Students are leading the way in vital research to improve police relations and tackle knife crime in the UK.

Students from New City College Hackney will team up with researchers over the next nine months to investigate issues around youth safety and violence.

Georgette Ume-Ezeoke, President of the student union, said: "The police have a crucial job to keep us all safe and we as young people need to work with them."

They will be trained to find out more about what young people and the police think about each other and offer strategies to help prevent crime.

"The increase of youth violence and knife crime incidents in London is really worrying. We [aim to empower] young people to lead the debate in identifying potential prevention strategies and mitigation measures which can further help improve trust in policing," said Dr Artemis Skarlatidou, principal investigator of the project at University College London.