Recent examples of community engagement work include:

‘Young People, Policing and Stop & Search’ – organised by the Crime and Social Justice Group which included inputs from Anne Skelton of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, and the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland’s first ever “Learning Together” course involving students from QUB learning criminology alongside students from Hydebank Wood Secure College. 

From 2015-2017 I was a post-doctoral research fellow at the Criminal Justice Centre and Centre for Operational Policing Research at the University of Warwick, before taking up successive post-doctoral roles in the School of Law and Mitchell Institute at Queen’s University Belfast. I took up my current role as lecturer in Criminology in the School of SSESW in September 2021. 

My primary research interests are in the area of transitional justice, with my published work covering post-conflict police reform, truth recovery, memorialisation and debates around victimhood. More recently, I’ve developed an interest in narrative criminology/victimology and the use of memoirs in understanding lived experience of conflict, harm and victimisation. This has been useful in getting students on our Exploring Harm & Victimisation and Criminological Theory modules that I currently convene and teach on to think critically about structures of exclusion, the voices that we don’t hear from in mainstream discourse and different conceptualisations of harm and victimhood. 

I have also been lucky enough to see my research make some real-world impact in the lives of those impacted by victimisation and harm. For example, my work with colleagues in Queen's University School of Law on compensation for conflict-related bereavement has proven useful to the Commission for Victims & Survivors for Northern Ireland, while other aspects of this research have been drawn on by international NGOs like REDRESS and the International Centre for Transitional Justice. 

The current system for handling threats to life is managed by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and it was found that the current practice of issuing warning letters often leaves victims traumatized and feeling abandoned. The report found that this process could benefit from a more consistent approach. 

The report notes that current issues around community trust in policing and the impact of ongoing paramilitary intimidation in communities have had an impact in reporting threats and accessing essential services. 

Proposed options include reforming PSNI guidance on threats to life, extending coordination protocols to 'at risk' adults, formulating minimum standards for data collection and establishing a centralised process for the threat management process. 

The report suggests that a greater focus on partnership working and a public health approach (which involves early intervention and co-operation across professional sectors), aligned with a review of guidance for those deemed ‘at risk’ and a greater focus on data analysis and accountability mechanisms, will help to improve support for victims and increase community confidence in policing. 

The report, entitled ‘Human Rights and the Management of Threats to Life’, was funded by the Executive Programme on Paramilitarism, Criminality and Organised Crime and can be accessed on the Ending the Harm website.