Next the Guardian and London School of Economics will look in detail at the communities affected by the riots and the work of the police and the courts system following the August unrest

The interviews with 270 people directly involved in the August riots have formed the core of the first phase of Reading the Riots, the Guardian's collaborative study with the London School of Economics.

The second part of the research will look in greater detail at the experiences communities affected by the riots, police officers who battled to keep control of the streets and the criminal justice system which faced huge demand in the aftermath of the disorder.

Next month, with continuing support from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Open Society Foundations, we will host a series of grassroots debates in riot-affected cities across England.

The meetings will be open debates, organised in partnership with local community groups and radio stations, ensuring they are opportunities for communities in London, Birmingham, Manchester and elsewhere to express their views about the riots.

It is important that police, too, have a platform to convey their experiences of the disturbances. The Metropolitan police, which dealt with the largest amount of disorder, described the riots as "unprecedented".

Employing the same methodology used with rioters ? confidential interviews ? we hope to interview police officers of all ranks, not least those who risked their lives on the front-line under testing conditions.

The story of the England riots has as much to do with their aftermath, and in particular the response by the courts system.

More than 4,000 people have been arrested in connection with the riots; by mid-October, close to 2,000 people had been charged and over 600 had reached a final outcome.

At the height of disorder, courts were required to work under unusual circumstances, with all night court sittings required to cope with the sheer number of defendants. The director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, who visited Highbury magistrates court during one of the night sittings, was among the many who praised the criminal justice system for its handling of riot cases.

However the sentencing response ? which has seen harsher than usual punishments for those involved in the riots, which have been considered an "aggravating" factor ? has proved controversial.

The second phase of Reading the Riots will therefore seek to better understand how the courts system coped in the days, weeks and months after the riots, using interviews with judges and magistrates, as well as court staff, prosecutors and defence lawyers.

Next week, the Guardian and LSE will host a major conference to discuss the first phase research findings. Speakers include: Theresa May, the home secretary, Ed Miliband, the leader of the opposition, Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Metropolitan police commissioner, Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, Julia Unwin, chief executive of Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Camila Batmanghelidjh of Kids Company.

To contact the team, email: readingtheriots@guardian.co.uk