University of Glasgow launches appeal for missing persons stories

A project which aims to understand why adults choose to go missing has launched a call for people to volunteer their direct experience or stories of their 'missing journeys' via a new website. The 'Geographies of Missing People' project is a unique partnership between the Universities of Glasgow and Dundee, the Scottish Institute for Policing Research, London Metropolitan Police and the Grampian Police and the charity Missing People. The partnership is working to better understand the reasons adults go missing - but also where they go - by collecting first-hand accounts from those who have gone missing for any length of time. A new section of the Geographies of Missing People website allows members of the public aged 18 or over to anonymously submit written details of their experiences which will be used to compile learning resources about people reported as missing. Visitors to the website can also supply video or pictures to support their story. Hester Parr of the University of Glasgow's School of Geographical and Earth Sciences, who is leading the project, said: "Nearly 327,000 people were reported as missing in the UK last year, but there is very little research into why adults choose to disappear and what they do or where they go during their time away. "The stories of people who have gone missing and returned home are vital to this unique research project.