Program Overview

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PhD Criminology

The PhD Criminology program at the University of Strathclyde offers students the opportunity to study under the supervision of internationally-leading experts. The program is primarily located within the Department of Social Work & Social Policy and the Law School.

Research Opportunities

Established in 2016, this award provides students with the chance to explore a broad range of areas in two schools:

• Department of Social Work & Social Policy:
  • Youth and criminal justice social work
  • Probation
  • Vulnerable offenders
  • Mental health
  • Learning disability
  • Capacity and adult protection
  • Human rights
  • Gender, crime, and interpersonal violence
  • Risk assessment and the management of high-risk offenders
  • International prisons, international penal policy, and the sociology of prisons
  • Public health in a penal context
  • Mental health justice, learning disability, and adult protection
  • Child protection
  • Employment and employability in prisons and communities
  • Public management and co-production in carceral and community justice
• Law School:
  • Criminalisation
  • Criminal process and policy-making
  • Punishment and sentencing
  • Risk assessment and management
  • Desistance from crime
  • Homicide; prisons and release
  • Prosecution and defence work
  • Judiciary; security – policing - counter-terrorism
  • Children’s hearings
  • Youth justice
  • Human rights
  • Gender
  • Sex work
  • Technology, risk, and crime
  • Therapeutic jurisprudence
  • Transitional justice
  • Environmental crime and justice

Fees & Funding

All fees quoted are per academic year unless otherwise stated.

• Scotland: £4,786
• England, Wales & Northern Ireland: £4,786
• Republic of Ireland: If you are an Irish citizen and have been ordinary resident in the Republic of Ireland for the three years prior to the relevant date, and will be coming to Scotland for Educational purposes only, you will meet the criteria of England, Wales & Northern Ireland fee status.
• International: £18,050 Funding information can be found on the university's funding your postgraduate research web page, and additional funding opportunities can be viewed through the scholarships search.

Supervisors

The program has a range of supervisors with expertise in various areas, including:

• Laura Piacentini: sociology, criminology, Russian area studies, contemporary Russian imprisonment, history, human rights, political science
• Beth Weaver: desistance, user involvement and co-production, regulation and governance of post-release and community supervision, experiences of punishment, employment rights of people with convictions, management of those classified as high risk of serious harm
• Nina Vaswani: experience of loss and grief in children and young people
• Cara Jardine: criminology, the impact of imprisonment on families and communities, punishment, harm, and carceral citizenship, young people, families, and relationships, poverty and social marginalization
• Melanie McCarry: male violence against women, children and young people, abuse in young people’s intimate relationships, gender roles and relations, participatory methods, research ethics
• Fern Gillon: youth justice, youth violence, participatory methodology, comparative criminology
• Sarah Golightley: Mad Studies & Critical Disability Studies, 'Troubled teens', pathologisation of youth deviance, institutional abuse, domestic abuse, social work with LGBTQ+ people
• Louise Brangan: sociology of punishment, comparative prisons and penal culture, social history of punishment, penal politics, Irish penal state, Magdalene Laundries
• Donnie Campbell: criminal law, evidence
• Therese O'Donnell: human rights, hate speech, terrorism, war crimes, collective guilt, transitional justice
• Jane Scoular: theories of gender and law, feminist legal theory, legal social and political aspects of sex work, gender and crime, domestic violence
• Cyrus Tata: sentencing and penal processes, access to justice, guilty pleas and plea bargaining, penal theory, discretionary decision-making, technology and justice
• Rhonda Wheate: criminal justice, criminal law, expert evidence, forensic science, jury trials
• Dominic Aitken: punishment and penal policy, imprisonment and immigration detention, criminal law and criminal justice, criminological theory

Support & Development

The Graduate School provides a friendly and supportive study environment for research students. The Postgraduate Certificate in Researcher Professional Development (PgCert RPD) programme aims to ensure students get the most out of their current research activities and helps prepare them for their future career as a researcher.

Apply

To apply, students will need to provide their full contact details, transcripts and certificates of all degrees, proof of English language proficiency if English isn't their first language, two references (one of which must be academic), funding or scholarship information, and a research proposal of 1,500 to 2,000 words in length, detailing the subject area and topic to be investigated. Students will also need to identify a research supervisor before finalising their application.

Start Dates

The program is available for full-time and part-time study, with start dates between October 2024 and September 2025, October 2025 and September 2026, and October 2026 and September 2027.

International Students

The university has a thriving international community with students from over 140 countries. International students can find more information on studying in Glasgow at Strathclyde and hear from students about their experiences on the university's international students' section.

Postgraduate Research at the Strathclyde Doctoral School

The Strathclyde Doctoral School offers a vibrant, student-centred research and training environment, dedicated to supporting both current and future research talent. As a postgraduate researcher, students will automatically become a member of the Strathclyde Doctoral School.

Our Faculties & Departments

The university has four faculties: Engineering, Humanities & Social Sciences, Science, and Strathclyde Business School. Each faculty has various departments and research centres, providing a wide range of research opportunities for students.

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The University of Strathclyde is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, number SC015263.