Richard Philpot
Richard conducts research at the intersection of psychology, criminology, law and technology around how groups coordinate in public emergencies and during criminal events (e.g., in public assaults, mass evacuations, suspected terror attacks). His research further evaluates the psychology of emergency services' interaoperability, and how police behaviour impacts public confidence in policing.
Throughout this research, Richard explores the unfolding dynamics of real-life group behaviour using digital data sources—including public CCTV footage, bodyworn camera footage, app data and agent-based modelling.
CREST Outputs
Projects
Articles
Academic Publications
Bridging the Principle-Implementation Gap: Evaluating organizational change to achieve interoperability between the UK Emergency Services
From the journal abstract:
Improving inter-agency working across organizations is an important goal across public and private sectors. The UK Emergency Services have spent a decade implementing organizational change to improve interoperability between the Police, Fire and Ambulance Services. JESIP—the group tasked with realising this change—have faced criticism. We evaluated JESIP's efforts by interviewing expert commanders, finding participants supported the principle of change, but issues impeded its implementation. We developed the Principle-Implementation Change Framework for Interoperability (PICI) to describe the gap between change principles and change implementation, identifying the macro-systemic, meso-organizational and micro-psychological processes between them. Key obstacles to implementation included macro-level funding issues, incompatible meso-level organizational structures and strained micro-level peer-to-peer relationships. Participants also reflected on the facilitators of change. At the meso-organizational level, JESIP was perceived to have improved inter-team communication and flexibility. At the micro-psychological level participants described enhanced trust, shared identities and the emergence of a new type of interoperability leader. This study highlights the importance of gaining support for the principle of interoperability while addressing implementation challenges posed by the inherent social complexities involved in this change. Change efforts must be monitored over time, considering the macro, meso and micro-level processes that influence the principle-implementation gap.
Practitioner points
- JESIP's approach to organizational change has been limited by a principle-implementation gap. There is wide support for the principle of interoperability, but issues have impeded its implementation.
- A principle-implementation gap was identified across three levels: the macro-systemic level, the meso-organizational level and the micro-psychological level. Efforts to bridge the gap can use this structure to scaffold change.
- We recommend three ways to bridge the principle-implementation gap for interoperability: (i) increasing financial investment and widening the scope of JESIP (macro-level); (ii) mapping the organizational structures across emergency teams to inform alignment (meso-level); and (iii) developing team-oriented interoperability training aimed at building the social-psychological metacognitive skills required for cohesive interoperability (micro-level).
- The Principle-Implementation Change Framework for Interoperability (PICI) is a comprehensive evaluation tool for researchers and policymakers to categorize and understand organizational change towards interoperability, helping to structure the ongoing evaluation of change interventions and bridge the gap between the principle of change and its implementation.
Power, N., Philpot, R., Levine, M., & Alcock, J. (2025). Bridging the Principle-Implementation Gap: Evaluating organizational change to achieve interoperability between the UK Emergency Services. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 98, e70010. https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.70010
https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.70010
Projects
Articles
Academic Publications
Bridging the Principle-Implementation Gap: Evaluating organizational change to achieve interoperability between the UK Emergency Services
From the journal abstract:
Improving inter-agency working across organizations is an important goal across public and private sectors. The UK Emergency Services have spent a decade implementing organizational change to improve interoperability between the Police, Fire and Ambulance Services. JESIP—the group tasked with realising this change—have faced criticism. We evaluated JESIP's efforts by interviewing expert commanders, finding participants supported the principle of change, but issues impeded its implementation. We developed the Principle-Implementation Change Framework for Interoperability (PICI) to describe the gap between change principles and change implementation, identifying the macro-systemic, meso-organizational and micro-psychological processes between them. Key obstacles to implementation included macro-level funding issues, incompatible meso-level organizational structures and strained micro-level peer-to-peer relationships. Participants also reflected on the facilitators of change. At the meso-organizational level, JESIP was perceived to have improved inter-team communication and flexibility. At the micro-psychological level participants described enhanced trust, shared identities and the emergence of a new type of interoperability leader. This study highlights the importance of gaining support for the principle of interoperability while addressing implementation challenges posed by the inherent social complexities involved in this change. Change efforts must be monitored over time, considering the macro, meso and micro-level processes that influence the principle-implementation gap.
Practitioner points
- JESIP's approach to organizational change has been limited by a principle-implementation gap. There is wide support for the principle of interoperability, but issues have impeded its implementation.
- A principle-implementation gap was identified across three levels: the macro-systemic level, the meso-organizational level and the micro-psychological level. Efforts to bridge the gap can use this structure to scaffold change.
- We recommend three ways to bridge the principle-implementation gap for interoperability: (i) increasing financial investment and widening the scope of JESIP (macro-level); (ii) mapping the organizational structures across emergency teams to inform alignment (meso-level); and (iii) developing team-oriented interoperability training aimed at building the social-psychological metacognitive skills required for cohesive interoperability (micro-level).
- The Principle-Implementation Change Framework for Interoperability (PICI) is a comprehensive evaluation tool for researchers and policymakers to categorize and understand organizational change towards interoperability, helping to structure the ongoing evaluation of change interventions and bridge the gap between the principle of change and its implementation.
Power, N., Philpot, R., Levine, M., & Alcock, J. (2025). Bridging the Principle-Implementation Gap: Evaluating organizational change to achieve interoperability between the UK Emergency Services. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 98, e70010. https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.70010