Program Overview

---

Our four-year integrated PhD Criminology follows the MA Criminology programme for year 1 before beginning the PhD study programme within the department in year 2. By opting for our four-year Integrated course, you will benefit from guidance and training to develop the research mind set needed for your PhD studies. Criminology programmes are hosted within our Department of Sociology. We offer supervision that covers a wide range of topics and we take a global approach to the subject, with particular expertise in diverse regional settings. You will work with a supervisor whose role is to guide you through the different stages of your research degree. In some cases, you may have joint supervision by two members of our staff and where appropriate with staff from other departments. The Criminology group is the largest in the Department, with 11 full time members of staff who have particular research strengths in:

• crime and the media
• drug use and markets
• women, crime and criminal justice
• green criminology and crimes against the environment
• organised crime
• prisons and rehabilitation
• sexual labour, regulation and human rights
• histories of crime, punishment and victimisation
• security
• surveillance
• terrorism and counter-terrorism

Reflecting this, the Department is home to the Centre for Criminology , as well as three other research centres: the Centre for Research in Economic Sociology and Innovation (CRESI), the Migration Research Centre, and the Centre for Intimate and Sexual Citizenship (CISC). The Centre for Criminology runs seminars throughout the year, both by itself and in collaboration with others such as the Human Rights Centre. It also works with others on local, regional and national conferences and events. Why we're great.

• Top 25 for criminology (The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2023)
• Our staff have worked with bodies including the Home Office, Amnesty International and the United Nations
• Ranked 10th in the UK for Sociology in the QS World University Rankings by Subject (2023)

Our expert staff

The support provided by your supervisor is a key feature of your research student experience and you will have regular one-to-one meetings to discuss progress on your research. Initially, your supervisor will help you develop your research topic and plan. Members of the team are:

• Professor Eamonn Carrabine
• Professor Pam Cox
• Dr Alexandra Cox
• Dr Isabel Crowhurst
• Dr Anna Di Ronco
• Professor Pete Fussey
• Dr Johanna Römer
• Dr Anna Sergi
• Professor Nigel South
• Dr Darren Thiel
• Professor Jackie Turton

---

Specialist facilities

At Essex, our library holdings in criminology and sociology are very strong – criminology and the sociology of deviance have been taught here by academics such as Stanley Cohen and Ken Plummer since the early 1970s. Within our Department of Sociology, we have an ever-increasing range of open-access computing facilities available for your use and, to further assist you with your research, we have bibliographic and qualitative analysis packages available on some of these machines. We have our own Student Resource Centre which provides a range of support for all our sociology students, including help with study skills.

---

Your future

Many of our postgraduates go on to successful academic careers, both in the UK and overseas. Others have established careers in non-governmental organisations, local authorities, specialist think tanks, government departments, charities, media production, and market research. Our University is strong across the social sciences so, by studying with us, you gain the opportunity to work with and be taught by world-class scholars. We have strong interdisciplinary links which mean your studies can be informed by a variety of perspectives.