About Dr Lauren Steckles-Young
I am a Lecturer in Social Studies and Programme Lead for MSc Leadership in Criminal Justice and Policing. I joined the Social Sciences team in 2020, where I teach and support students across a range of social studies courses.
Prior to entering higher education, I worked extensively in community and custodial settings across the north-east of England, supporting individuals during involuntary stays in psychiatric hospitals and the prison service. Alongside practical support, I delivered Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) skills-based sessions and workshops nationally, in collaboration with survivors, service users, and professionals.
My research interests span social media and digital cultures, online and cultural spaces, disability studies, critical realist analysis, digital criminology, and zemiology, with a particular focus on the relationship between harm and crime. I also have experience researching male victimisation in domestic abuse and safeguarding within youth justice contexts.
I recently completed my PhD, which examined the impact of social media on experiences of embodiment, self-esteem, and disordered eating patterns. This research explored how online cultures and digital spaces can encourage harmful and, at times, hateful narratives, including those associated with diet and influencer cultures. A key phase of my doctoral research involved digital ethnographic observation of Reddit and Tattle.Life, contributing to a broader mixed-methods research design.
I hold a BSc (Hons) in Criminology from Teesside University (2017), an MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Durham University (2018), and a PhD in Social Science from University of Sunderland (2024).
I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a member of the steering committee for the British Society of Criminology Hate Crime Network. I am committed to developing impactful, ethically informed research and to fostering collaborative partnerships across academic, professional, and community settings.
Teaching and supervision
I am currently module leader for:
- CRM104 Victims/Survivors: Rights and Redress
- CRM205 Doing Criminological Research
- CRM207 Offender Punishment and Risk Management
- CRM304: Pathologising Crime: Disability, Confinement, and Justice
- LCPM04: Inequality and Vulnerability in the Criminal Justice System
- SSCM48: Empowerment and Ability: Understanding a 'Disabling' Society.
You'll also find me teaching:
- CRM105: Becoming a Criminologist
- CRM305: Exploring Violence and Social Harm.
I also supervise dissertation students on BSc (Hons) Criminology, MSc Leadership in Criminal Justice and Policing, and MSc Inequality and Society. My supervision on these courses will vary each academic year.
I am open to MPhil and PhD supervision in the areas of social media research, online harms, hate crime, disability studies, and the use of qualitative and digital ethnographic methods.
Interests
- Cultural spaces online (i.e. diet culture, influencer culture, media consumer culture)
- Youth mental health, body image and self-esteem
- Social media and the digital age
- Disability studies
- Hate studies (particularly, the normalisation of hate online)
- The relationship between harm and crime (zemiology)
- Vulnerability
- Digital criminology.
Research
My research focuses on the normalisation of hate and harmful discourse in online environments, with particular emphasis on the sociology of diet culture, influencer culture, and the filtering and performance of lifestyles on social media. Central to this agenda is an examination of how weight stigma and fatphobia are reproduced and normalised within everyday digital communication, shaping social attitudes towards bodies, health, and worth. Drawing on my doctoral research, I examine how digital spaces can reproduce and legitimise harmful narratives related to body image, self-worth, and identity, and how these practices become embedded in everyday online communication.
A central theme of my work is the exploration of under-investigated and marginalised experiences, particularly in relation to mental health, disability, and the intersections of identity that shape access to support, recognition, and protection. I am especially interested in how vulnerability is constructed, negotiated, and amplified within digital and institutional contexts.
My PhD examined the impact of social media on experiences of embodiment, self-esteem, and disordered eating patterns, applying a harms-based framework to the study of diet and influencer cultures. This research explored not only the relationship between online cultures and youth mental health, but also the ways in which hostile, judgmental, and exclusionary forms of communication are normalised within digital spaces. In doing so, it highlighted how these dynamics contribute to body image concerns and disordered eating behaviours, reinforcing broader patterns of inequality and vulnerability.
Alongside this work, I have published research in the areas of technology-facilitated violence, hate crime, and citizen-led investigation (digital vigilantism). My earlier research examined male victimisation in domestic abuse and safeguarding practices involving young people in contact with the criminal justice system in the Tees Valley and Darlington regions, contributing to wider debates around protection, risk, and institutional responses.
Methodologically, my research is primarily qualitative and frequently adopts mixed or multi-method approaches in order to develop holistic and ethically informed perspectives. I have extensive experience in conducting in-depth interviews with individuals with lived experience, professionals, and members of the public, and in facilitating sensitive research discussions across diverse participant groups. I also employ digital ethnographic methods, particularly passive online observation, to examine cultures, practices, and interactions within online communities.
Through this work, I aim to contribute to critical debates on digital harm, online culture, and social inequality, while supporting the development of evidence-based responses across academic, policy, and professional settings.
Further information
In the media:
- Featured on The British Society of Hate Crime Network Podcas(opens in new tab)t in 2025, exploring my PhD findings, which outline the normalisation of weight stigma and fatphobia in everyday online communications
- Featured on The Sociology Show(opens in new tab) podcast with Matthew Wilkin in 2022, to discuss ongoing research and Government legislative amendments around nutrition, body image, and digital media
- Featured on the Out of the Blank(opens in new tab) podcast with Robbie Robertson, discussing my ongoing research around online diet culture and the implications of virtual lifestyles and social media on the day-to-day living of young people.