Elizabeth Cook

BA Criminology (2013); MRes Criminology and Socio-Legal Studies (2014); PhD Criminology (2018)

Elizabeth is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Criminology, in the Violence & Society Centre, City University of London. She graduated from Manchester after studying three degrees here. She talks about what she does now and how she got there following her time at Manchester.

My current role and how I got there

I am currently a Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Criminology, based in the Violence and Society Centre, City, University of London, where I research in the areas of homicide, gender, and family. I completed a BA in Criminology, an MRes in Criminology and Socio-Legal Studies, and a PhD in Criminology with the support of an ESRC-funded Doctoral Studentship and President’s Doctoral Scholarship at the University of Manchester.

Shortly after completing my doctoral studies, I was awarded an ESRC-funded Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the University of Oxford to extend the impact of my research. This included a four-week funded visit to the Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre in Melbourne, Australia. My research has previously explored family and voluntary sector responses to homicide but is currently focused on improving sex/gender disaggregated homicide data and reducing health inequalities.

My experience at Manchester

Criminology is a diverse, interdisciplinary field of study that learns from law, sociology, history, economics, political science and many more disciplines interested in crime and justice. Studying criminology provided me with the opportunity to situate crime within a social context and to consider why law is made, why it is broken and why we should care. Learning from researchers who were passionate about their expertise as well as firmly connected to achieving real-world impacts was definitely a strong motivation behind why I continued on towards a research career.

My time at the University gave me the space to figure out what I wanted to do next and to enjoy figuring out what was best for me at the time. My undergraduate studies were very much about engaging in research-led teaching. Students were encouraged to become part of the research environment from very early on. There were always public talks, events, placements, and additional training for us to access and participate in. By the time I came to the end of my studies, I found myself in a very supportive research community that I wasn’t quite ready to stop learning from.

The Criminology department provided me with absolute personal and professional support. I was challenged to move outside my comfort zone – something that I have really valued in my career today. My studies taught me how to think critically and sensitively about difficult social issues - I have used this throughout my career and it continues to prove particularly important in my current research area.

My advice for future students

Try to venture out and learn more about what is going on in the local community. There are some great community organisations and charities in Manchester doing valuable work and I wish that I had got to know more about them during my course!