Victoria Herrington
Director Knowledge at the Australian Institute of Police Management
Name: Victoria Herrington
Matriculation Year: 2018
Subject: EMBA
Occupation: Director Knowledge at the Australian Institute of Police Management
LinkedIn: Victoria Herrington
“I always knew I was going to go to university. But I was the first person in my family to do so. Once I got there, I was hooked and I recognised that if I worked hard, I could succeed, and if I succeeded, I could have opportunities that my parents and many school friends had been unable to take.
So began my love of life long learning and an early career in academia. I started as a research assistant on a Home Office funded project looking at ways to get ex-offenders on probation into work. I spent more time than I care to remember sitting in probation offices waiting to speak to probationers.
I then moved to the other end of the criminal justice system and worked as a crime analyst with the Metropolitan Police Service, which was significantly less glamourous than the movies had me believe. I left the Met after 12 months to tour the globe, enjoying my mid-20s with the freedom that life on the road provides. I picked up some contract research work on my return to the UK, with the Institute for Criminal Policy Research (ICPR), where I realised that if I were to be a researcher, I should probably get a PhD. I enrolled in one part time at King’s College London. I had a hoot working at the ICPR, on projects spanning police complaints, police-community relations, offenders with complex needs, and intellectual disability in prisons. Most importantly I made life-long friends, and learnt a tremendous amount about writing for policy makers and executives. This is a skill I continue terrorise my academic co-authors with today.
I moved to Australia when I was 30, ostensibly for a 9 month contract at a Sydney-based university. Five years later I left that university to take up a newly created position at the Australian Institute for Police Management (AIPM). Situated on the shores of Sydney’s harbour, the AIPM is a national common police service providing education and development opportunities for public safety executives. Which is to say we support police and emergency service leaders to do their leadership work. I still work there today, in a slightly different role, and I am currently working remotely from the UK, having moved here to complete an Executive MBA at Oxford.
I am happy to talk through all manner of workplace challenges. Being a woman in a male-dominated profession; creating, rather than finding, one’s niche; and treading the fine line between pushing the boundaries, and meeting workplace expectations.”
If you would like to get in touch with Victoria, message her directly on LinkedIn or contact the Development Office who can forward on your email.