Most researchers investigating societal issues have heard of terms such as 'big data', 'data science' and the 'data revolution'. But how easy is it to obtain, prepare and utilise novel data sources relevant to crime policy and how useful are they at solving some of the tricky issues in the field?

This presentation will begin by reviewing some of the current thinking on the data revolution in social science research. A number of different types of data sets that are becoming more widely available for use are then reviewed including information available from social networking platforms, Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) and crowdsourcing. Further to this will be a discussion of the benefits of working closely with agencies to explore as yet untapped sensitive data such as GPS police tracking data and data on the victims of human trafficking.

In all these cases, there will be examples of how these data sets can be used to fill gaps in our understanding. These will include the use of VGI in measuring fear of crime and guardianship, the use of police GPS data in examining the effectiveness and precision of police operational resourcing and the use of data mined from in-depth case files in furthering our understanding of the geography of human trafficking. Comment will be made on some of the advantages and drawbacks of using new types of digital information to inform our understanding of crime and security related issues.

Kate Bowers is a Professor in Crime Science at the UCL Department of Security and Crime Science. Kate has worked in the field of crime science for almost 20 years, with research interests focusing on the use of quantitative methods in crime analysis and crime prevention. She has published over 70 papers and book chapters in criminology and in journals such as Criminology, the Journal of Quantitative Criminology and the Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency. She has guest edited a special issue of Crime Prevention Studies and co-edited a book on Crime Mapping. She serves on a number of journal editorial boards, and she has number of external appointments such as academic expert for the Crime and Policing Group in the Home Office and expert reviewer for a project run by the US Office of the Assistant Attorney General.

Her work has been funded by grants from the Home Office, the US Department of Justice the Police, the Department for Education and Skills, and UK research councils such as the ESRC and AHRC.Kate is the programme convener for the MSc in Crime Science. Since joining UCL in 2004, she has been integral to the development of a number of the department's courses. She original developed or co-developed many of the past and current modules that make up the MSc Crime Science curriculum. Examples include courses such as Preventing Crimes, Quantitative Methods and Crime Mapping and Spatial Analysis.

She is involved in quality assurance exercises to ensure the department deliveries a high standard of teaching. For example, she was centrally involved in the Departments' most recent IQR (Internal Quality Review) of teaching practices. She is interested in new methods of teaching, and has recently developed module material on UCL's online system, Moodle which will enable distance learning students to have a comprehensive learning experience without visiting campus.