Criminology PhD

University of Glasgow

A vibrant research community in criminology supports students to become excellent researchers who are theoretically informed and actively engaged in the public debate about crime and justice. Broadly, our work aims to better understand the harms and conflicts that we criminalise and penalise, the harms and conflicts that criminalisation and penalisation cause, and how we might develop responses which could create fairer and safer societies rather than exacerbating social injustices and inequalities.Our staff are involved in many research projects and networks in Scotland, the UK, and internationally. As well as guaranteeing support from postgraduate researcher supervisors at the cutting edge of the discipline, this creates opportunities for students to engage in dialogue with related government departments, criminal justice organisations, NGOs, people with lived experience of criminal justice and activist groups seeking justice reform and/or abolition.Glasgow is a founding partner and administrative base of the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research(SCCJR) which spans five Scottish universities (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Edinburgh Napier, Stirling and Strathclyde). For staff and postgraduate researchers, SCCJR provides access to a wide range of activities and development opportunities.Our research degrees offer unique opportunities:Collaborating with and access to others who care about doing justice in better ways and to better effectTraining in research methods and skills, not just in established quantitative and qualitative methods, but also in mixed methods research and in more recent or emerging approaches such as creative, visual and digital methods.Developing new theoretical, conceptual and interdisciplinary approaches to studying crime and justice.

School of Social and Political Sciences