Farewell To TILES Director

Professor Jenny Fleming joined TILES as a Professorial Research Fellow in July 2006 and has held the position of Director of TILES since July 2009. After five and half years at the Institute she has accepted an appointment as Professor of Criminology at the University of Southampton and will be moving to the UK in January 2012 to take up this position.

Jenny’s appointment to TILES in 2006 marked a significant point in the development of the Institute. TILES was established in 2002 as a partnership between the University of Tasmania and the Department of Police and Emergency Management. Its first Director (Associate Professor Roberta Julian) was appointed in July 2003 who, together with the first Chair of the TILES Board of Directors, Sir Max Bingham, the then Head of School, Professor Aynsley Kellow, and Dean of Arts, Professor Jan Pakulski, lobbied for funding to appoint a specialist policing researcher to the Institute. We were successful in acquiring UTAS strategic funds and were extremely fortunate to be able to appoint a senior researcher with the level of expertise and depth of knowledge in policing that Jenny brought with her to the university.

Jenny has published widely in the discipline of policing in a range of formats including books, academic journals, book chapters, professional journals, newsletters and research reports. She has a strong commitment to collaborative research with policing organisations and has disseminated her research findings broadly to include police practitioners as well as academics. As Director of TILES, Jenny has led an enthusiastic team of policing researchers and postgraduate students at the University of Tasmania; she has enhanced the national profile of the Institute through workshops involving academics, police and community members from various states of Australia, New Zealand and UK; Jenny has organised and chaired seminars and public lectures presented by nationally and internationally-renowned policing researchers and practitioners; and has worked closely with Commissioners in a number of police organisations throughout Australia and the UK to continue to build the evidence-base for policing, to enhance police professionalism and to develop a body of knowledge in policing.

Undoubtedly, Jenny’s leadership and participation in the Institute’s research program has been fundamental to the success of TILES as a policing research institute which has established a significant profile both nationally and internationally in a relatively short period of time. We congratulate her on her new appointment and wish her all the best in her new position. Nevertheless, the significant role she has played at TILES means that her absence will be felt. We will miss her expertise and her willingness to share it with colleagues and students, her sage advice in all matters relating to conducting research with police and her lively participation in the life of the Institute and the university as a whole. We are confident that the strong ties we have established with Jenny will provide the basis for future international collaborations in policing research so that her contribution to TILES will continue beyond her departure.

Bon voyage Jenny, from all your colleagues and students at TILES

Farewell to Jenny was held at the UTAS Club on 19 December 2011
(photos -copyright TILES)

TILES 'Family'