Research & Consultancy

Evidence-Based Research

SPARC does not directly facilitate access to people in custody or under supervision for research purposes.

However, what we do offer is training for organisations, academics, and independent researchers who wish to work with people from our communities of interest. Our training focuses on conducting research in an ethical, trauma-informed, and respectful way that prioritises participants’ wellbeing and agency.

We also provide consultancy services to help shape and design research projects so they deliver tangible benefits to people with lived experience of the justice system.

This can include:

Ethical review and lived-experience-informed design
Advice on inclusive and equitable research methods
Support with community engagement and safeguarding approaches

Where projects offer a direct benefit to our communities, we can work with you to ensure your research is both rigorous and socially responsible. Income from our training and consultancy funds SPARC’s free, independent advocacy for people in prison and their families.

What we’ve done

We’ve contributed to justice research through:

Conducting interviews with prisoners, prison staff, and education providers to advocate for the continuation of the SPS prison survey. This is the only opportunity for prisoners to speak with a collective voice across establishments.
Advised on and co-designed the 2024 SPS Prisoner Survey as part of a short-life working group between the SPS, academics, Scottish Government, and SPARC.
Contributed to the “Scotland Locked Up” study with the University of Glasgow during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Authored a scoping review for the Prison Reform Trust regarding very long-term imprisonment.
Participated in the SPS Corporate Review to ensure that lived experience was central.
Submitted independent responses to Scottish Parliament Calls for Evidence, particularly concerning sentencing and mental health.
Co-authored Mental Health and Wellbeing of Young People in Custody

We’ve also been cited in several Scottish Government-commissioned reports and academic research.

We're open to

Co-producing research focused on the health, lives and experiences of people and their families with experiences of prison, where the aims benefit our “community of interest”
Providing consultancy on ethics, design, and delivery — especially around trauma, participation, and marginalised voices
Contributing to collaborative publications and evidence submissions

We do not

Arrange or broker access to people in custody for external researchers
Endorse projects that extract knowledge without reciprocity
Join partnerships where lived experience is used to “tick a box"
Participate in studies that generalise, distort, or pathologise our community

Get in Touch

Contact SPARC

If your research is collaborative, ethically grounded, and offers value to people impacted by the justice system, we’re open to discussion. Contact us to explore what respectful, experience-led research could look like.