Research Interests
Open to PhD applications in;
- Sexual abuse or exploitation
- Sexual and gender-based violence
- Restorative justice
- ‘Cyber’ or on-line forms of abuse
- Sexual offending by children and young people
- Comparative penal policies on risk/risk management
- Institutional forms of abuse
- Historical abuse
- Community responses to sexual offending
- Cultural myths around sexual abuse
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).
International media activity – interviewed for and quoted in:
Profiled in the Times Higher as a ‘World Leading Researcher’ from QUB (Feb 2018).
Research students
| PhD area | Remembering What They Can Never Forget: Exploring Memorialisation of Historical Institutional Abuse from the Perspective of Victims and Survivors, and the General Public |
| Name | Paula Shilliday |
| Years of study | 2017-2020 |
| Country | Northern Ireland |
| Funded by | Mitchell Institute PhD Studentship |
| JD Thesis title | Cultural Perception surrounding Sexual Violence Survivors within the Justice System |
| Name | Daniella Raso |
| Years of study | 2019-2021 |
| Country | Canada |
Alumni: Where are they now
| PhD area | A Critical Analysis of the Emergence, Impact and Regulation of ‘Cyberbullying’ and ‘Sexting’ and Young People in Northern Ireland |
| Name | Dr Elizabeth Agnew |
| Years of study | 2013-2018 |
| Country | Northern Ireland |
| Current Position | Lecturer, School of Law, Queen’s University Belfast |
| PhD area | Victims, Professionalisation and International Justice: A Critical Examination of the Civil Party System in the ECCC. |
| Name | Dr Rachel Killean |
| Years of study | 2012-2016 |
| Country | Northern Ireland |
| Current Position | Lecturer, School of Law, Queen’s University Belfast |
| PhD area | Understanding Desistance from Sexual Offending |
| Name | Dr Mark Farmer |
| Years of study | England |
| Country | 2011-2017 |
| Current Position | National Specialist Lead, Sexual Offending Programmes, HM Prison and Probation Service |