Professor Christopher Fox

Selected projects that I have either directed or made a substantial contribution to are set out below.

• Director of a Rapid Evidence Assessment of to assess the outcomes of community and custody delivered vocational training and employment programs on re-offending (2020). Value £20,000 (£10,000 funded by Ministry of Justice).
• Director of a Rapid Evidence Assessment of Probation Caseloads funded by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (2019-20). Value £20,000
• Director of evaluation of RESCALED a project to promote the Detention House custody model to European policy-makers. Funded by Porticus (Belgium) (2019 – 22). Value €80,000.
• Director of evaluation of Macmillan Cancer Support’s Integrated Financial Services prototype. Funded by Macmillan (2019 – 20). Value £88,000
• Director of the UK element of a project to develop a longitudinal birth cohort survey of children and young people in Europe (the EuroCohort). Funded by DfE (2019 – 2023). Value £200,000
• Director of an evaluation of the Cornwall Frequent A&E Attenders Social Impact Bond. This includes a process, impact and economic evaluation. Funded by Addaction (2019 – 2026). Value £100,000
• Director of a Rapid Evidence Assessment of The Use of Technology in Offender Supervision funded by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (2018). Value £20,000)
• Deputy Director of European Cohort Development Project funded by the European Commission (2017 – 19) a pan-European, Horizon2020 project creating the specification and business case for a new Research Infrastructure on youth wellbeing. This follows on from MYWEB (see below). Value of overall project €1.5 million (value to MMU circa €400,000)
• Contributor to Co-Creation of Service Innovations in Europe (COSIE) a pan-European Horizon 2020 project looking at innovation in co-creation of servies. I am leading an evaluation of a co-creation pilot in the UK. Funded by the European Commission (2018 – 21). This follows on from INNOSI (see below). Value of overall project €5 million (value to MMU circa €350,000)
• Director of a Sex Offender Management review and evaluation covering different strands of work in Greater Manchester, including sex offender assessment, the use of polygraph, and the organisation of supervisory roles. Funded by Greater Manchester Police (2016 – 18). Value £80,000
• Director of evaluation of Junior University – a widening participation programme targeting 14 and 15 year olds. Funded by Which? (2016). Value £25,000
• Director of evaluation and research programme for Interserve Justice. Providing a range of evaluation and research services to support Interserve Justice’s management of five Community Rehabilitation Companies. Funded by Interserve Justice (2015 – 18). Value £240,000
• Director of evaluation and research programme for Novus (The Manchester College). Providing a range of evaluation and research services to support the continued growth and development of the College’s criminal justice business. Funded by The Manchester College (2015 – 18). Value £250,000
• Director of Innovative Social Investment: Strengthening communities in Europe (INNOSI). This Horizon2020 project started in May 2015 and deploys multidisciplinary research on innovative ways of implementing and financing social welfare that promise lasting benefits. Its aims are to identify and evaluate existing innovative and strategic approaches to social welfare reform at a regional and local level; explore social and psychological impact of these innovations on individuals and communities;‚Ä®and collate useful, practical learning from this new body of evidence and mobilise it to inform policy and practice across the EU. Funded by the European Commission (2015 – 18). Value of overall project €2.5 million (value to MMU circa €350,000)
• Director of evaluation of Intensive Community Order (ICO). The ICO is being implemented across Greater Manchester. Our evaluation looked at implementation and impact. Funded by the Police and Crime Commissioner (2014 – 17). Value £50,000
• Deputy Director of Measuring Youth Wellbeing (MYWEB). This FP7 project is examining the feasibility of a new pan-European, longitudinal survey on children and young people’s wellbeing. Funded by the European Commission (2013 – 16). Value of overall project €1.5 million (value to MMU circa €250,000)
• Director of a Cost Benefit Feasibility Study for HMP Grendon. Grendon is a unique prison in the UK being the only one to be run as a therapeutic community. Funded by HMP Grendon (2013). Value £10,000
• Director of an evaluation of an Integrated Domestic Abuse Programme (IDAP). The evaluation is used a mixed methodology including qualitative interviews with staff and offenders, a quantitative reconviction analysis and economic evaluation. Funded by London Probation Trust (2013). Value £20,000
• Director of an evaluation of an offender mentoring programme run by London Probation Trust. The programme offers peer mentoring to male offenders aged 18 – 25 and mentoring to women offenders. The evaluation used a mixed methodology including qualitative interviews with staff and offenders, a quantitative reconviction analysis and economic evaluation. Funded by London Probation Trust (2013 – 14). Value £20,000
• Advisor to an evaluation of the impact of housing provision for offenders on reducing re-offending. The housing provision of Vision Housing in London was the subject of the evaluation. Funded by Interserve Ltd (2012). 
• Director of the evaluation of ‘My Square Mile’ a prisoner resettlement project at HMP Forest Bank. The project used mixed methods including qualitative interviews with staff and offenders and the visualisation of quantitative data from the criminal justice system. Commissioned by Khulisa (2011 – 14). Value of project £15,000.
• Managing MMU’s contribution to the Evaluation of the London Reducing Reoffending Programmes, led by GHK. The programme included a number of interventions designed to rehabilitate young offenders leaving YOIs and serving sentences in the community. The evaluation used mixed qualitative and quantitative research methods. Project Commissioned by London Development Agency (2011 – 13). Value of overall project £120,000 (value to MMU £21,350).
• Directing a project supporting Wigan Drug Action Team to develop a Payment by Results approach to commissioning drug treatment services. Commissioned by Wigan Drug Action Team (2011 – 12). Value of overall project £15,000
• Providing expert advice to an economic evaluation of Intensive Offender Management in Sussex. I was member of a team led by Sheffield Hallam University. Commissioned by Sussex Criminal Justice Board (2011). Value of overall project £50,000.
• Director of an economic appraisal of the Alcohol Treatment Requirement for Acorn Treatment and Housing as part of a payment by results feasibility study. Commissioned by Acorn Treatment and Housing (2011). 
• Director of an evaluation of Inside Out at HMP Preston. Inside Out is a ‘through-the-gate’ resettlement project for prisoner serving sentences of 12 months or less. The evaluation used qualitative and quantitative methods and included an implementation, impact and economic evaluation. Jointly funded by Lancashire Criminal Justice Board and Manchester Metropolitan University (2011 – 12). Value of overall project £10,000 (£2,000 secured from external source and the remainder an in-kind contribution from Manchester Metropolitan University).
• Director of an evaluation of Nottingham Systems Thinking Pilot. This was a project to reconfigure the commissioning and delivery of legal advice services in Nottingham. The evaluation used mixed methods. Commissioned by AdviceUK (2010 – 2011). Value of overall project £17,500.
• Director of an evaluation of the Grandmentors project. This is an intergenerational mentoring project and the evaluation included an implementation and economic evaluation that used mixed qualitative and quantitative methods. Commissioned by CSV (2010 – 2013). Value £29,700
• Managing MMU’s contribution to the national evaluation of Intensive Alternatives to Custody. Led by Sheffield Hallam University and commissioned by the Ministry of Justice (2009 - 11). This involved mixed methods applied to an impact feasibility study, economic evaluation and implementation evaluation. Value to MMU £80,000 (total value of project £300,000). 
• Director of a review and service reconfiguration of services that support substance misusing parents and their children as part of the Hidden Harm and Safeguarding Children agendas. Commissioned by Salford DAT (2009). Value £20,000
• Director of the Process Evaluation of Community Legal Advice Centres and Networks. The project was led by Manchester Metropolitan University, in partnership with the University of Cardiff. Commissioned by the Legal Services Commission (2009). Value £123,000
• Managing MMU’s contribution to a study to investigate the costs and benefits of engaging volunteers from under-represented groups. Led by CSV Consulting and commissioned by the Commission for the Compact (2008 – 9). Project value £50,000. Value to MMU (£12,000).
• Director of Choose Change evaluation. Choose Change is a resettlement project for short-term offenders leaving HMP Manchester. Commissioned by Greater Manchester Probation Service (2008 – 10). Value £30,000
• Director of an evaluation of Peer Courts pilot (a form of restorative justice) in Lancashire. Funded by HM Treasury, commissioned by Nacro (2008 – 10). Value £40,000
• Director of an economic appraisal of the long-term costs and benefits of Young Carers services. Commissioned by Crossroads and The Princess Royal Trust for Carers (2008). Value £36,000.

Why do I teach?

The public sector is changing fast and at the heart of many of the debates about new directions in policy and practice is research and evaluation evidence. I spend a lot of my time advising organisations across government, the Third Sector and the private sector on what research and evaluation evidence says, how to use it and how reliable it is. The modules I teach on at undergraduate and post-graduate level are designed to reflect these debates and equip students with the skills and knowledge to take on management roles in organisations that deliver public services.

How I’ll teach you

My work is at the cutting edge of social policy and criminal jusice and I will bring examples from this into the classroom and give you opportunities to develop skills and experience that are relevant to management jobs in organisations that deliver public services.

Why study…

Europe is changing fast. Globalisation, new technologies and an aging population are all changing the way we live our lives. The modules I lead try to reflect the pace of change. For example, in Economics and Crime we look at the ‘crime drop’ that has taken place over the last 15 years, the changing nature of organised crime, the rise of ‘legal highs’ and the impact of new technology on the sex trade.

Faced with rapid social and economic change, governments across Europe are looking for new, innovative ways to deliver public services in cost-effective ways. My evaluation modules equip students to undertake and use evaluation and research to shape policy and redesign practice in areas such as offender rehabilitation, substance misuse and unemployment. In Economics and Crime we look at innovative approaches to reducing crime and re-offending ranging from community safety to desistance from offending.

The modules I teach are designed to equip students with the skills and knowledge to take on management roles in organisations that deliver public services.

Postgraduate teaching

Policy Evaluation and Research

Subject areas

Evaluation, Social Policy, Economics and Crime

My main research interests are:

Evaluation and evidence-based policy: I have directed approximately £6 million of evaluation and applied research projects over the last 13 years. I co-authored An Introduction to Evaluation published by Sage and the entry on ‘Evaluation Research’ for The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology. 

Crime and criminal justice: I have led numerous evaluations in the criminal justice system. My books  on criminal justice include Economics and Crime: An Introduction (co-author: Kevin Albertson) and Justice Reinvestment: Can the Criminal Justice System Deliver More for Less (co-authors: Kevin Albertson and Kevin Wong). I co-founded the website www.reducing-reoffending.uk and am a member of the Ministry of Justice Expert Network and the Probation and Youth Justice Advisory Group at Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation. 

Social Impact Bonds and public service innovation: I recently co-authored a book on Payment by Results and Social Impact Bonds: Outcome-based payment systems in the UK and US for Policy Press. I was Director of a Horizon2020 project ‘Innovative Social Investment: Strengthening communities in Europe’ (InnoSI) that finished at the end of 2017. Currently I am part of the Horizon2020 project Co-creation of Service Innovations in Europe (CoSIE).