Research Interests
Oopen to PhD applications in:
- Sexual abuse or exploitation
- Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV)
- SGBV in the digital age
- Peer forms of abuse
- Historical forms of abuse
- Restorative justice
- Risk management of sexual offending
- Transnational regulation of sexual crime
- Criminal justice responses to sexual offending
- Community responses to sexual offending
- Cultural myths around sexual violence
- Public health and prevention
Public outreach & key achievements
- Editorial Board Member of The Journal of Sexual Aggression; Contemporary Justice Review; and The Prison Service Journal
- Two periods of external consultancy for the Northern Ireland Office/Department of Justice and Public Protection Arrangements Northern Ireland (PPANI) on ‘Public Attitudes to Sexual Offending’ and ‘Employment Opportunities for Sexual Offenders’
- Invited international expert and gave oral and written evidence to the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (2017) on ‘grooming and entrapment’
- Invited key note address at the NOTA (National Organisation for the Treatment of Abuse) International Conference three times (September 2010, 2015 and 2019)
- International media activity – interviewed for and quoted in: The New York Times; The Economist; ABC Radio
- Profiled in the Times Higher as a ‘World Leading Researcher’ from QUB (Feb 2018)
Research students
| PhD area | Phantom of the courtroom: Disgust's influence on the criminal process and pornography trials in Northern Ireland |
| Name | Eamonn Rea |
| PhD area | He who shall not be named? Rethinking Northern Ireland's approach to defendant anonymity in rape trials |
| Name | Chloe Hanna |
| PhD area | A critical evaluation of the admission of sexual history evidence in Northern Ireland trials: Prevalence, impact and reform |
| Name | Chloe Templeton |
Alumni: Where are they now
| PhD area | Remembering what they can never forget: Memorialisation of historical institutional abuse in Ireland |
| Name | Paula Shilliday |
| Years of study | PhD awarded 2022 |
| PhD area |
A critical analysis of the emergence, impact and regulation of 'cyberbullying' and 'sexting' among young people in Northern Ireland |
| Name | Dr Elizabeth Agnew |
| Years of study | PhD awarded 2018 |
| Current Position: | Lecturer, School of Law, Queen’s Belfast |
| PhD area |
Understanding desistance from sexual offending |
| Name | Dr Mark Farmer |
| Years of study | PhD awarded 2016 |
| Current Position: | HMPPS |
| PhD area |
The punitive effect of victim-focused discourse on legislative responses to child sexual abuse: Examining the influence of the USA on England and Wales and South Korea |
| Name | Dr Hyo Won Kang |
| Years of study | PhD awarded 2016 |
| Current Position: | Teaching assistant, Queen’s University Belfast |
Discover More
- Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
- School of Law
- Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice
- The Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice
- Centre for Evidence and Social Innovation
Get ahead: tips on how to prepare your application to study for a PhD at QUB Law
Read our guidance on the steps in our PhD applications process and how to present your research proposal.
Interested in a postdoctoral fellowship at QUB Law?
If you have already completed a PhD or are about to do so, and you are looking for a mentor for a postdoctoral fellowship in one of my areas of expertise, please get in touch via email. The School of Law has a strong track record in supporting able candidates who are working towards fellowship applications to funders such as the British Academy, EU Marie Sklodowska-Curie scheme, ESRC NINE and the Leverhulme Trust.