Research team

Dr Mary Corcoran is a Senior Lecturer at Keele University. Her research and published output to date spans prisons, resettlement and community-based justice; women in criminal justice; and civil society/voluntary sector actors in criminal justice. Mary’s current research responds to changes in the relationship between markets, governments and civil society and their implications for criminal justice. Her work engages with the ethics, practice and policy of voluntary- and private sector roles in criminal justice. Recent research projects have included evaluations of women’s community centres for diverting women from custody; through-the-gate offender mentoring projects; and the Staffordshire Integrated Offender Management programme.  She has worked with the police, magistracy, prison and probation services as well as several major charities, and provided advice to central and local government on aspects of voluntary sector participation.

Kate Williams is a senior lecturer in Criminology at Aberystwyth University. She is also Director of the Welsh Centre for Crime and Social Justice, a HEFCW funded initiative which brings together researchers across seven Welsh universities and builds links with both policy and practice.  Recent research has revolved around the criminal justice service in rural areas (particularly the Youth Justice Service and the Police) and the treatment of women and young people who offend (evaluation of initiatives for diverting women and young people out of the official criminal justice system). Kate also acts as an advisor to the Youth Justice Board Cymru’s Practice Development Panel, she co-chairs Domestic Homicide Reviews in two local authority areas in Wales, sits on the local Community Safety Executive, and has provided advice to the Welsh Government on subjects such as substance misuse

Professor Mike Maguire is part-time Professor of Criminology at the University of South Wales and Professor Emeritus, Cardiff University, having spent the early part of his career at the Oxford University Centre for Criminological Research.  His extensive research and writing have covered numerous aspects of crime and justice, including burglary, criminal statistics, victims of crime, policing, probation and prisons.  He was until 2012 co-editor of the long established Oxford Handbook of Criminology.  His recent research has mainly focused on the rehabilitation and resettlement of offenders, including studies of ‘through the gate’ mental health services and work with prisoners’ children and families, as well as the Resilience project. He has contributed extensively to policy and practice, for example as a former member of the Parole Board and of Wales Probation Trust, and as a frequent consultant to government departments and criminal justice agencies.  He is also a long-standing member of the Correctional Services Accreditation and Advice Panel of England and Wales.

Dr Kelly Prince is a Research Associate at Keele University. She was awarded her doctorate in 2014 for her thesis entitled More than a ‘Rescue Industry’? Experiences of working in the anti-trafficking voluntary and community sector. Her work critically engages with state constructions of human trafficking and the ‘true’ victim, the politics of pity and compassion, and also draws attention to the largely unresearched subject of work-based emotion in the voluntary and community sector. Kelly worked for nearly ten years in the voluntary sector in homelessness prevention and domestic abuse support, and also qualified as a barrister in 2005.

Nathan Dick is Head of Policy and Communications at Clinks, an organisation which supports voluntary organisations working with offenders and their families. As part of the senior management team Nathan supports Clinks to develop both strategically and operationally. He oversees the highly regarded and active policy work of Clinks, and provides leadership to the communications and membership team. In addition he assists colleagues to interpret the emerging criminal justice environment and develop sustainable opportunities for Clinks and its members in the wider voluntary sector. Nathan joined Clinks in 2006 and has since supported various parts of the voluntary sector working in criminal justice.