Current PhD students

Vicki's PhD focuses on researching the impact of a decade of neo liberal commissioning on the drug treatment sector, in particular how the gender blind changes have affected women's ability to engage with them. She aims to codesign her research with women in a comparative case study design and conduct this in a trauma informed way. Her broader research interests include harm reduction policy and women's access; and ensuring that people who use drugs have a voice and are represented in policy and research. She is funded through the School of Social Sciences Studentship.

Pamela is funded by the Government of Malaysia and interested in the research area related to drug policy, particularly on the relationship between international drug policy and national drug policies. Her research project focuses on understanding the processes involved in international drug policymaking by examining the interaction of inter-governmental systems in international drug policy debates. Through a case study approach on Malaysia and Singapore, she seeks to explain the roles of countries with traditional drug policies at the Commission on Narcotic Drugs.

Ashleigh (she/they) is an ESRC-funded PhD Candidate in Criminology at the University of Manchester and a Senior Research Associate at Simon Fraser University’s International CyberCrime Research Centre. Her research examines pig-butchering fraud – an adaptive transnational scam combining investment fraud, romance deception, human trafficking, and money laundering. Using mixed methods, including natural language processing and computational analysis informed by behavioural economics, she analyses how these schemes are organised, how they exploit technological and regulatory vulnerabilities, and how enforcement agencies respond. She previously worked in Canadian public safety agencies and in speech technology R&D at IRCAM and Microsoft Research.

Rebecca's ESRC-funded CASE studentship is in partnership with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA). Her research asks the question of whether the needs of victim/survivors of stalking can be met through effective interventions with perpetators, utilising narrative interviews with vicim/survivors, interviews with practitioners, and analysis of probation records of offenders.

Michelle is a PhD Candidate in Criminology at the University of Manchester. Her research focuses on atrocity crimes and peacebuilding, with particular attention to conflict resolution in frozen conflicts and community peacekeeping. Her doctoral project examines peacebuilding and peacekeeping practices in post-conflict societies, using the case of Nicosia, Cyprus. She has a strong research interest in creative and mobile methodologies, including walking interviews. Alongside her doctoral research, she works as a Research Assistant and Teaching Assistant on a range of projects within the University.

Georgia is a PhD candidate in recipient of a Bicentenary Studentship. Her thesis, 'Understanding the Impact of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Frameworks on Organisations in Relation to Modern Slavery and the Fashion Industry,' will apply a criminological lens to human rights due diligence in the garment supply chain. Through her research, Georgia seeks to identify pockets of injustice within which to create meaningful social change.

Allysa is a President’s Doctoral Scholar whose research is on understanding personal narratives and identity-based harm discussed within misogynistic incel forums through netnographic immersion and qualitative analysis. Her research interests include intersections of technology, harm, and violence; extremist groups operating within digital society; and ethics in sensitive subjects research.

Megan Davidson (she/her) is a President’s Doctoral Scholar at the University of Manchester, where her research explores the intersections of environment, mental health, and gender within correctional settings. Her doctoral work investigates how access to the natural environment impacts rates of self-harm and suicide among women incarcerated in prisons across Canada and England, utilising innovative mixed-methods that blend geospatial analysis with arts-based approaches. Grounded in critical feminist criminology, Megan’s research is dedicated to transforming carceral spaces through humane, rights-based, and person-centred design.

Nicola's PhD is focussed on the identification of harm and vulnerability experienced by children who go missing in England, using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Her work is interdisciplinary, involving the evaluation of the use of natural language processing and machine learning to identify the concepts of missing, harm and vulnerability in text data on a large scale. Previously Nicola has conducted research on the detection of hate speech against women and immigrants on Twitter.

Jess Glynn is a PhD candidate at the University of Manchester, funded by the ESRC on a CASE Studentship Programme. Jess' research is focused on the experience of men in prison who are survivors of sexual abuse. Her research aims to to examine what is required to help prisoners and criminal-justice-involved men navigate the aftermath of sexual victimisation, whilst also contending with the psychological, social, and relational detriments that criminalisation and imprisonment have left them with.

Selahattin is a PhD candidate funded by the Turkish government. His research interests lie in the psychological aspects of crime, with a particular focus on personality structures and psychometric assessment. His current project examines the structure and measurement of psychopathy, employing both traditional psychometric methods and contemporary approaches such as psychological network analysis. Alongside his doctoral research, he works as a teaching assistant for core quantitative and psychological criminology courses and as a research assistant within the department.

Megan's research is funded by ESRC. Her research interests focus on the impact of immigration policies on non-UK nationals who have experienced/are experiencing homelessness and how this affects their vulnerability to exploitation. Her research developed during years of volunteering at a homeless charity, where she began to notice the inequalities and issues faced by non-UK nationals in Greater Manchester whilst seeking homeless support, as a result of their immigration status. Through the use of cooking as a method to interview people with lived experience, she hopes to use her research to give a platform for marginalised voice, which can be used to inform current policies within Greater Manchester. 

Yijie’s PhD research examines the prevalence, patterns, and impacts of repeat victimisation (RV) and multiple victimisation (MV) in business cybercrime. Drawing on the UK’s official national business cybersecurity surveys, her research analyses large-scale, nationally representative cross-sectional and longitudinal data to identify which UK businesses are most vulnerable to repeat and multiple cyber-attacks, and why. Using quantitative methods and theory-driven frameworks, her work investigates how organisational digital routines and cybersecurity practices shape victimisation risk over time, and examines how preventive, response, and recovery measures affect the severity of negative impacts following cyber-attacks.

Sophie is funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and is interested in the impact of drug policies on people. Her PhD research examines Canada’s drug policy on cannabis and its impact on how people who use and sell illicit drugs are represented, both in Canada and internationally. Previously, Sophie has conducted research on drug trafficking and other illicit economies in Central Asia and North Africa.

Monira Nazmi Jahan is a PhD candidate in Criminology at the University of Manchester and a recipient of the School of Social Sciences' Criminology PhD Studentship. Her doctoral research examines technology-facilitated sexual violence, with a particular focus on the lived experiences of the female survivors of cyber sextortion and the perspectives of criminal justice and legal professionals. Through her work, she explores the procedural, evidential, and legal challenges involved in prosecuting technology-enabled sexual offences. Her broader research interests include gender-based violence, sexual violence in digital medium, terrorism, international criminal law and international human rights law. 

Waheed is a part-time PhD student, funded by the University of Manchester's AI, Trust and Security Group, undertaking research on optimising Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Covert Situational Integrity Testing (CSIT). His research examines how AI can be integrated into CSIT to assess, predict and explain organisational integrity. The study seeks to build theoretical understanding of how AI-enabled covert tests can make integrity more observable, measurable and scalable while maintaining ethical safeguards.

Jane Ngan is a regulatory compliance professional and doctoral candidate in criminology. Her experience spanned more than 15 years in consulting and professional services, latterly in compliance leadership and management positions in international private banking and global real estate industries.

Jane’s “detour” into academia was motivated by her interactions with victims of Authorised Push Payment Fraud, and the structural barriers they faced in accessing support and redress. Her research interest lies at the intersection of philosophy and social science, particularly the sociopolitical origins of technology design and deployment, technology’s influence over social life, and individual perception.

Jane’s PhD research is funded by the School of Social Sciences at the University of Manchester.

Clara's ESRC CASE-funded PhD explores children's understandings and perspectives on "child criminal exploitation", when children are encouraged, expected or required to take part in any activity that constitutes a criminal offence. Her research aims to amplify their voices, focusing on their perspectives on pathways in and out of "criminal exploitation". Her broader research interests are children's rights, child participation, children in conflict with the law, child-friendly justice and responding to violence against children.

Brogan is an ESRC-funded PhD candidate with a broad interest in reproductive health experiences in women’s prisons in England. Her PhD focuses on experiences of menstruation, using a phenomenological lens to understand lived bodily experiences in carceral spaces. Methodologically, Brogan is interested in creative and embodied approaches, and is using body-mapping - a visual and participatory tool that centres the corporeal body - to explore her topic. Alongside her doctoral research, Brogan works as a Research Assistant on a range of projects in the department.

Eleanor is a PhD Candidate at The University of Manchester. Her research focuses on gender-based violence, women university students’ fear of victimisation, and their engagement with safety work, using interviews, photography and diary methods. Her work also examines intersectionality and how women students’ differing identities will affect their fear of victimisation and safety work techniques. 

Matt's ESRC funded PhD research is exploring multi-agency safeguarding responses to cuckooing (i.e., home takeovers). His research will be drawing on the experiences of people with lived experience of cuckooing and professionals from various public sector organisations to consider how institutional responses to this form of criminal exploitation can be improved. Matt is a registered social worker, a practice educator, and a lecturer in social work.

Meg is an ESRC funded candidate within the University of Manchester exploring the lived and embodied experiences of women subjected to so-called ''deepfake pornography''. Her research interests are broadly concerned with Violence Against Women and Girls and Image - Based Sexual Abuse. She has been a research assistant on several VAWG projects ranging from fillial violence to the abuse of women runners. 

Korry’s ESRC-funded PhD research investigates the construction and management of anti-money laundering compliance within the financial sector. Her broader research interests include white collar crime, financial crime, regulation, and compliance.

Heather's interdisciplinary PhD research is funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC). Her project uses realist methodology to gain a deeper understanding of how, why, for whom and in what circumstances knife crime interventions work to prevent knife carrying amongst adolescents. Her research interests include underlying causes of youth offending, violence against women and girls, wrongful convictions and juror decision making.

Jing Wei is a PhD candidate at the University of Manchester. Her research focuses on preventing and controlling commercial bribery in China, using a vignette-based factorial survey and qualitative interviews. She is also interested in corruption, white-collar and corporate crime, regulation and compliance, and criminal decision-making.