The David Farrington Memorial Fund
David outside of the old Institute of Criminology
The David Farrington Memorial Fund aims to provide financial support to PhD and Master’s students and to support research at the Institute of Criminology through full and partial scholarships
The David Farrington Memorial Fund will ensure that David’s extraordinary legacy of research, mentorship, and policy impact continues by supporting the next generation of criminologists to conduct excellent research that helps to shape a safer and fairer society.
Professor Manuel Eisner, Director of the Institute of Criminology
David Farrington (1944-2024), who dedicated his entire career to the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Criminology, was a world-leading psychological criminologist. His research made pioneering contributions in two key areas: developmental and life-course criminology, and crime prevention. He was the first and only scholar to have been elected as President of both the British and the American Societies of Criminology. He was widely admired and deeply valued by the many research students whose careers he helped to shape.
Britain’s first university department of criminology, the Cambridge Institute of Criminology, was established in 1959 by Professor Leon Radzinowicz. Shortly afterwards, Professor Donald West initiated the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (CSDD), a landmark longitudinal study of 411 London males, then aged 8.
In 1969, David Farrington, a young Lancastrian fresh from the completion of his Cambridge PhD in psychology, joined the project as a researcher. By 1982, he became its Principal Investigator, overseeing the study’s expansion and international impact. The study followed the participants through, with interviews until age 48; later, the criminal conviction records of the men were updated to age 61.
Today, the CSDD is one of the world’s most influential longitudinal studies of criminal careers, providing a wealth of innovative insight into the onset, persistence and decline of offending.
In 2013, David was awarded the Stockholm Prize in Criminology, one of the discipline’s highest honours, for his pioneering research on early-life interventions and the cost-effectiveness of developmental crime prevention programmes. Among his many other accolades, he received an OBE in 2003 and Fellowships from the British Academy and the Academy of Medical Sciences.
Within the Cambridge Institute, he was promoted to a personal Professorship of Psychological Criminology in 1992, from which he formally retired in 2011. He remained exceptionally active in research until his final illness and was the Institute’s longest-serving staff member.
David’s contributions to criminology worldwide—and to the Institute in particular—are unparalleled and will always be remembered. He was a brilliant teacher, mentor, and colleague, and perhaps most importantly, David was deeply committed to fostering the next generation of criminologists.
To honour his extraordinary legacy, the Institute of Criminology has established the David Farrington Memorial Fund. It aims to ensure that his lifelong dedication to research, education, and crime prevention continues to inspire and support postgraduate students for generations to come.
Our father, David Farrington, was immensely proud of the research he completed during his long career at The Institute of Criminology at the University of Cambridge. David particularly enjoyed encouraging and developing others in their careers, whilst also furthering understanding of the factors which contribute to crime and its prevention. We are sure David would be thrilled if he was able to continue to support students and contribute to criminology research through this legacy.
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