The UK-Irish Criminal Justice Cooperation Network is an initiative which is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and led by Northumbria University, Queen’s University Belfast and the Association for Criminal Justice Research and Development in Ireland. The funding commenced on 1st October, 2018, and the project was initially intended to run for 18 months. The Network aims to bring together policymakers, practitioners and academics to consider the implications of Brexit for criminal justice cooperation between Ireland and the UK. A range of expertise, policy areas and perspectives have been considered to ensure that the Network is as beneficial as possible for all participants.

The Network comprises a core group of approximately sixty participants and aims to function through three workshops, a webinar series and a final conference (in Northumbria University). Ireland’s Network members were nominated by the ACJRD, many of them from amongst our membership.

Three workshops were held in 2019. The first workshop, "Overview of Article 50 Negotiations Process and Principles and Policing Perspectives", was held on 11th January, 2019, in the Law Society of Ireland, and was facilitated by ACJRD. The second workshop, "The Changing Landscape in Criminal Justice: How to Keep the Lights On", was held on 10th April, 2019, in Queen’s University Belfast and facilitated by the university. The third workshop, "UK-Irish Policing cooperation after Brexit: exploring European perspectives”, was held on 29th November, 2019, at the Law Society of Ireland, and was facilitated again by ACJRD.

An Autumn seminar series took place online during 2020.  The webinar, "Policy Update re EU-UK negotiation progress", was held on Thursday, 17th September, 2020.  The seminar, "Common Law and Prisoner Transfer in a post-Brexit Europe", took place on Thursday, 12th November, 2020.

The unknown nature of Brexit and the constant postponement of milestone dates have inevitably impacted the Network discussions. There are plans to publish the outcomes of these workshops and conference.