Creative Conversations with CYCJ

Children and Young People's Centre for Justice

Creative Conversations with CYCJ is a place for debating, discussing and questioning justice for children and young people. CYCJ is a boundary spanning organisation that uses it's unique position to advocate for a rights-respecting approach to youth justice both in Scotland, and further afield. CYCJ produce robust internationally ground-breaking work; bringing together research evidence, children and young people's contributions and system know-how we operate as a thought leader within the fields of youth justice and children's rights. Find out more at: www.cycj.org.uk

  1. Sep 2

    Episode 21: Workforce development

    In this episode, Communications and Engagement Advisor Katya Allcott-Amjad sits down with three members of CYCJ's Practice Development team, Carole Murphy, Pamela Morrison and Joanne Lee to discuss the workforce development opportunities provided by CYCJ. Carole Murphy, Practice Development Advisor at CYCJ where her role is largely focused on workforce development. She is the Course Lead for CYCJ's Postgraduate Certificate on Children and Young People in Conflict with the Law and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Carole has an interest in data and measuring outcomes for children and young people and is a member of the Youth Justice Improvement Board's Data subgroup. Pamela Morrison is Practice Development Advisor at CYCJ, where she supports the delivery of Scotland's Restorative Justice Action Plan, with a focus on ensuring the rights and needs of children and young people are upheld. She also leads CYCJ's work on children in police custody, working with partners across Scotland to reduce and prevent the use of police custody for children. Joanne Lee, who is a Practice Development Advisor and takes a lead on Learning and Development. Joanne's role focuses on developing CYCJ's strategy for learning and development of our key stakeholders including supporting practitioners with key legislative and policy developments in youth justice practice, whilst contributing to the wider work of the centre's core training objectives. Joanne has completed the Post Graduate Certificate which we will be discussing throughout the course of this episode. Resources mentioned in this episode:  Post graduate certificate in children and young people in conflict with the law - applications open now!  CYCJ's eLearning modules Developmental Wellbeing Approach

    Episode 21: Workforce development
  2. 12/04/2025

    Episode 19: Professor Carlene Firmin

    In this episode, Communications and Engagement Advisor, Katya Allcott-Amjad was joined by Professor Carlene Firmin and CYCJ Director Professor Fiona Dyer.   On the day we recorded this episode, our guest Professor Carlene Firmin gave the 23rd Kilbrandon lecture, which CYCJ plays a key role in organising, along with our colleagues at CELCIS and the department of Social Work and Social Policy here at the University of Strathclyde.    Professor Firmin is Professor of Social Work and Director of the Global Centre for Contextual Safeguarding at Durham University. She is also Co-Editor in Chief of the British Journal of Social Work, co-convener of a special interest group on Social Work and Adolescents for the European Social Work Research Association, a Global Ashoka Fellow, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a member of the Churchill Fellowship Advisory Council.  Carlene is also a member of CYCJ's Associates scheme.   Professor Fiona Dyer is Director at the Children and Young People's Centre for Justice.  As Director, Fiona leads CYCJ towards its ambition of ensuring that Scotland's approach to children and young people in conflict with the law is rights-respecting, contributing to better outcomes for children, young people and communities.   Resources mentioned in this episode: Kilbrandon Lectures - https://www.strath.ac.uk/humanities/socialworksocialpolicy/thekilbrandonlectures/  Global Centre for Contextual Safeguarding - https://www.contextualsafeguarding.org.uk/  Criminal Exploitation of Children Framework for Practice - https://www.cycj.org.uk/resource/criminal-exploitation-of-children-cec-framework-for-practice/

  3. 09/26/2025

    Episode 13: Graeme Armstrong

    In this episode, we are joined by Graeme Armstrong – a Times bestselling, multi-award-winning author from Airdrie.  Graeme's teenage years were spent within Scotland's 'young team' gang culture. But since then, he has studied English as an undergraduate at the University of Stirling, completed a Masters in Creative Writing, and is currently a PhD doctoral researcher at the University of Strathclyde.  His debut novel, 'The Young Team', was published in 2020 and is now being adapted for screen. It's fair to say that Graeme is a rising star, having written and presented documentaries for the BBC, being named one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists – a once-in-a-decade literary honour, and even appearing in British Vogue.  However, Graeme is still focused on using his past to fight for positive change – representing as he describes 'unrepresented voices'. Across Scotland and beyond, Graeme runs anti-violence outreach events in the community with young people and in the prison estate, he is an ambassador for The Hope Collective and an honorary lecturer at New College Lanarkshire.  Recently, Graeme delivered the Keynote at our National Youth Justice Conference, and he has just joined the CYCJ on our Associates Scheme.  In this episode, Graeme sits down with CYCJ Director, Fiona Dyer for a conversation about his lived experience of gang life, his thoughts on criminal justice, and what life is like for him now and what's next.   Please enjoy Music by Coma-Media from Pixabay

About

Creative Conversations with CYCJ is a place for debating, discussing and questioning justice for children and young people. CYCJ is a boundary spanning organisation that uses it's unique position to advocate for a rights-respecting approach to youth justice both in Scotland, and further afield. CYCJ produce robust internationally ground-breaking work; bringing together research evidence, children and young people's contributions and system know-how we operate as a thought leader within the fields of youth justice and children's rights. Find out more at: www.cycj.org.uk