Beth Aitkenhead

Beth joined the Police Foundation in September 2019. She has expertise on hidden harms, in particular domestic abuse, child sexual abuse and child criminal exploitation. At the Police Foundation Beth has worked on several research projects, including Turning the tide against online child sexual abuse, published in July 2022, Understanding the characteristics of serious fraud offending in the UK (May 2023) and Policing the pandemic (January 2022). Before joining she led a programme of health research with the National Institute of Health Research and was involved in organisational development and training with Health Education England.

Beth is currently leading on the Policing young adults project, which focuses on the over-representation of young adults in the criminal justice system and tailoring an approach that recognises many young adults have experienced exploitation and significant trauma. Alongside this she is working on the Disruption of serious and organised crime project.