Our first series of monthly lectures on

Stalking, Abuse and Safety for Young People

took place between April and September 2021.


THE LECTURES IN THE FIRST SERIES WERE:

 

Thursday April 22

Hidden homicides among young people  by Jane Monckton-Smith 

Jane is Professor of Public Protection at the University of Gloucestershire. Jane's research on the eight-stage homicide timeline has achieved widespread acclaim, given its practical application in ex-intimate stalking cases as a critical tool in risk assessment. It demonstrates that the right intervention at any stage can halt their continued escalation, which in the worst cases (such as Alice’s) can result in murder. Jane’s latest book In Control: Dangerous Relationships and How They End in Murder was published by Bloomsbury in March.

Thursday May 20

Young people and stalking: reflections and focus  by Rachael Wheatley 

Rachael is an HMPPS forensic psychologist, specialising in engaging with those who stalk for the purposes of assessment, research, and risk management intervention. She is also a lecturer at the University of Derby, and in 2019 obtained a Professional Doctorate in Forensic Psychology qualification for a thesis entitled “What drives men who commit stalking offences and how practitioners can best respond to their needs”. Rachael is particularly interested in raising awareness of stalking behaviours and improving (early) interventions with those who stalk in order to better protect victims. For the last year, Rachael has been a Trustee of the Alice Ruggles Trust.

Thursday June 17

Coercive control  by Marianne Hester 

Marianne Hester OBE is Professor of Gender, Violence and International Policy at the University of Bristol, and heads the Centre for Gender and Violence Research. She is also editor-in-chief of the Journal of Gender-based Violence. Marianne has extensive experience of researching domestic violence and abuse.

Thursday July 15

Addressing stalking and abuse in education: the SAfEE qualifications  by Maria Mellins 

Maria Mellins is Associate Professor in Criminology, Sociology and Film at St Mary’s University, Twickenham. Her research focuses on stalking, and the media representation of victims and survivors. During her talk Maria was joined by the co-founders of Stalking Ireland, Eve McDowell and Una Ring, who are working to #SupportChangeLegislate.

Thursday August 12

Stalking Protection Orders: an early assessment  by Dave Thomason 

Dave, a Detective Sergeant at Cheshire Constabulary, discussed his research into the first six months after the introduction of stalking Protection Orders and how this this new tool is supporting victims of stalking.

Dave leads the Harm Reduction Unit, a successor to the Integrated Anti-Stalking Unit which he created and developed having spent 15 years working at local, national and international levels to tackle stalking. Dave has presented to thousands of professionals around the world about the policing of stalking and was previously a Staff Officer to the national police stalking lead. The majority of his service has been spent as an operational detective in public protection. In 2019, Dave was awarded the inaugural National College of Policing Award for Partnerships and is also the recipient of an Association of Chief Police Officers Presidential Commendation for his work on tackling stalking. Dave has led the development of a revised national Stalking Screening Tool on behalf of the College of Policing and was recently awarded a postgraduate diploma in evidence-informed practice, based on his research about the implementation and effectiveness of Stalking Protection Orders.

Thursday September 9

“We should be the ones that should know most about that, but we don’t”: A qualitative study exploring young people’s perceptions of stalking  by Dr Caroline Flowers 

Caroline, aided by her student Naya Nash, outlined some of the current research conducted at Nottingham Trent University which explores young people’s perceptions of stalking behaviour. They focused on the findings from recent qualitative research which has investigated the impact of the Stalking Awareness for Educational Environments (SAfEE) programme.

Caroline is a Chartered and Registered Forensic Psychologist as well as a Lecturer at Nottingham Trent University (NTU). She works with MSc students on various research projects aimed at raising awareness and addressing stalking and coercive control in young people.

 

We plan to run a second lecture series later in 2022.