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Stephen Farrall

Professor of Criminology, Faculty of Social Sciences

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Biography

I joined the University of Nottingham over the summer of 2022, having previously held posts at the universities of Sheffield (twice), Oxford, Keele and Derby.

I am a sociologist with an interest in processes of change, both at the individual level, and the societal level. At the individual level I have explored how people recover from spoilt identifies (in this case, a criminal conviction or series of convictions) . I have more recently explored processes of political, social and economic change at the national level, using the government led by Margaret Thatcher as an example of how ideological changes produce more tangible changes in 'real lives' many years later.

For two years I held a position as a tutor for St. Catherine's College, Oxford. Subsequently I have taught research methods to postgraduate students at Keele, Oxford, Derby and Sheffield Universities. Whilst at Keele, I was the Course Director for the M. Res. in Social Science. In September 2007 I took up a post of Reader in Criminology in the Law School at Sheffield University, lecturing to both undergraduate and postgraduate students. I was programme Director for BA Social Policy & Criminology (co-taught with the Department of Sociological Studies). I was promoted to a personal Chair in January 2010, and took up a Research Chair at the University of Derby in January 2019, leaving in August 2022 to take up a Chair in Criminology in the School of Sociology & Social Policy at the University of Nottingham. I have supervised (or co-supervised) 19 PhD students to submission/completion, and examined a further 19. I served on the 2021REF Social Work & Social Policy panel.

My main areas of expertise relate to:

1: why people stop offending

2: the fear of crime

3: the relationship between politics and crime

4: life-courses and their interactions with social and political change.

Expertise Summary

My substantive expertise relates to:

1: why people stop offending (desistance from crime)

2: the fear of crime

3: the relationship between politics and crime

4: life-courses and their interactions with social and political change

5: existential models and theories of personal change.

My methodological expertise relates to:

1: qualitative longitudinal research

2: survey design

3: question design (for surveys, especially relating to cognitive interviewing)

4: quantitative data analyses (regressions, structural equation modeling, factor analysis, path diagrams)

Teaching Summary

I contribute to the teaching of:

Introducing Social Policies (1st yr UG)

Theoretical Frontiers of Criminology (Masters level)

Research Design & Process (2nd yr UG)

I also supervise final year dissertation students.

Research Summary

I am involved in an Economic and Social Research Council funded project on homicide with my long-term collaborator Emily Gray at Warwick and Machi Tseloni at NTU - see Long-term trends in homicide… read more

School of Sociology and Social Policy

Law and Social Sciences building
University of Nottingham
University Park
Nottingham, NG7 2RD

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