Christopher Sirrs Email & Phone Number

I am a civil servant currently working at the College of Policing, the professional body for policing in England and Wales. As Online Knowledge Officer in the What Works Centre for Crime Reduction (WWCCR), I support evidence based policing by administering the College’s What Works resources, including the Crime Reduction Toolkit and Research Map. I also facilitate the Academic Support Network, a peer-to-peer support forum for police officers and staff, undertaking academic study at any level.Prior to joining the civil service, I was an academic, specialising in the history of medicine and public health. I was previously based at the History Department at the University of Warwick, where I worked as a postdoctoral Research Fellow. My research, funded by the Wellcome Trust, explored the history of 'safety' in the British National Health Service. The project 'Hazardous Hospitals: Cultures of Safety in NHS General Hospitals, c.1960 to present' explored the development of ideas, norms, values and practices around patient safety in NHS hospitals. These include policies around patient and staff consultation, to reporting and learning systems, clinical audit, whistleblowing procedures, risk assessment, and campaigns around various hazards.Before this, I investigated the emergence of anxieties around 'fake' drugs in global health, and the intellectual and policy history of 'health systems' thinking. My research involved examining the role of international agencies such as the World Health Organisation, International Labour Organisation and World Bank, as well as national regulatory agencies such as the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE). My PhD, completed in 2016, explored the historical development of the British system of health and safety regulation, a theme I returned to in my project on the history of patient safety.Prior to my work in academia, I held a number of positions, including Visitor Services Assistant at the Wellcome Trust.