Professor Nick Fyfe

Professor Nick Fyfe is an internationally recognised researcher in the field of policing and criminal justice who has held positions at universities in the UK, Europe and New Zealand.

Prior to joining Robert Gordon University in March 2021 Nick was Associate Dean for Research and then Dean of the School of Social Sciences at the University of Dundee. Between 2006 and 2018, he was also founding Director of the Scottish Institute for Policing Research, a pioneering interdisciplinary collaboration between 14 universities, Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority. The Institute has established Scotland as an international centre of excellence in interdisciplinary policing research and plays a major role in supporting knowledge exchange between researchers and practitioners. Since 2017 Nick has also been a Visiting Professor at the Norwegian Police University College as part of a major study on ‘New Trends in Modern Policing’ and in 2020 he was elected to the fellowship of the UK’s Academy of Social Sciences in recognition of his outstanding contributions to research and the application of social science to policy, education, and society. 

Supported by funding from UK research councils and government, Nick’s career has seen him carry out research on a range of policing related topics. This has included the first ever in-depth evaluation of a police witness protection programme and an international review of measures to facilitate witness co-operation in organised crime investigations; a major study of police responses to missing person cases which has informed the development of good practice guidance on the training and deployment of officers; and leading a 4 year evaluation of the impacts and implications of the reform of police and fire and rescue services in Scotland. 

Nick is passionate about promoting interdisciplinarity and the public value of research and is currently a member of the Scottish Funding Council’s Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee and a Trustee of the UK Police Foundation.

Responsibilities

• Research
• Research Commercialisation
• Academic Administration
• Community Engagement

Line Management

• Head of School: Applied Social Studies, Engineering, Computing, Scott Sutherland School of Architecture and Built Environment , Aberdeen Business School and The Graduate School
• Head of Research Strategy and Policy: Dr Emma Gillibrand
• National Subsea Centre

Committees

• Research Committee
• Research Degrees Committee