Biography

I am a lecturer in Criminology and Programme Leader for the BA (Hons) Criminology degree at Edinburgh Napier University. In my role as Programme Leader I am responsible for enhancing the programme to deliver an excellent student experience, supporting and coordinating module leaders, strategic planning, management and review. I am currently module leader for Violence and Society, Violence and Society (Hong Kong), and Criminal Justice in Practice, and contribute to a range of other undergraduate and postgraduate modules. I am an Employability Lead for the Social Sciences Subject group. In 2018 I received an Above and Beyond ‘Inspiring Leadership’ award in relation to these roles.

I have led and contributed to a number of learning and teaching related projects and innovations. Since 2018 I have been a leader of the QAA Scotland Enhancement Themes sector cluster on Programme Leadership, and have led and presented at roundtable and webinar events, and produced outputs to support programme leaders. I also supported, and led the evaluation of, ENU’s institutional Enhancement Themes work on Community and Belonging at university. I am a member of the Edinburgh Napier Learning and Teaching Network, and the British Society of Criminology Learning and Teaching Network. I gained HEA Fellowship in 2016 and am currently pursuing Senior Fellowship.

I have extensive experience of programme development, having supported several new programmes including: MSc Applied Criminology and Forensic Psychology; BSc (Hons) Policing and Criminology; MBA (Criminal justice). I have been external peer for several validation/revalidation events. I am currently the external examiner for London South Bank University’s suite of criminology programmes.

In my disciplinary research, I am passionate about understanding and giving a voice to the lived experiences of those with convictions. In criminology, my areas of expertise include: experiences of imprisonment; mental health; violence; masculinities; desistance; justice involved veterans. My skills and experience are in qualitative research, particularly with vulnerable populations and in institutional settings. I have recently completed 2 funded projects (PI) exploring the lived experience of veterans in custody in Scotland and have disseminated this work at international conferences, and policy and practice focused knowledge exchange events. I am an academic link in the National Veterans in Custody Support Officer network. I am currently Co-I on a funded pilot project which applies participatory action research approaches to teaching social research methods to people in custody in the Scottish Prison Service, and an SFC funded project which explores the experiences of 3rd sector criminal justice organisations during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Before joining Edinburgh Napier in 2015 I completed an LLB (Hons), MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice and PhD at the University of Edinburgh. My doctoral research, completed in 2013, explored the relationship between mental disorder, masculinity and violence through qualitative interviews with men in medium secure forensic care and prison. Between 2013 and 2015 I was a lecturer in Applied Criminology at Canterbury Christ Church University. During this time I completed my Post Graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching (HE).