Philippa Tomczak invited as Scientific Expert to Council of Europe

After being formally invited by the Secretariat of the Council of Europe as a Scientific Expert, Professor Philippa Tomczak gave a presentation on improving prisoner death data at the 14th Plenary meeting of the Council for Penological Co-operation (PC-CP) on 5-7 November 2024 in Strasbourg, France. This work is based on the findings of her recently concluded £1.1m UKRI funded Future Leaders Fellowship and was facilitated by support for the prisonDEATH  intitative from the University of Nottingham. The PC-CP agreed to further discuss the recommendations presented by Professor Tomczak at the 30th Council of Europe Conference of Directors of Prison and Probation Services (24-25 September 2025, Krakow, Poland).

The Council of Europe is an important international standard setting organisation and its expert Council for Penological Co-operation regularly reviews and revises international standards relating to imprisonment.  The annual Plenary includes nine elected members (renowned experts in the penal field) and representatives of the 46 Council of Europe Member States. This invitation represented a rare and invaluable opportunity to build a strong network by initiating an international knowledge exchange partnership with a prestigious European and globally recognised institution.