Professor Jonathan Shepherd CBE FMedSci FLSW

Research from Cardiff University’s Violence and Society Research Group (VSRG) has led directly to the development of a pioneering, multi-agency partnership approach to tackling violence which has seen decreases in violence related harm across Wales.

This success has encouraged international adoption in addition to the UK Coalition Government national commitment to implement the approach UK-wide. Developed by Professor Jonathan Shepherd from the University’s School of Dentistry, the Cardiff Model for Violence Prevention uses information gathered in A&E departments to drive violence prevention activity.

Recently published research by the VSRG has shown that the implementation of the data sharing approach and initiatives in Cardiff led to savings in the city’s health, social and criminal justice costs of  around £5m per year (2003-2006) with a £6.9 million saving in 2007. Since first established in the Cardiff area in 2003, the Welsh Government has implemented the Cardiff Model throughout Wales.

The impact of this is reflected in the recently published UK Peace Index (2003-2012), which concluded that Wales is the most peaceful of the UK nations and, furthermore, the South Wales urban area is the safest among 10 selected UK urban areas.