Dr Shona Morrison joins the POP Team

Dr Shona Morrison joined the Policing Organisation & Practice team as a Lecturer in May 2021.

Here Shona tells us more about her experience and research interests.

"I joined the OU on 1st of May 2021 as a Lecturer in Policing Organisation and Practice.  This is an exciting move for me as I have been out of academia for many years but I had always hoped to return one day.

After growing up near Glasgow, Scotland, I completed a degree and Ph.D. in Psychology at the University of Aberdeen in the late 1980s and early 90s, followed by 3 years at the Centre for Criminological Research, University of Oxford conducting post-doctoral research.  At Oxford, I was mostly involved in prison-based research on violent crime and armed robbery.  Following this, I was fortunate to move with my partner to Australia for 6 years where I worked, initially, at the Australian Institute of Criminology in Canberra researching and monitoring Australian deaths in custody.  While there, I became involved in drugs policy research which was to become my field of study and work for many years.  I moved to a new criminal intelligence department within the Attorney-General’s Department (Australia’s equivalent to the Home Office) to prepare strategic crime assessments on national and international drug markets.  This was followed by a move to Melbourne University where, as senior research fellow, I led on a project on the policing of drug and alcohol issues as part of Australia’s forward-thinking National Drugs Law Enforcement program.   

With two young children in tow, my family finally returned to the UK where I was involved in a variety of teaching roles and research consultancy (on a part-time basis initially).  Eventually, I was tempted into a new role within Thames Valley Police as Drug Strategy Coordinator, a role I remained in for 10 years.  Eventually, I moved into the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner as Head of Policy, Commissioning and Partnerships where I remained for a further 7 years until coming to the OU.

Although my prior research history has been mostly in the realm of serious offending, my recent role for the PCC which involved commissioning services for victim-survivors of crime has made me very passionate about improving the response to victimisation.  At the OU, I’d love to get involved in research on how the traditional criminal justice system can better support victim-survivors, and how trauma-informed approaches (such as restorative justice or circles of support) can be more usefully and flexibly adopted within, or instead of, the formal CJ response.  I am also interested in the changing landscape of victims services in England and Wales and the impact of PCCs, both positive and negative, upon the nature and quality of services.  Please do get in touch if you are doing research, or interested in doing research, in any of these areas."

Dr Shona Morrison
Lecturer in Policing Organisation and Practice