The Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice (CYCJ) is delighted to announce that our Director, Fiona Dyer, has been promoted to Professor of Practice.
Recognition of CYCJ’s impact
Under Fiona’s direction, CYCJ has played an invaluable leadership and influencing role in decision making at a national level whilst also supporting the workforce and the children, young people and families we work with. This has included significantly contributing to momentous recent achievements, including the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and ending the practice of under-18s being sent to Young Offender Institutions.
Fiona has provided leadership across all sectors where children are involved to ensure all under-18s are treated as children. In 2020, CYCJ was recognised for its boundary-spanning impact, capable of driving system’s change through its dynamic combination of research, policy, practice and the central participation of children and young people. Through this, CYCJ has championed a youth justice framework rooted in evidence-based practices, respect for rights, and inclusivity.
Professor Fiona Dyer
With a background in social work and social work management in youth and criminal justice, Fiona was previously seconded to the Scottish Government for three years as an adviser to the Youth Justice Team to lead on the implementation of the Whole System Approach, before joining CYCJ in 2013.
Fiona initially started as our Strategic Manager and has also served as both the Deputy Director and then Interim Director, before securing the Director’s post in 2021. In 2021 she also completed the Oxford University Women’s Leadership Development Programme.
Her work to date includes the Expert Group on Preventing Sexual Offending Involving Children and Young People, the Expert Review on Mental Health and Young Offenders, Age of Criminal Responsibility, Children’s Rights and supporting the work of the Youth Justice Improvement Board. Fiona currently chairs the Age of Criminal Responsibility Data and Research Group and, the Independent Group on Antisocial Behaviour, the Youth Justice Improvement Board’s Children’s Rights Group and the Children in Police Custody Group. Fiona is also a member of many other groups and sits on the board of Howard League Scotland and the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit.