-surveillance.

While directed and intrusive surveillance has been subject to governance through the Regulatory of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA, 2000), surveillance by law enforcement more generally faces a range of technological, psychological, social and behavioural challenges.

L-PACE, in collaboration with , are interested in funding a 12-month project that seeks to re-examine questions that have long been associated with law enforcement surveillance – but which may have taken on different forms in the light of modern technological developments. Questions of interest include: How do officers determine the veracity of surveillance data that comes from different modalities (e.g., visual audio, sensor) and different spaces (e.g., public/private); all of which may be vulnerable to being ‘faked’ or manipulated? How might extensive surveillance data impact the complexity of decision-making for officers? How do contextual factors, such as time pressures, interact with officer handling of surveillance data? How we can better support staff to manage the social and behavioural challenges of covert surveillance in the digital age?

We will consider proposals that include original research.

A successful proposal is likely to do one or more of the following:

Empirically identify how people verify if surveillance material is genuine and trustworthy.
Offer an evidence informed understanding of how people manage and make decisions when faced with multiple streams of information, of which some may be inauthentic.
Identify support mechanisms (social and/or technical) that aid human decision-makers when dealing with surveillance data overload in uncertain environments.
Identify support mechanisms (social and/or technical) that support the welfare of staff engaged in covert surveillance in the digital age.
Couch their work in law enforcement or in a context with close parallels.

Find out more:

This L-PACE call is part of the larger NABS+ Research for understanding and mitigating risks to security and defence second topic call: Visit the NABS+ website for more details.