Caron’s role as Translation Lead – Health, Wellbeing and Sport is to facilitate the translation of academic research into insight for use by policymakers, funding commissioners and practitioners as well as to support community engagement. Caron’s research examines the use of sport as a means to prevent and reduce young people’s involvement in offending including Serious Youth Violence. This involves a focus on vulnerable young people living in areas of deprivation who are at risk of or involved in offending. She specialises in qualitative research methods and has an interest in the development of ChildFirst research methods to evidence the potential impact of sport.
Caron is currently exploring place-based collaboration between community sport and the criminal and youth justice sectors. She works closely with StreetGames, a leading sport for development charity in the UK that uses sport and physical activity to transform the lives of young people living in deprived communities. Her research has focused most recently on developing insight into sport referral mechanisms and SportPlus interventions to support the work of the StreetGames Safer team. She has co-produced a wide range of resources for policymakers and practitioners including a series of academic literature review summaries about sport and serious violence and more recently, about the competencies required by the SportPlus workforce. She has recently produced a sport referral guidance toolkit for Locally Trusted Organisations (LTOs) and referral agencies to support the referral of young people at risk of or involved in serious youth violence to positive sport opportunities. Caron also runs regular online dissemination seminars for policymakers and practitioners in partnership with StreetGames.
Caron's research interests include the benefits of sport volunteering for young people living in poverty and, in particular, the development of social capital, the contribution to employability, and the use of youth voice and youth-led social action projects.
Examples of completed and ongoing projects include:
- Examining ‘Place-based responses to preventing youth violence through sport’. Funded by StreetGames. (2024-25).
- Evaluation of the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Violence Reduction Unit (NNVRU) Sports Diversion Programme. Funded by the NNVRU. (2023-24).
- Evaluation of the Essex Youth Crime and Sport – Positive Outcomes for Young People programme. (2022-25). Young People’
- Evaluation of the ‘Supporting Vulnerable Young People Through the Power of Sport Programme’ (Plymouth OPCC programme). (2020-21).
- Research into ‘Vulnerable Girls, Young Women, Sport and Crime’. Funded by the West Midlands Violence Reduction Unit. (2020).
- Evaluation of the Sport and Serious Violence Reduction programme. Funded by StreetGames. (2020).
- Evaluation of Sport England’s Serious Youth Violence Summer Programme. Funded by Sport England. (2020).
- Developing a Theory of Change for Sport and Youth Justice. Funded by the Youth Endowment Fund. (2020).
- Evaluation of the ‘Safer Through Sport’ programme. Funded by StreetGames. (2017).
- The Use of Sport to Bridge the Gap between Custody and the Community. Funded by StreetGames. (2017)
- Warwickshire multi-agency Serious and Organised Crime Joint Action Group (SOCJAG) Home Office funded ‘Get on Track’ Evaluation. Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner. (2017).
- Evaluation of the ‘Youth Crime Reduction in Sport Project’. Funded by Street Games, (2015).