Research

I led on a project collaboration between Revolving Doors and Birkbeck University’s Institute for Crime and Justice Policy Research, researching people’s experiences of the criminal justice and family law systems. I worked with voluntary sector organisations to recruit research participants, interviewed people alongside peer researchers on their experiences, and organised and delivered policy workshops based on findings to co-produce recommendations. My work engaging voluntary sector organisations in the recruitment phase meant we completed over 130 interviews with a specific focus on people from racially minoritised backgrounds, young adults, and women. The policy workshops I organised and subsequently wrote about covered how the family courts deal with domestic abuse and people’s experiences of legal representation.

I also oversaw a project concerning participatory approaches to police reform in Liverpool, where I developed and commissioned public polling, and integrated a peer research approach by developing a survey and supporting peer researchers to approach Liverpool-based services to carry out research with people experiencing multiple disadvantage. Data was captured from over 200 people through supported surveys.

At Clinks, I led on a collaboration with Birth Companions where we looked into women’s experiences of pregnancy and early motherhood when in the criminal justice system, particularly those in the community - a far less researched area than motherhood in prison. To inform the report, I worked to develop an online survey for voluntary sector organisations working with women, and a survey for specialist midwives, and organised and facilitated focus groups with women who had experienced pregnancy and early maternity within the criminal justice system. You can read more about the project here and read the full report here.

I worked as a senior researcher at Human Rights Law Network (now known as the Socio-Legal Information Centre) in New Delhi, leading field missions to various states to undertake research on issues such as access to contraception and abortion, child marriage, and the treatment of refugees. You can read a report I wrote on the treatment of Rohingya refugees at various camps in Northern India here.