Our team in WCJR
Principal Investigator
Professor Simon Pemberton
Prof Simon Pemberton is currently a Professor in Social Policy and Criminology at the University of Birmingham. He is director of the Women, Crime, and Justice Research Group, and has published widely on aspects of social harm, crime and criminalisation, as well as issues in relation to poverty and social exclusion. He currently is PI for the 'Effective Women's Centre' project which explores the effectiveness of community-based gender responsive programmes for justice-involved women.
Research Fellows
Dr. Joanna Long
Dr. Joanna Long is a Senior Research Fellow on the WRNA project and has diverse experience managing large scale research studies in complex environments (NHS, MoJ and Voluntary sector) using both quantitative and qualitative research methods. She has worked with Professor Simon Pemberton since 2017 and is part of the Women, Crime, and Justice Research Group who are dedicated to transforming the lives of women involved in the criminal justice system by providing the evidence base for ‘what works’ in women’s centres.
Dr Richard Summers
Dr. Richard Summers is a Research Fellow on the WRNA project. He is currently contributing to the research methods and statistics of the project. He has a background in cognitive neuroscience and population health.
Dr. Denise Ruprai
Dr. Denise Ruprai is a Research Fellow on the WRNA project, investigating Trauma and Health in justice involved women, with multiple complex needs, such as substance misuse and mental health difficulties. She has with extensive knowledge of neuropsychologyimaging, anatomy, psychiatry- and trauma related research, along with versatile experience in complex data analysis and statistics.
Dr. Ella Holdsworth
Dr. Ella Holdsworth is a Research Fellow on the WRNA project. Ella has also undertaken a number of research posts. These include research associate on a project which explored police responses to child to parent violence (2019-20) and a European comparative project on the use of electronic monitoring on five EU Member States (2015-16).
Dr. Kelly Mackenzie
Dr. Kelly Mackenzie is a Research Fellow on the WRNA project. She has both an academic and practice-based background having supported victim-survivors in a domestic abuse service following the completion of her PhD. Kelly is also a member of the organising committee for the Violence Against Women and Girls Research Network (VAWGRN).