Criminology PhD

Criminology research at the University of Brighton addresses challenges of social, health, psychological, spatial, and environmental injustice, seeking to transform policy and practice on global and more local scales.

We supervise critical approaches to the traditional concerns of criminology and criminal justice with research interests in social control, surveillance and security, as well as forms of deviance, protest and resistance.

The University of Brighton’s strengths in co-productive research methods, applied and impactful research and its cross-disciplinary frameworks, allow for Criminology PhD students to make academic contacts and take supervision from researches across a wide range of methodologies.

Career opportunities for Criminology PhD graduates include central and local government, non-governmental organisations, social research, teaching, journalism and the media. include academic posts as lecturers and postdoctoral research assistants at the University of Brighton and elsewhere, as well as roles.

Apply to 'social Science' in the applicant portal

Key information

As a Criminology PhD student, you will benefit from

a range of social and research events and activities, including the Social Science Forum, a fortnightly opportunity for researchers to share their work and contribute to the development of each other’s research, an annual ‘Festival of Social Science’ for social scientists and their collaborators across the university, and an annual Social Science Public Lecture which is included in the Brighton Festival Fringe programme
desk space and access to a computer in a space specifically designed for research students. There are a range of facilities on the Falmer site include various catering options.
access to a range of electronic resources via the university’s online library, as well as to the physical book and journal collections in the Falmer Library and other campus libraries in Moulsecoomb and in central Brighton.
state-of-the-art research facilities in Watson Building and you will have access to the Creative Methods Lab on the first floor, including access to specialist technical support.

Academic environment

You can join a centre that carries out renowned research on social movements, gun control, sexualities and complexity in public policy, have nurtured partnerships with a range of organisations, locally nationally and internationally. For example, collaborative research into emotional and mental health is carried out with Sussex Partnership Trust and work on digital healthcare with Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust and the Brighton and Sussex Medical School and clinical sites across five European countries.

International collaborations include the Ageing and Communication Technologies International Partnership (ACT) on generational engagements with digital technologies and research on sensory engagements with space with universities in Finland and Slovenia (SENSOTRA). Our research attracts funding from AHRC, ESRC, Wellcome Trust, NIHR, ERC Horizon 2020, Alzheimer’s Society, the Independent Social Research Foundation and others.

Our academics have a range of expertise in co-designed and creative research methodologies and methods, including work with older people, children, LGBT communities, Afghan migrants and those affected by chronic health conditions.

The School of Humanities and Social Science provides a vibrant environment for doctoral study, with opportunities to work with leading researchers in your field and to make use of our excellent research facilities. The criminologists in the school work primarily in two research areas with two Research and Enterprise Groups:

The school also provides a basis for politics and the wider humanities to be an aspect of your research. Depending on the nature of your PhD project, you may also become a member of one of the university’s Centres of Research and Enterprise Excellence (CORES), for example:

Centre for Spatial, Environmental and Cultural Politics

Centre for Transforming Sexuality and Gender

Centre for Applied Philosophy, Politics and Ethics

Centre for Digital Media Cultures

Some of our supervisors

Dr Roxana Cavalcanti

I am interested in supervising students working on the following topics:

Urban violence, state violence and political violence
Feminist theory and intersectional perspectives
Firearms and gun control
Post-colonial theory, decolonial frameworks and Southern criminology
Crime and deviance in Latin America
Social movements and academic activism
Theorising the persecution and criminalisation of resistance and dissent

Dr Chris Cocking

I am interested in supervising people with an interest in social psychology, crowd behaviour, or collective action. I am currently interested in public intervention in emergencies/mass casualty incidents (a concept known as 'zero-responders') and public behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic, and its implications for emergency planning and response. Therefore, I would be especially interested in supervising emergency responders and other public health professionals who wish to do PG research.

I am also interested in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and the broader area of collective resilience in response to general adversity. I would be keen to work with health professionals interested in postgraduate research in any of these areas.

Dr Mark Doidge

I'm interested in supervising anyone for PhD or MRes with a passion for critically examining sport or fandom. With my expertise and networks across Europe, I would love to supervise projects on range of topics around political mobilisation, collective behaviour and community engagement in the world of sport (and football in particular). Topics could include:

Sport's impact on climate change

Sport and Leisure in the lives of refugees and asylum seekers

Mental health and fandom

Football fandom across Europe – including ultras, away fan experiences, political movements

Political activism amongst football fans, including anti-racism and anti-discrimination, environmentalism or community engagement.

Sport and Hate Crime

Dr Lambros Fatsis

I would be delighted to receive proposals for doctoral studies in my areas of expertise as listed below:

Cultural and Critical Criminology
Criminalisation of Black/Afro-diasporic music(s)
Police racism
Black British history and subcultures (especially soundsystem culture)
Sociology of public and intellectual life

Dr Kirsty Mcgregor

Kirsty is interested in receiving postgraduate research proposals in her areas of expertise, including:

domestic violence and abuse;
youth victimisation;
hate crime;
the lived experience of crime, the criminal justice system and/or victimisation; and
critical victimology and criminology.

Kirsty particularly welcomes proposals which situate their project within an intersectional, feminist or queer perspectives.

Dr Raphael Schlembach

Raphael is interested in receiving proposals for doctoral studies in his areas of expertise, including critical approaches to:

protest and social movements
criminal justice and social policy
migration and citizenship
policing and security
nationalism and the far right
critical and democratic theory

For current funding opportunities see: http://www.southcoastdtp.ac.uk/apply/

Dr Hannah Thurston

I have experience of supervising undergraduate, masters and PhD students. The projects these students have undertaken have been very varied, and have included topics such as: the importance of good food and nutrition to people in prison; parental strategies to reduce the risk of online bullying; narrative construction of political speeches about gun crime in America; reasons for abolition of the death penalty in specific US states; the Scandinavian prison system; the experience of offenders families and the Old Police Cells Museum in Brighton. The majority of my students have used qualitative methods which have included focus groups, interviews (both in-person and online) and ethnographic observation. In addition, many of my students have undertaken analyses of cultural products such as films, documentaries, news reports and exhibitions.

With regards to future projects, I would be happy to consider any application or idea although my own research interests include punishment and prison; narrative; the death penalty; museums and exhibitions; cultural memories and cultural forgetting and cultural comparisons.

For further supervisory staff including cross-disciplinary options, please visit research staff on our research website.

Making an application

You will apply to the University of Brighton through our online application portal. When you do, you will require a research proposal, references, a personal statement and a record of your education.

You will be asked whether you have discussed your research proposal and your suitability for doctoral study with a member of the University of Brighton staff. We recommend that all applications are made with the collaboration of at least one potential supervisor. Approaches to potential supervisors can be made directly through the details available online. If you are unsure, please do contact the Doctoral College for advice.

Please visit our How to apply for a PhD page for detailed information.

Fees and funding

Funding

Undertaking research study will require university fees as well as support for your research activities and plans for subsistence during full or part-time study.

Funding sources include self-funding, funding by an employer or industrial partners; there are competitive funding opportunities available in most disciplines through, for example, our own university studentships or national (UK) research councils. International students may have options from either their home-based research funding organisations or may be eligible for some UK funds.

Learn more about the funding opportunities available to you.

Tuition fees academic year 2023–24

Standard fees are listed below, but may vary depending on subject area. Some subject areas may charge bench fees/consumables; this will be decided as part of any offer made. Fees for UK and international/EU students on full-time and part-time courses are likely to incur a small inflation rise each year of a research programme.

MPhil/PhD
	Full-time	Part-time
UK	£4,712	£2,356
International (including EU)	£15,300	N/A
International students registered in the School of Humanities and Social Science or in the School of Business and Law	from £13,900	N/A

PhD by Publication
Full-time	Part-time
N/A	£2,356

Contact Brighton Doctoral College

To contact the Doctoral College at the University of Brighton we request an email in the first instance. Please visit our contact the Brighton Doctoral College page.

For supervisory contact, please see individual profile pages.