About Dr Nicola Roberts
Qualifications:
- BSc Criminology (Teesside University)
- MSc Criminology with Distinction (University of Leicester) (ESRC funded)
- PhD in Criminology (University of Bath) (ESRC funded)
- MA in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (University of Sunderland)
Academia:
- In 2007, I joined the University of Sunderland as a Senior Lecturer in Criminology
- In 2009, I was awarded a Senior Fellow of the HEA
- In 2022, I became a Principal Lecturer
I specialise in teaching and researching:
- Sexual violence
- Domestic abuse
- Active bystander training and interventions
- Offender rehabilitation and desistance
- The Probation Service and Approved Premises
- Security and crime prevention
- Safety and fear of crime
- Research methods – qualitative and statistical analysis
I am currently analysing:
- Reports of sexual violence reported to UK universities' online reporting tools and other reporting channels
- Perceptions of safety and sexual harm experienced by transgender and non-binary university students and the implications for active bystander training
- Perceptions and experiences of safety of international students studying at an English university
- Campus security practices
- How a post-1992 teaching-intensive university can support staff to research, adopting an institutional ethnography approach
Professional Practice:
- I worked as a practitioner for the probation service on perpetrator programmes, and I was a probation volunteer prior to this
Teaching and supervision
I teach and supervise undergraduate and postgraduate research students studying in the following specialised fields and methodologies:
Specialist fields:
- Safety and fear of crime in the urban environment
- Sexual harassment and assault in public spaces
- Security and crime prevention through environmental design
- Rehabilitation and resettlement of people convicted of domestic abuse and child sex offences
- Offender desistance
- The Probation Service and Approved Premises
- Active bystander training and interventions
- Universities, students' safety, and reports of sexual violence, domestic abuse, HBV
Specialist methodologies:
- Evaluations of interventions
- Statistical analysis
- Discourse analysis
- Institutional ethnography
Research
Leadership roles:
- Postgraduate research student manager for the School of Social Sciences
- Pathway lead for NINE DTP 'criminology, prisons and policing' and 'sociology, social policy and social work'
- Co-convenor of CASS (Centre for Applied Social Sciences)
- Internal reviewer for CASS and REF - UoA 20 and UoA 21 rep
- External reviewer of journal articles for specialist research areas
Current research projects:
International Student Project
This project (in collaboration with Abida Uddin, criminology graduate) analyses international students' perceptions and experiences of safety on and off campus, who are studying at an English university.
Supporting Staff to Research
This project (in collaboration with Sarah Connelly) adopts an institutional ethnography approach to analyse institutional texts and 'work knowledges' to inquire how a post-1992 teaching-intensive university can best support staff to research.
Sexual Harm Project
This project (in collaboration with Dr. William Webster and Dr. Helen Williams) interviews transgender and non-binary university students about their perceptions and experiences of sexual harm.
Evaluation of Campus Security Practices
This project (in collaboration with Andy Mulligan, Security Manager, and Lauren Naisby, research assistant), gathers feedback from students about campus security practices, including their campaigns.
The Incident Data Project
This project (with research assistants, Suzanne Butler, and Sophie Pattison), using Freedom of Information requests, analyses incidents of sexual violence reported to universities' online reporting tools and other channels.
Recent research projects:
Student Safety and Support Project
This project (in collaboration with Lauren Doyle, University of Sunderland, and Mark Roberts, Independent Researcher) analyses UK universities' websites for discourses of student safety, sexual violence, and provisions of support, including mechanisms for reporting and preventing interpersonal violence and abuse (see publications Roberts et al., 2023, 2024).
Resettlement of Residents Convicted of Child Sex Offences from Approved Premises
This project (in collaboration with Dr. Carla Reeves, University of Huddersfield and Louise Jackson, criminology graduate), analysing qualitative data using a broad framework of 'rehabilitation', problematises the barriers to resettling those convicted of child sex offences in the community after serving a custodial sentence (see publication Roberts et al., 2024).
On-Campus Safety and Security Project
This project, building on the Emerald Project, asked students about their perceptions of safety and security on campus and what can be done to enhance these (see publications Roberts, 2022, 2023).
The Bystander Project
This project, using statistical and qualitative analysis, evaluated university bystander training (see publications Roberts and Marsh, 2021, 2022).
The Emerald Project
This project (in collaboration with Prof. Catherine Donovan, Durham University and Dr. Matthew Durey, University of Sunderland) asked students about their: perceptions of safety; experiences of interpersonal violence and abuse; and help-seeking practices, aiming to enhance the safety of university students (see publications Roberts et al., 2019, 2022, 2023; Donovan and Roberts, 2023; Durey et al., 2022).
The Criminology Retention Project
This project, using statistical and qualitative analysis, found factors related to the non-continuation of students from three cohorts of first-year students on an undergraduate Criminology course from 2014–2017 (see publications Roberts, 2023; Williams and Roberts, 2022).
Publications
See all of Dr Nicola Roberts's publicationsFurther information
Academic Board
I was elected to the University's Academic Board as a member of academic staff with research expertise across the university until 2025.
External Examiner (teaching)
I have been an external examiner for a suite of modules on a range of undergraduate criminology courses at Teesside University.
External/Internal Examiner (research)
I have examined theses on domestic abuse and other criminological areas.
Professional Recognition/Membership
- I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (now Advance HE).
- I am a member of the British Society of Criminology (BSC).
- I am a member of the Association of University Chief Security Officers (AUCSO) and their Special Interest Group: Gender Based Violence.
Crime Prevention Group (CPG)
I am a member of the university's CPG, advising on the safety of students on campus.
In the news:
- Criminology informs uni’s security(opens in new tab), Professional Security Online
- Dr Nicola Roberts interview(opens in new tab), Professional Security Online
- My ebook.com(opens in new tab)