I am a criminologist at the University of Gloucestershire (UoG) and visiting professor of police practice at the University of East London (UEL). I lecture mainly in criminological theory and methods. I am the Sociology (UoA21) Research Excellence Framework (REF) lead for UoG. Previously, I served for twenty years as a police officer and senior researcher.
My research interests are primarily in the areas of policing practice & policy as well as interdisciplinary work involving the police, including the management of domestic abuse. My other research interests are in youth crime and justice – particularly in understanding how behaviour links with criminality.
I particularly seek to find new ways of applying interesting methodologies and perspectives to criminal justice problems e.g. classic grounded theory; Marxist theory; Bourdieusian theory; inter alia. I also have a niche interest in the application of mathematical theory and data science to criminological and criminal justice research.
Research supervision: I am able to take on new PhD and Master’s by Research students in the areas of criminal justice practice and policy, youth crime, and multi-agency public working. I am currently seeking both criminology and data science PhD students who might be interested in working on a multi-disciplinary youth knife crime project – combining data scientific techniques with qualitative criminological approaches. If you are a prospective research student and would like to discuss any potential research proposal, please contact me.
Current funded research projects include a Home Office project exploring domestic abuse homicide; restorative justice practice and policy in the Metropolitan Police Service; knife crime in Northamptonshire; Children and Families Affected by Domestic Abuse (CAFADA).
I am currently developing a research project that uses participatory data collection and analysis techniques to explore youth knife crime policing from multidimensional perspectives (i.e. from the view of the community; offenders; victims; police; policymakers; etc). The project will seek to find new ways of developing effective police and public policies through participatory approaches.