Personal Statement
I am a feminist criminologist who adopts a Public Health Criminology lens. I am passionate about Dyslexic thinking, widening participation, innovation in teaching and learning, cross-faculty working, and the student experience. I want to do things differently.

My current research (including multiple funded projects) can be understood through the lens of Public Health Criminology. My strengths lie in the capacity building of others, identifying patterns of delivery and potentials for collaboration, and strategic thinking. I am committed to leadership within higher education and empowering colleagues.

https://www.oralhealthofsexworkers.co.uk/

I entered higher education via a non-traditional trajectory, dropping out of university the first time around (University of Liverpool!). This has given me a strong commitment to the student experience, and provides a safe, inclusive and welcoming teaching space. My own experience has imprinted a strong commitment to widening participation and creating a more inclusive academia. I recognise the value of lived experience and different ways of producing and sharing knowledge.

As part of my commitment to widening participation I also work with the central WP team as a student mentor; deliver multiple summer school sessions; a school outreach session (Y12 and Y13); a lecture for the Liverpool Scholars' Programme; Go Higher outreach; Return to Learn session; Go Higher UCAS session; and have also delivered a lecture for the Go Higher Access Programme. I am also a member of the Faculty Recruitment Admissions Widening Participation committee. I was a tutor for the Realising Opportunities programme at the University of Liverpool. As someone from a socio-economically deprived background this work is very important to me. I am working with Deonne Hill and team as they develop Liverpool Plus. I also deliver annual guest lectures to Wirral Met College and LJMU. I am the Widening Participation Lead for my department, where I deliver taster day sessions and outreach lectures. I am also the SSLC Chair and Student Engagement Lead for my department, and the interim Disability Lead.

It is a pleasure to attend events such as Go Higher graduation, Liverpool Scholars graduation, Liverpool EQ+ awards, and support all of our students.

Nationally I sit on the QAA Subject Benchmark group for Sociology.

Globally, I contribute in multiple ways to the development of research in my field. Being deeply committed to the development of research and scholarship in my area, I review for eleven journals, multiple book publishers and I serve on the editorial board for Palgrave Advances in Sex Work Studies. I have recently reviewed both proposals and manuscripts for Bloomsbury, Policy Press, Amsterdam University Press, Springer, and Palgrave Macmillan.

At university-level, I am a member of the Curriculum 2027 / Liverpool Learning Framework Implementation and Delivery group. I served as Lead for the Curriculum Project Interdisciplinarity Working Group and was the lead for the Sustainability Working Group. These roles are working under sponsor Professor Gavin Brown, CIE and the Strategic Change team with Therese Choudhary as Project Manager. I am also a member of the Task and Finish Group: A coordinated approach to student learning support working Matt Greenhall (Director of Libraries, Museums and Galleries) and Alison Wells (Director of Student Engagement and Enhancement). I am also working as faculty representative on providing guidance as part of the Transforming Student Support Project regarding inclusive pedagogy and scaffolding classroom engagement. This work reports to the Curriculum 2027 Steering Group and the Education Leadership Team.

My research interests can be understood in terms of:

Processes of vulnerability
How sex workers are constructed as vulnerably in policy yet simultaneously have that vulnerability erased upon contact with the criminal justice system
Holding conflicting and competing harms and needs in tension
Displacement of harm and risk
Sex industry and sexual exploitation
Violence against women and girls
Organised crime groups (OCGs)

Much of my work focuses on stigma and displaced and dispersed harms. I will continue to develop multidisciplinary responses with colleagues internationally.

Faculty of HLS Participatory Research Funding grant (2025) with Dr Janine Yazdi-Doughty, School of Dentistry: 'Sex worker oral health: understanding research priorities and the acceptability of oral health outreach with students' (£5000). We also have a £1200 Inspire summer internships grant, and a £2000 grant from IAA Diverse Outputs competition 2025 ‘Oral health needs, experiences and research priorities of sex workers in Liverpool: Exploring the perspectives of sex workers and dental professionals’. Our two 4th year dental internships students won the Best Project Prize for the Inspire Summer Internship 2025. This demonstrates how our scholarship and funded research feeds into the student experience.

In Dec 2025, we have been awarded ESRC IAA funding of £21,499.96 for our project 'Sex workers oral health: understanding the oral health experiences of priorities of sex workers in England and ways to access them'. This is innovative interdisciplinary work that will lead to significant impact and in June 2026 we have been awarded £5000 Liverpool Dental Alumni Association (LDAA). We were awarded ESRC Festival of Social Sciences (FoSS) 2026 - £2000 (July 2026)

In Dec 2023 I was awarded a ESRC Impact Acceleration Account grant for the amount of £22,985 with Dr John Tulloch: The analysis of solicitors’ records to contextualise events surrounding dog bites and attacks.

I have a top-viewed Wiley journal article 2025.

Globally, I have an interest in the potential of working with Chinese criminology, I recently delivered the keynote paper on sex work and the limitations of criminal law to an international delegation at University of Liverpool/ Association of Chinese Criminology and Criminal Justice in the US conference. This was seed-funded by Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

I have an international visiting scholar from Hong Kong University: Fan Pan. Alongside my colleague Eddie Shuai Wei, we are concentrating on novel research bringing together Chinese bride trafficking, and situating this within the wider landscape of violence against women and girls, and using sex trafficking and sexual exploitation frameworks. Fan's research is Deconstructing Cross-Border Bride Trafficking Networks in China: A Social Network Analysis Perspective

I am currently developing several other grants, and disseminating key outputs from current projects.

I am keen to share best practice and pedagogical innovations with colleagues across the university and beyond. I sit on the ULTRA panel and I also act as an ULTRA mentor to ensure that there is quality assurance on the award of teaching accreditation across the university. I have had 19 ULTRA mentees (former and current).

I have a particular interest in a pedagogy of hope or care; experiential learning; real-world/ grand challenges; Living Labs; enterprise education and entrepreneurship. These give students the opportunity to develop a strong sense of social justice in action; and make students see what is possible with their studies, and their lives. I enjoy going beyond the traditional classroom, and exposing students to a range of spaces, and activities.

I led an alternative dissertation capstone module SOCI347 Creative Consult: Dissertation by Portfolio, on which students work cross-faculty with Engineering students MECH327. You can watch a video about the Creative Consultants by clicking on the publications tab. The university Living Lab Programme was launched in May 2025, and my project can be found here: https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/about/sustainability/topics/living-labs/past-projects/

Living Lab project supervisor from Autumn 2026 based on my earlier work. OUL is taking part in this years' SHAPE Impact Projects, a collaborative living lab approach to learning run by Students Organising for Sustainability (SOS) and the British Academy.

I also run our largest optional 3rd year module (215 students in 24/25 and 185 students in 25/26) called SOCI349: Crime, Justice and the Sex Industry. You can read about this by clicking the publications tab. My assessment has created a step-change for Wirral Met College Level 5 Sociology of Sex Work module, part of a 2+2 programme validated by the University of Chester.

I am committed to developing arts-based practice and collaborations, having worked with FACT Liverpool, Bloc Projects Sheffield, and Tate Liverpool through the Tate Exchange programme. On 4th June 2026 I am co-hosting an art exhibition for our research on the oral health needs of sex workers.

PhD supervision:

ACEs of Hearts: Love, Lust, and Trauma in Adult Relationships - The long-term impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) on adult intimacy and relationship dynamics, with a focus on ethnic minority communities, Leeds Beckett University- Selena Wright

MPhil external examination:

A critical examination of gender, violence and organised crime, University of Salford-Laura Whalley

PhD internal examiner x 1

I am proud to be Dyslexic: expect creative ideas and creative spelling.

Research Overview
I am committed to scholarship and research, with current grants, and submitted (pending) grants. My current research is split into 4 tranches, and I am also engaged in smaller projects.

My research interests can be understood in terms of:

Processes of vulnerability
How sex workers are constructed as vulnerably in policy, yet oftentimes simultaneously have that vulnerability erased upon contact with the criminal justice system
Holding conflicting and competing harms and needs in tension
Displacement of harm and risk
Sex industry and sexual exploitation
Violence against women and girls
Organised crime groups (OCGs)

Much of my work focuses on stigma and displaced and dispersed harms. I will continue to develop multidisciplinary responses with colleagues internationally.

I am a creative and innovative thinker, and am keen to work outside of traditional academic disciplinary boundaries and norms.