Popular searches

About Nesta

Nesta is a research and innovation foundation. We apply our deep expertise in applied methods to design, test and scale solutions to some of the biggest challenges of our time, working across the innovation lifecycle.

More about us

Ending the cycle of violence: what will it take to halve knife crime?

Nesta and BIT at the Labour Party Conference
27 Sep 2026 13:00 – 14:00
Nesta's pod, Liverpool Experience Campus (secure zone)

Involvement in crime and violence has a devastating effect on the lives of children, their communities and wider society. The UK government has set out a plan to halve knife crime in the next decade. The strategy is focused on prevention through the provision of safe spaces and support in communities that need it most, innovation to target enforcement more precisely and changes to how the police and Youth Justice Services work together.

Join BIT and Nesta at this year’s Labour Party Conference to discuss what it would take to halve knife crime. Our expert panel of speakers will be chaired by Joe Owen, director of policy and government partnerships, Nesta and includes Tom McBride, director of the Ending Youth Violence Lab, BIT, Ben Lindsay OBE, founder and chief executive, Power the Fight and Dr Susan Griffiths, chief executive, The Young Foundation.

The panel will discuss how to support young people at risk of becoming involved in crime and end the cycle of violence. What progress has already been made towards halving knife crime? What is missing from the strategy? What should be prioritised now and in the longer term to ensure the plan succeeds? The session will also highlight evidence-based interventions from the Ending Youth Violence Lab, providing insights from work with partners in the sector to ensure that we are providing effective services to vulnerable children.

This event will take place on Sunday 27 September in Nesta’s pod in the Liverpool Experience Campus (secure zone) from 13:00-14:00 BST. Add to your calendar.

Speakers

Joe Owen headshot

Joe Owen

Joe is Director of Policy and Government Partnerships at Nesta. Joe was a senior civil servant in the Cabinet Office, where he worked on a wide range of economic and domestic policy issues including climate, regional inequality and migration. He also worked at the Institute for Government, as both Director of Impact and the director of the Institute's Brexit programme. He is a senior fellow at the Institute. Joe has also worked with a number of government departments as a consultant, including the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Defence and he spent a year at Transport for London in its strategy team.

Picture-3-300x300

Tom McBride

Tom McBride leads the Ending Youth Violence Lab, a new initiative dedicated to building the pipeline of high-quality interventions to support vulnerable children which could progress to large-scale impact evaluation. Tom has over 15 years of experience in research and evaluation roles. He is the former Director of Evidence at the Early Intervention Foundation and Head of Strategic Analysis at the Department for Education

Ben Lindsay Bio Pic (1)

Ben Lindsay OBE

Ben Lindsay OBE is the founder and CEO of the award-winning charity Power the Fight, where he brings strategic leadership to the issue of violence affecting young people in the UK, working across the sector and advising the Mayor of London, as well as a wide range of institutions. Before this, he has held roles in the charity sector, education, local authorities and church leadership. He is recognised as a social entrepreneur, winning the KPMG Black Entrepreneurs Award in 2024. Ben is a speaker, author of the best-selling book "We Need to Talk About Race: Understanding the Black Experience in White Majority Churches," and a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology at Durham University. He was awarded an OBE in 2023 for services to communities in SE London. His latest book, We Need to Talk… About Race: Christian Faith and Racial Justice – A Young Person’s Guide was released in June 2025.

Sue graffiti 2

Dr Sue Griffiths

Dr Sue Griffiths is CEO of the UK community research and social innovation ‘think and do’ organisation, The Young Foundation. Working to shape a fairer future, the not-for-profit’s current portfolio of projects includes peer-to-peer research and youth-led social to better-understand and reduce experiences of youth violence across England and Wales. Sue joined The Young Foundation in March 2026, having previously been Managing Director of Social Development Direct, working globally on gender equality, disability, and social inclusion projects. Earlier in her career, she was Executive Director of Global Partners Governance, and before that a Senior Clerk at the House of Commons, where she led the administrative and policy research team for several select committees.

Event information

27 Sep 2026 13:00 – 14:00

A powerful ecosystem for innovation

We extend our impact through two specialised units that help people and organisations to solve complex problems and achieve their goals.

BIT

BIT helps clients from government, nonprofits and the private sector to improve people’s lives through our empirical problem solving and deep understanding of human behaviour.

Challenge Works

Challenge Works designs and runs challenge prizes to spark innovation in science, technology and society.