List of our members, associate practioners and associate members
Co-directors
Vicky is a Principal Research Fellow at the School of Law undertaking research into digital legal rights for suspects.Vicky's research interests lie in the areas of access to justice, law and technology, the criminal process, youth justice, clinical legal education, discretion in legal decision-making and research methods. Her research findings into police station legal advice have led to revisions being made to Code C of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, to help improve legal safeguards for suspects.
Javier completed his LLB and LLM degrees at the University of Bristol (2008). He obtained his PhD from the University of Birmingham (2018) and he joined the University of Nottingham School of Law as an Assistant Professor in Criminal Law (2022). He is the Co-Director of the Criminal Justice Research Centre, and the Convener of the Criminal Law and Criminal Justice stream for the Society of Legal Scholars.
Javier is engaged in the research of (i) the cultural criminology of organized crime (ii) the International Criminal Court (iii) post-conflict trials.
Jason is a criminologist whose main area of expertise is prisons and systems of punishment and the relationship between penal theory and the direct experiences of penality. He has experience of a wide range of research projects within varying Criminal Justice contexts. Jason has published in leading journals on the experiences of differing forms of penality from a variety of perspectives including, emotions, narrative and identity, and cultural pains of border control (as experienced by Foreign National prisoners). Most recently he played a significant role in developing the potential of a Sensory Criminology.
Olympia is Professor of Public International Law and Head of the School of Law at the University of Nottingham. She has over eighteen years of professional experience in national and international criminal justice. Her research interests are in the fields of international criminal law and justice, in conflict and post-conflict capacity building, and in conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence.
Lauren's current research interests are victims of crime, victimology, policing, Crown court proceedings, serious violence and homicide, and criminal justice processes. She is currently working as an advisor to the MoJ on the delivery of the National Homicide Service in England and Wales.
Rebecca Branwell-Moore
Rebecca was a Research Fellow on the UKRI funded ‘Prison Regulation for Safer Societies: Participatory, Effective, Efficient?’ Study.
Katy is conducting mixed methods research seeking to understand more about women's experiences of technology facilitated domestic abuse in the UK, and the ability of specialist services to meet their needs and offer support. Her PhD research comprises of interviews with specialist domestic abuse workers, interviews with victim-survivors of technology facilitated domestic abuse, and a survey with victim-survivors of technology facilitated domestic abuse.
Charlotte's research interests are in understanding the impact of criminal records on university admissions in the UK. Using mixed methods, she explored how UK universities acquire and use applicants' criminal records during the admissions process, and she considers the impact of criminal record checks on applicants hoping to access university. Charlotte collaborated with the charity 'Unlock', which advocates for people who are facing stigma and obstacles because of their criminal record.
Rebecca is a Doctoral Researcher in the School of Sociology and Social Policy. Her project concerns post-sentence discrimination of people with criminal records, and their families. The research involves qualitative semi-structured interviews with people that have criminal records, with academics, and with criminal justice stakeholders.
Qi's research expertise lies in criminal sentencing, community sanctions and measures, criminal justice and penology, feminism and penal policy, and Southern criminology.
Shihning's research interests are understanding the development of violence, victimisation and vulnerability; preventing violence and violence- / victimisation-related injuries and trauma; and promoting survivors' wellbeing.
Kerry's research focuses on the application of restorative justice in transitional settings, policing, and the community. She sits on the International Advisory Board for The International Journal of Restorative Justice and is the co-founder and co-chair of the European Society of Criminology's Working Group on Restorative Justice.
Bill's current research interests are in crime, crime control and the development of criminology in post-apartheid South Africa from southern/decolonial perspectives. His most recent work has involved an autoethnographic reflection on his own career as a colonial criminologist and sought to undo some of the damage done by colonial epistemicides by using theory from the Global South to understand and respond to urban violence in the township of Khayelitsha in South Africa's Western Cape.
Sarah’s research interests include community arts practice, the experience and effects of imprisonment, and rehabilitation and desistance. Prior to her role as a Research Fellow in the School of Sociology and Social Policy, she worked on the Inspiring Futures Footprint project, which aimed to establish rigorous and transferable ways of measuring the impact of the arts within the criminal justice system. Sarah's PhD investigated the use of music projects in prisons.
Stephen is a sociologist with an interest in processes of change, both at the individual level, and the societal level. His main areas of expertise relate to: why people stop offending; the fear of crime; the relationship between politics and crime; and life-courses and their interactions with social and political change.
Amy's research explores the environmental injustices as a result of localized agriculture pollution in rural Lincolnshire and the regulatory challenges surrounding this. Their wider interests surround green criminology, rural criminology, sensory criminology and harm towards the more-than-human world. Current involvements include organising the ENQUIRE annual conference, editor for the ENQUIRE blog and also a member of the Institute for Science and Society research centre.
Thomas' primary research interests include penal policy-making, the politics of law and order and the history of criminal justice in England and Wales, with particular reference to parole and other 'early release' mechanisms.
Lauren's publications cover the research areas of desistance, recovery, relationships and women. In a recent publication co-authored by Lauren, findings reveal the wellbeing of prison governors is negatively impacted by a dominant Masculinity Contest Culture (MCC). In another publication she draws on six in-depth interviews to examine the experience and impact of support provision for women who are intimate partners of desisters.
James' expertise lies in environmental harm more broadly and air pollution more specifically. Sitting in the field of criminology, he researches the effectiveness of formal and informal social controls aimed at addressing environmental problems. This includes the more traditional 'top-down' approaches, such as law and regulation, but also those deemed 'bottom-up', such as the application of deviancy labels by 'non-elite' groups and the educational potential of citizen science.
Natalie's research explores harmful state policies and the use of law to challenge and resist the state. She has a particular interest in the policies adopted by states towards people seeking asylum, and the legal and expressive power of international criminal law to resist state crime. More broadly, Natalie's research areas include international criminal law, criminal law, criminal procedure and evidence, and refugee law.
Chloe's research aims to improve the support of autistic individuals in detention settings through changes to practice, policy and the custody environment. She worked with the Nottinghamshire Autism Police Partnership and police forces to identify ways to improve support for autistic people in police custody. Chloe has also been involved in producing and delivering training, advice and support materials for custody staff to illustrate how police forces can make their custody suites more 'autism-friendly'.
My research interests are in legal, political, and moral philosophy. In particular, I write about philosophical questions underlying the state's responses to crime. My book Beyond Punishment? A Normative Account of the Collateral Legal consequences of Conviction (OUP, 2019) examines whether burdensome legal measures imposed on people with criminal records can be justified. Other topics that interest me include how to assign accountability for mass crimes such as genocide, how to determine what forms of treatment are appropriate as punishment, and also the relationship between criminal law theory and political theory.
Richard's research interests focus on food and regulation. He is interested in regulatory investigation and enforcement, and has conducted research within local authorities examining the practices of environmental health officers responsible for responding to breaches of hygiene regulations in outbreak situations. He is also interested in regulatory enforcement more generally.
John is Emeritus Professor of Comparative Criminal Law & Procedure. He has written numerous books and articles in the areas of domestic, comparative and international criminal procedure and evidence. He has led several large-scale empirical projects on criminal justice, and has also played an active role in law reform.
Kritika is an Assistant Professor in Criminology in the School of Sociology and Social Policy. Her current research interests include psychosocial elements of criminal decision-making and crime prevention.
Mel is interested in forensic psychiatry/psychology, secure settings, prisons, police welfare, health, sex crime, survivors, mental healthcare, offenders, and criminology theory.
Charlotte's research interests lie in criminal jurisprudence intersecting LGBT+ issues. Their LLM dissertation critically addressed the current normative conception of gender identity as deception vitiating sexual consent, interrogating case law surrounding the issue and proposing novel reform. Charlotte's PhD is investigating the discriminatory operation of English and Welsh criminal law from an interdisciplinary theoretical perspective, taking a particular lens to philosophical foundations of criminal law and theories of criminalisation.
Paul teaches and researches in the fields of criminal justice, evidence, criminology, criminal law and legal theory, with particular emphasis on philosophical, comparative and international perspectives.
Danielle is based in the School of Psychology. Her research focuses on understanding a broad range of clinical symptoms of Autism Spectrum Condition including, sensory, social, and attentional processes. Specifically, she is interested in how functioning in these areas interact and how they impact upon autistic individuals in a variety of different contexts. The underlying drive behind her work is to conduct research which will have a direct and beneficial impact on autistic individuals and the general public. To achieve this, she works in partnership with key stakeholders and within interdisciplinary teams involving both academics and non-academics, including policy-makers.
Larissa was a Senior Lecturer in Criminology & Justice Studies at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia before joining the University of Nottingham as an Assistant Professor in Criminology. She specialises in sex work and human trafficking, having researched with sex workers in Australia and Asia-Pacific for almost twenty years. Larissa recently completed a large-scale project on the career development needs of sex workers in Victoria, which included working with a team of sex worker peer researchers.
Gary is interested in student engagement, student empowerment, critical education and co-operative learning. He is also interested in the co-operative movement and the development of a co-operative university, and peer mentoring - having been involved in the design and delivery of mentoring projects with local secondary schools and probation. He has also conducted research about well-being among prison governors on behalf of the Prison Governors' Association.
Following a career as a Probation Officer with Nottinghamshire Probation Trust, James decided to pursue a long-held ambition in academia. James joined De Montfort University as a Lecturer in Probation and developed his academic experiences to became Senior Lecturer in Criminology, before joining the University of Nottingham as an Assistant Professor. James is based in the School of Sociology and Social Policy.
Matt's primary expertise concerns the law of evidence and procedure in English & Welsh criminal trials, especially rules relating to evidence of bad character and sexual history/behaviour. His research draws heavily on both theory and practice in examining the relationship between rules of evidence and the underlying purpose(s) of criminal trials, and how that relationship can be disrupted by the day-to-day reality of trial practice. His wider interests concern the entire criminal justice process, with a special interest in theories of criminalisation and the limits of the criminal law.
Philippa is based in the School of Sociology and Social Policy. Her expertise is in punishment, specifically: prison suicide, investigating deaths in criminal justice detention, regulating criminal justice detention, the penal voluntary sector, charitable involvement in (criminal) justice, actor-network theory and document analysis.
Nora's research interests revolve around labour markets, crime, financial wellbeing, and inclusive asset-building policy. She is also interested in how interventions can improve an individual's financial wellbeing and promote beneficial outcomes.
Hannah's research interests lie in the areas of war, state violence and social harm. Her research, teaching, and wider activism are anchored to social justice. She is an Assistant Professor of Criminology in the School of Sociology and Social Policy. She has worked with third-sector organisations and charities to support ex-military people who have been imprisoned. Recently published work examines the harmful traces of criminalisation and imprisonment for ex-military communities.
Edward is based in the School of Sociology and Social Policy. He is an Assistant Professor in Criminology and discipline lead for criminology in the School. He is also the School's Senior Tutor, Disability Liaison Officer, a member of the School's Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Committee, and a member of the School's REF review college.
Following his retirement in 2020, Dirk van Zyl Smit is Emeritus Professor of Comparative and International Penal Law at the University of Nottingham. From 1982 to 2005 he was Professor of Criminology at the University of Cape Town, where he was also Dean of the Faculty of Law from 1990 to 1995. In 2012 he was Global Visiting Professor at the New York University School of Law. In recent years he has also held appointments as a visiting professor at the Humboldt University in Berlin, the Paul Cezanne University in Aix en Provence and the Catholic University of Leuven.
Peter's research interests are primarily in the area of law relating to mental disability. This includes both psycho-social disability/mental illness and learning disability. He is also interested in the history of law and psychiatry, particularly in England. He has provided advice on law reform in Lesotho, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Serbia and Armenia, and served on the board of the Mental Disability Advocacy Center in Budapest for 6 years.
Dr Bassok's research is focused on two main themes: the corruption of constitutional law as a result of a shift in understanding judicial legitimacy and the difficulty liberal states encounter in confronting identity issues.
Associate Practitioners
Catherine Appleton
Catherine is a Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Mental Health, NTNU and the Centre of Research and Education in Security, Prisons and Forensic Psychiatry at St Olavs University Hospital, Norway. She is also Research Associate at the School of Law, University of Nottingham. Her research focuses on 'ultimate penalties' and the question of how societies respond to their most serious crimes. She was elected to the Executive Board of Penal Reform International in 2021 and is Co-Director of prisonHEALTH.
Luc is a barrister at 1 High Pavement Chambers. He specialises in prosecuting and defending criminal cases before the Crown Court - including allegations of serious violence, firearms offences, fraud, money laundering and supplying Class A drugs.
As a member of the Crown Prosecution Service Advocates Panel at Grade 3, he conducts jury trials in complex cases involving vulnerable witnesses and multiple defendants. He has similar experience representing defendants accused of offences such as modern slavery and rape.
Associate Members
Membership is open to all academic staff and postgraduate students with relevant research interests within the school. Researchers in other schools and departments within and outside the University of Nottingham are also encouraged to become associated members of the centre.
Those interested in finding out more about the centre's plans and activities or becoming a member should email cjrc@nottingham.ac.uk