New paper by Guy Woolnough: Blood Sports in Victorian Cumbria

By Dr Guy Woolnough

In researching the primary sources for my doctorate at Keele, I found many fascinating details which were peripheral to my main narrative, but were too good to forget. Completion of my thesis has given me the time to revisit some of these stories. The Journal of Victorian Culture has published the resulting article.  I was intrigued by the policing of two bare-knuckle fights in rural Westmorland (Cumbria). Jem Mace, a celebrated ‘world champion’ of prize-fighting, brought on two occasions a train with two pugilists and a full complement of supporters from Manchester to a match held ‘in the middle of nowhere’, hoping no doubt that the event would escape the notice of the Cumbrian police. Not at all: the events were policed with extreme diligence and rigour.

I decided to look at other sporting events in Victorian Cumbria. Cock-fights had many of the same elements as a prize-fight: crowds of men, drinking, betting, one-on-one bloody combat. Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling was very popular, attracting even larger crowds. The only significant differences were that wrestlers were not bloodied and wore more clothes. Wrestling offered large prizes and matches were reputedly often fixed to suit the bookies.

The Cock-fight’, c.1844-55. At Compton Verney House

Although prize-fighting was not in itself illegal, matches were raided by the police and participants were arrested for breach of the peace. But wrestling matches, with (in Cumbria) larger crowds and more betting were not policed at all and were regarded as a highly respectable recreation. Cock-fighting was more complicated. The ‘sport’ was illegal in itself by 1849, but the many well-supported events and their ‘results’ were routinely reported in the local paper, the Westmorland Gazette until the late 1880s. 

The rival Kendal Mercury did not report cock-fights, except for those which ended with men appearing before the magistrates. Some Cumbrians deplored cock-fighting as thoroughly disreputable and morally wrong, others saw it as another country sport, on a par with hunting and as a respectable recreation. The police did intervene when they could, but organised cockers developed stratagems to evade the police, and some court cases ended in acquittal by magistrates who seem to have been far from impartial. Cockers appearing in court often enjoyed the service of professional counsel and the police in court were invariably challenged by an aggressive defence and a jeering public gallery. Hear-say evidence asserted that some policemen were supporters of cock-fighting.

In my article I theorise that the striking differences in the way the criminal justice system handled each of these sports is explained by the local plebeian cultures of Victorian Cumbria. The police, who were of the working classes, were the crucial agents in the policing of these events. Whereas policemen were implacably opposed to outsiders bringing boxing matches into Cumbria, they shared the general enthusiasm for Cumbrian wrestling, and were divided on cock-fighting. Cock-fighting continued in Cumbria well into the twentieth century, but the determination to police it diminished. Cultural change in these sports was negotiated at the local, plebeian level.

Sixty-six Seconds of Criminological Video Art in Meymac (France): A Short Note on Cameras, Discipline and Resistance

By Ronnie Lippens, Professor of Criminology

Meymac is a small town in the Limousin region of France. The Limousin region is about the size of Yorkshire. Throughout the ages it has witnessed its fair share of war, atrocity, and hardship. ‘History’ we call these things. Do Google ‘Limousin’, or ‘Oradour-sur-Glane’, for example, and you’ll know what I mean. Wherever you go in the Limousin you are very likely to stumble across sleepy villages and small towns full of ancient buildings, either ruined or restored, that seem to be whispering something like this: ‘Yes we’ve seen it all, we’ve gone through everything, but look, we’re still here, but would you believe, we ain’t giving up just yet’. So yes, there is this massive weight of the past that seems to be dragging the landscape down into the stones and mortar of its ancient architecture. But you also have, in the Limousin, this spark of stubborn resistance against this very being dragged down that is almost palpable even in the tiniest of Limousin towns. It should be noted in passing that during the Second World War the Limousin was the heartland of the French resistance (La Resistance) against the Nazi occupying forces. Resistance is the Limousin’s middle name.

No, giving up is not the Limousin way. In a bid to revive the economic fortunes of the region the Limousin authorities have made serious attempts to encourage the arts and culture. Modern art (painting and sculpture in particular) were at the heart of their endeavours. Let us face the facts though: there isn’t a lot of sunshine around in the Limousin (you’d have to travel further south for that), and so the type of tourist that the Limousin authorities must have had in mind when they went all ‘modern art’, some 20 or so years ago, is bound to have been of the slightly cultured, slightly discerning, but not too wealthy variety (those who like the sunshine go elsewhere, and so do those who can afford it). Not that I myself am even remotely cultured or discerning (I hasten to add though that I think I can tell a Rembrandt from a Vermeer) but one thing that I can say is that my wife and I tend to spend time in the Limousin whenever we can. When we do we always make an effort to visit one of the region’s very many centres of modern art. They are everywhere. A short while ago we went to the “Centre d’Art Contemporain” in Meymac, another small Limousin town. The centre is housed in the nicely restored 11th century abbey of Saint André (now what did I tell you about the weight of the past and the spark of the new?). One of the installations drew my attention –as it would have any criminologist’s, it should be said. The installation I’m referring to here is a very short video (it lasts only 66 seconds) by the French artist Jacques Lisène who shot it in 1971. Remember that date. The title of the video is “Tentative de Dressage d’une Caméra” (in English: “An Attempt to Train (or Discipline) a Camera”). To be honest, video isn’t my medium. I’m much more a painting kind of person. But let me say a few words about the video regardless of my incompetence in all matters video art.

There isn’t much to be seen or heard in the video, to be frank. The frame is taken up by a man (I take it the artist himself) who simply but joyfully announces that the video is about an attempt to train (the word is used here in the sense of ‘discipline’) a camera. He quickly adds (in French of course) “in the twentieth century”). The rest of the video shows him looking straight into the lens of the camera (i.e. straight at us) whilst simultaneously commanding the camera (or us?) to first “look up, go upwards” (which the camera, or we ourselves, then do: the camera follows the artist’s hands upwards), then to “lay down” and “lay down, camera”. The camera dutifully follows the command and the hand downwards and, like a good dog, finally rests on the ground at the feet of the artist, to hear the latter murmuring, contentedly, “well done, well done”. And that’s it, that’s the 66 seconds gone. So then, what’s criminological about this video?

Well there is a lot that can be said about this short video. Let me just say a couple of things. The video is about discipline “in the twentieth century”. Whoever says “discipline”, says “Michel Foucault”. All sociologists and all criminologists of course know about the importance of Foucault’s work. One of his well known insights is the one into the crucial role and place of Panopticism in modern “disciplinary” societies. Modern industrial societies, claimed Foucault, have tended to discipline and indeed normalise whole populations according to principles that were already discernible in Jeremy Bentham’s plans (1787) for a circular prison, the Panopticon. Do have another look at your textbook on this point! As the word Panopticon suggests, the visual sphere is very important, indeed key, when modern discipline is concerned. It is the gaze of the controllers that is supposed to be doing a lot, if not most of the work of discipline. In late modern societies there is still some of that around e.g. in the massive deployment of CCTV cameras. Not that in late modern societies disciplined normalisation is still the ultimate goal of this Panoptic deployment, or, if it is, not that it will always be effective (on the contrary, one should think). But the link between the visual (the camera) and discipline can be made and it is this link that the artist Jacques Lisène was able to grasp and exploit in his short video, years before Foucault got down to work on his book about “discipline and punish”, and ages before anything even remotely resembling a CCTV culture was able to get a foothold, however feeble, in a place like France. Sometimes artists simply are ahead of the pack.

But the video tells us something more than just the above. In the video the work of discipline is not done by or through the camera. It is the camera itself that is being disciplined, or “trained”! That, the artist tells us, should be the nature of “dressage” in what remains of the twentieth century. In other words: it is not the gaze of those that hold cameras (or who watch and analyse what happens on monitors) that should discipline us; on the contrary, it is us who should discipline all those who hold cameras. We should gaze back at them. We should discipline them back. We should discipline back all those that wield disciplinary power. We should actually treat them like dogs; make them perform all kinds of tricks for us; make them kneel at our feet; give them treats, but only when we feel like it. I suppose that “resistance” is a word that could be used to describe what goes on in this video. It’s a word that is not all that much out of place in the Limousin. Now remember: Jacques Lisène shot his “resistance” video in 1971, at about the time when Foucault was getting involved himself with an activist group of academics and prisoners who were beginning to critically “gaze back” at the gazers. So here again: it seems the artist was slightly ahead of the activist pack.

The camera in Lisène’s video could also stand for “Hollywood”, i.e. the dream factory that, from the early “twentieth century” onwards, has been spouting images that have if not disciplined then certainly controlled, or at least pre-occupied the minds of billions of people. It could also stand for what has come to be known as consumer culture, i.e. the endless stream of mediatised images of “things to have” and “things to be” which so few are able to ...... resist. This is the kind of resistance that authors and philosophers such as Guy Debord were (and are) writing about. This is about resistance against the deep, tremendously deep ocean of consumer items and images that seems to structure, if not determine our desires, our thoughts, our actions, and our many, very many frustrations. Debord wrote his famous book “The Society of the Spectacle” on precisely this topic. It got published in 1967. In the book Debord asked himself the question about how one could possibly resist this consumerist tsunami. Four years later the artist Jacques Lisène seems to have come up with his own artful answer: treat this tsunami like a dog. Look it squarely in the eye. Make it kneel at your feet. Then give it a small treat. Whether or not Lisène’s answer is the right one, I leave open for now. Counter-discipline is still ...discipline. I’m not sure if real resistance should itself be built on discipline. Well I have a few ideas on this topic (and critics such as Debord had many more!), but those are for another contribution to this blog.

Let me conclude on a slightly different note: criminology is everywhere. You can find it in the shortest of video-installations in the tiniest of towns in the remotest of places. You can find it in art. Anywhere. Everywhere.

School of Sociology and Criminology moves up in all three major league tables

The Times Good University guide, released on June 23rd 2011, has confirmed the place of the School of Sociology and Criminology at Keele University as a rising star.  The Times guide showed the Sociology subject area at 26th, moving two places closer to a Top 20 rating.  As there are nearly 90 Sociology departments across the UK, this improvement to an already impressive rating is welcome news.  In the two other key league tables, Sociology showed some dramatic improvements, moving nine places to 21st in the Complete University Guide and moving seventeen places to 20th in the Guardian University Guide.  Meanwhile Criminology (listed in the tables under the ‘Social Policy’ heading) confirmed its place as a Top 20 subject scoring 16th in the Times, 14th in the Guardian and 20th in the Complete University Guide.

Dr Bill Dixon, Head of the School of Sociology and Criminology said: “We are delighted that our teaching and research excellence is showing through.  Staff in our School are committed to providing a high-quality and well-supported learning experience for our students”.  This commitment shows through in student feedback: the national student survey rates Keele overall 11th in the country for student satisfaction and ten members of the staff (half of the teaching team) in the School of Sociology and Criminology were nominated this year for Teaching Excellence awards with Dr Dixon himself receiving an award.

While providing excellent teaching and student support is a priority, the School of Sociology and Criminology also achieved a number of key successes for students and staff in community and workplace engagement.  A student from our School again won the prestigious Neil and Gina Smith Student of the Year award for 2010-11.  Amy Chapman, a local mature student who came to Keele from an Access to HE course at South Cheshire College, won this award for her academic excellence while playing an active role locally improving opportunities and aspirations for other young people.  Two out of the three runners up in this year’s award – Dani Hughes and Danielle Bremner - are also from our School. Amy is the third winner from our School in only six years that the award has been running.  Sociology and Criminology student Matt Bedding managed to get elected as Student Union Vice-President for Welfare while continuing his work with Nightline for which he received a national lifetime award.  All of these students will graduate with first class honours.

The School also successfully launched its new Master’s degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice, which is taught in blocks to allow professionals to study while maintaining their employment, and a new module ‘Working for Justice’ which enables undergraduate students to find out more about the Criminal Justice field from professionals.  A further scheme with work experience opportunities is in development for both Sociology and Criminology students, following the award of a Teaching Innovation grant for employer engagement to Dr Rebecca Leach.

Making a difference: Amy Chapman, Neil & Gina Smith Student of the Year 2011

The School of Sociology and Criminology are delighted to see the 2011 Neil & Gina Smith Student of the Year Award go to Amy Chapman, a Criminology Major in our School. Amy was a mature entrant via an Access course and the first in her family (from Crewe) to attend university.  As well as achieving academic excellence while supporting herself financially throughout her studies, she has played an important role in 'making a difference' to the lives of other local young people.  The Student of the Year award is given in recognition of outstanding academic achievement alongside outstanding commitment to public service, citizenship and/or overcoming hardship.  Students from our School - Danielle Hughes (Criminology) and Danielle Bremner (Sociology) were also two out of the three runners' up for this award.  Congratulations to all of you.

We are particularly pleased because Amy is the THIRD annual winner from our School in the six years that the award has been running.  Previous winners from our School are Rachel Cason (nee Wiggett) and the first winner Heather Phillips.  A prize of £5000 is made and both our previous winners have made good use of the fund to continue their studies at Keele.

Alongside Matt Bedding's national award this year for his work with Keele Nightline, it is clearer than ever that our students are graduating ready to put their studies in Sociology and Criminology to good use in 'making a difference' in society.  And we also know that for every exceptional individual who receives the awards and plaudits, there are many more of you who are working away at your studies while seeking to make things better in your communities, or those of people less fortunate.  This makes us very happy, because it is often one of the key reasons people study our subjects: that you are enabled to put this into practice while studying with us is a testament to your commitment and to the relevance of the teaching programmes in Sociology and Criminology at Keele.

We've gained promotion to the Premier League! Keele Sociology and Criminology programmes confirm their Top 20 status

The Sociology and Criminology undergraduate degree programmes at Keele were today confirmed as being in the 'Premier League' -  recognised as two of the Top 20 courses in these subjects in the UK.  The Guardian University Guide for 2012 confirmed Keele's place as one of the best places to get a good student experience and high quality education in these subjects.  Sociology moved up 17 places from 37th last year to 20th this year; and Criminology (listed as 'Social Policy' in most guides) is 14th in the country. This high rating builds on our previous successes earlier this month in the Complete University Guide in which Sociology at Keele moved up to 21st and Criminology emerged as 20th.

Bill Dixon, Head of the School of Sociology and Criminology said "We're delighted that our programmes in Sociology and Criminology are achieving recognition nationally. Teaching staff here are committed to students and to providing high-quality, research-led programmes. Keele is a special place, and we're extremely proud to be providing a special learning experience."

"One of the things we're most proud of is the close, supportive relationships we build up with our students. Students appreciate this and we work hard to maintain good feedback, friendly learning environments and personal contact with teaching staff. In 2010/11 over half of the staff group in Sociology and Criminology were nominated by students for University teaching excellence awards."

You can find out more about the Sociology and Criminology programmes by looking at our prospectus, following this blog, following us on Twitter @socandcrimkeele or on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/socandcrimkeele If you'd like to come and visit us, you can talk to staff and current students at our Open Days or if you can't make these dates, contact us to arrange for a visit.

Keele: (Virtually) a Top 20 place for Sociology and Criminology...

Wow. Our rating for Sociology in the Complete University guide has moved up a whole 9 places, moving us into 21st spot.  This is fantastic news and is no doubt partly due to the brilliant feedback we've been getting in the National Student Survey over the years.  Criminology (included as Social Policy - see below for why) is also in 20th place, so I think this means we can just about claim we're in the Top 20 of places in which to study both subjects.  Well, almost.

But while we're on, just a note about League Tables.  Sure, they help you decide where you want to study; sure, they tell you a bit about the places you're interested in, and their reputation.  But nothing really beats coming for a visit, talking to staff and students about what is important to you.  Our Open Days are just that: open - you can speak to staff and students of the two programmes first hand to find out what it is really like.

One of the things about League Tables that makes a difference to us here at Keele is they can never have a 'perfect' methodology.  It matters, in fact, because the clumsiness of the methodology doesn't always show us in our best light.  For example, the National Student Survey only asks you ONE set of questions; yet still many if not most of our degrees at Keele are dual honours.  Unless you've had EXACTLY the same experience in both your Schools, this fine-tuning of your views won't be reflected in your answers.  There has yet to be any form of league table or 'rating' of University courses that can adequately reflect the Keele degree properly.

In addition, people often ask about the research rating for our subjects, since it is confusing.  In some league tables you will see NO research rating for Sociology and/or Criminology.  In others you will see we end up at the top end of the ratings!   Sometimes, I've seen blogs, facebook comments and replies on The Student Room which highlight or question this. Why does this confusion arise?

Well, it is all to do with HOW research was assessed at Keele.  Most of the School of Sociology and Criminology staff whose research was included in the last Research Assessment exercise (a process by which the quality of research in Universities is measured every few years) were submitted under the heading of 'Social Policy'.  There isn't a separate 'Criminology' heading, and most of the sociologists (which was most of us) who were submitted went in Social Policy, which is quite common across the country.  I won't bore you with the reasons these choices were made but you can rest assured that ALL staff in the School are research active.  Keele was ranked 12th in the country for Social Policy - an excellent outcome- and criminology and sociology research in our School contributed to this along with research by members of other Schools (such as Public Policy and Professional Practice).

Now, some league tables have managed to reflect this complexity accurately, and have included part of the Social Policy score in their calculations for Sociology and Criminology.  But some have not.  So if it shows up a research score of 'zero', then take it with a pinch of salt.  If you want to know what kind of research we actually do, and how good it is, look at the list of books on our Facebook page, the publications and research details on our individual homepages and so on.

The real issue in the league tables though is surely how good we are as educators, how much students appreciate what they get from us when they're here, and what difference it makes to them in the long term - in terms of employability and just general life-changing experiences.  Hopefully, these rather arbitrary measures can get better at reflecting what you really get in the School of Sociology and Criminology: excellent, research-active teaching staff, who know and care about their students, teaching relevant and interesting courses that help develop you into all-round graduates.

Postgraduate Opportunities in Sociology and Criminology at Keele University

Postgraduate Twilight Event

Thinking of improving your future prospects?

Then come to visit at our open event to explore your options; to meet our lecturers; and to talk to our current postgraduates. Postgraduate taught courses and research programmes are available full and part time and cover a wide and interesting range of subjects.

To take place on Wednesday 30 March 2011, from 4.30pm until 7.00pm in the Claus Moser Research Centre.

To RSVP (use this form)

Programme
Download the Twilight Programme

Courses:
Take a look at our selection of postgraduate courses

Hosted by:

* The School of Humanities
* RI Humanities
* RI Social Sciences
* The School of Law
* The School of Politics, International Relations and Philosophy: SPIRE
* The School of Public Policy and Professional Practice
* The School of Sociology and Criminology
* Keele Management School

Two exciting Criminology-related PhD Studentship opportunities are currently being advertised at Keele, supervised by Criminologists within the Social Policy Research Group.

CASE Research Studentship: The Voluntary Sector Role in Promoting Offenders’ Desistance through Peer Mentoring (reference no. RILPJ 2011-1)

Closing Date: Monday 14th February 2011, 5 pm

Interview Date: Friday 25th February 2011

An exciting opportunity exists to undertake a PhD exploring the role of voluntary (third) sector organisations working with offenders and ex-prisoners. The study will conduct research into peer mentoring programmes in England and Wales in partnership with voluntary sector providers. The research will explore the ways in which peer mentoring contributes to ex-offenders’ life chances and reintegration, as well as the value of mentoring to participants, both as mentees and mentors. This studentship arises from a partnership between Keele University and Clinks
The CASE research studentship, which will start from April 2011, will be
funded full time for three years. It will suit someone who combines an interest in voluntary sector involvement in criminal or social justice with strong analytic and writing skills essential for research at this level. Experience with research methods (qualitative or quantitative) is essential.
The successful application will work under the guidance of Dr Mary Corcoran (Lecturer in Criminology) and Professor Barry Godfrey (Professor of Criminology) together with Clinks. The research will involve periods spent at Keele University and at the participating projects.
Eligibility:
Applicants should hold a good honours degree, preferably in a relevant social science. You should have, or expect to gain, an ESRC recognised Masters in Research (MRes), or other recognised research qualification, or have training and experience which are demonstrably equivalent to this.
For further information on academic and residential eligibility see the ESRC Postgraduate Research Studentship Guidance Notes for Applicants 2010

Value:
The successful applicant will receive tuition fees at UK rates, access to £750 annual research costs and an enhanced annual stipend of £15,590 (for full-time students) for three years.



Contacts and further information:
Academic contact: Dr Mary Corcoran m.corcoran@crim.keele.ac.uk

Administrative queries: Miss Helen Farrell, PGR Administrator, Phone: 01782 733641
Email: phd@ilpj.keele.ac.uk

To apply:
Apply online for this studentship visit the Keele studentship website reference RILPJ 2011-1




Research Studentship: Pay-as-you-go justice? Out of court disposals and the future of the Magistracy (reference RILPJ 2011-2)

Closing Date: Monday 14th February 2011, 5 pm

Interview Date: Friday 25th February 2011

The studentship will explore the growing trend for the disposing of cases outside of the traditional courtroom environment through the use of fixed penalty disposals. Such methods, relying extensively on strict liability legal principles, automated prosecution systems and fixed penalty punishments are being used for an expanding range of minor 'quality of life' offences (traffic, littering, parking, dog fouling). In addition, they are increasingly being deemed appropriate for more serious offences traditionally dealt with by the police and Magistrates' Courts (for example being drunk and disorderly in a public place, selling alcohol to a minor, threatening behaviour or language and behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress).

Should the average citizen encounter the criminal justice system in the role of 'problem' they will usually do so via this type of non-court disposal. The project will employ interviews with magistrates, policy makers and other relevant authorities to explore views on these punishments. The project will explore what messages about behaviour, punishment and justice they communicate to sentenced offenders, and ask questions whether the increasing reliance on such methods is a desirable direction for criminal justice in England and Wales.

Duration and eligibility:
This studentship, which will start from April 2011, is for three years duration.
Applicants should hold a good honours degree in a relevant subject. A postgraduate degree or experience of Magistrates Courts policy or practices is desirable.

The successful application will work under the guidance of Professor Barry Godfrey (Professor of Criminology) with
Dr Mary Corcoran (Lecturer in Criminology) and Dr Helen Wells (Lecturer in Criminology).

Value:
The successful applicant will receive a stipend for 3 years £13,590 at 2010/11 rate and payment of tuition fees at UK rates for 3 years.

For contacts and further information go to:
For general enquiries, please speak to our PGR administrator, Helen Farrell, Phone: 01782 733641 Email: phd@ilpj.keele.ac.uk

For academic queries, please contact:
Professor Barry Godfrey b.s.godfrey@crim.keele.ac.uk Dr Helen Wells h.m.wells@crim.keele.ac.uk


To apply:
Apply online for this studentship, visit the Keele studentship website: http://www.keele.ac.uk/pgresearch/choosingaresearchdegree/studentships/

Funded PhD studentships available in Social Sciences and Humanities

Keele University

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

World-class interdisciplinary research

PhD Opportunities and Funding 2010-11

The Faculty of Humanities and Social Science is the largest Faculty in the University and is home to world-class scholars and research groups working across a range of topics and themes. The Faculty is proud of its success in the 2008 RAE, where 85% of the research assessed was classified as world-leading and of international importance. Research and postgraduate supervision is organised through Research Institutes which support a number of major research centres. The University has made a substantial investment in an exciting new building –The Moser Centre – to support high quality research and postgraduate work in the humanities and social sciences. There is now a strong commitment to expanding postgraduate research as a vital part of the University’s identity as a research-intensive institution.

Research Institutes: research interests and themes

Humanities (www.keele.ac.uk/research/humanities)
Cultural and social history from the local to the global; Musicology since 1900 and creative applications of music technology; Literature, science and environments; literary and cultural theory; interdisciplinary approaches to life writing, Modern America and early modern and modern England.

Law, Politics and Justice (www.keele.ac.uk/research/lpj)
Politics; International Relations; Law; Ethics; Criminology; Sociology and Philosophy -with particular interests in: Environmental Politics, European Politics, Crime, Security and Justice – and multidisciplinary fields such as postcolonialism, cultural studies, globalisation, urbanisation, environmental sustainability, racism, ethnicity and migration, professional ethics, legal identity and bioethics.

Public Policy and Management (www.keele.ac.uk/research/ppm)
Economics; Education; Management; Marketing; Health Policy, and Industrial Relations with particular interests in: Ethnographic and critical management studies; Public policy and the regulation of public service quality; Work and work cultures; Gender and organisation; Managerial, organisational and inter-organisational practices; Consumption; Economics of ageing and retirement; Stability of banking systems; Microeconomic analysis, Finance and development.

Life Course Studies, (www.keele.ac.uk/research/lcs)
Social Policy; Sociology; Social Work; Social Gerontology; Applied, Social and Cognitive Psychology; Health and Rehabilitation - with particular interests in Ageing; Families and Social Relationships; Children and Childhood; Communities; Gender and Sexuality; Consumption; Health, Rehabilitation and Well-being.

Studentships Available
We have funding to support up to 30 full-time and part-time postgraduate students across the Research Institutes. Fee waivers for UK and International Students are also available. We welcome expressions of interest from well-qualified applicants who wish to be supported by Keele in making an application to ESRC or AHRC for funding for MRes or PhD programmes. ESRC Quota Awards are available in Criminology and in Public Policy and Management. Part-funded applications with the public or private sector are also encouraged.

Closing date for applications is 28th February 2010. Applicants are strongly advised to discuss their interests with the relevant Research Institute or Research Centre and Prospective Supervisors. Helen Farrell should be contacted in the first instance for advice on the most appropriate contact point h.farrell@ilpj.keele.ac.uk or ring 01782 733641.

Or - if you're specifically interested in Sociology or Criminology PhD opportunities and grants, come direct to the School of Sociology and Criminology: contact the Postgraduate contact for Sociology Dr Emma Head, e.l.head@appsoc.keele.ac.uk , or the Postgraduate contact for Criminology, Prof Tim Hope, t.j.hope@crim.keele.ac.uk , who can direct you to the right person - there are many fields of expertise which don't quite fit into the categories in the RI list above so it is always worth exploring individual staff interests more comprehensively. You can find more about potential supervisors and their areas of interest in Sociology here, and in Criminology here.

Applications
Full details and application procedures can be found on the Graduate School website: www.keele.ac.uk/gradschool

Email gradschool@keele.ac.uk or ring 01782 734368 for the Graduate School Prospectus

Criminology Summer School at Grenoble, France in July 2009

Five Keele students who have been studying in Australia and five Australian students who have been studying at Keele, have successfully participated in a three-week Criminology Summer School at the Institute of Political Studies in Grenoble, France. In all, 30 students from Keele, Maribor University (Slovenia), Grenoble University, Flinders University (South Australia), Monash University (Victoria), University of Western Sydney and Griffith University (Queensland) met with lecturers from these universities for a Summer School on the theme of Security: local, global and supranational. The students heard lectures on topics as diverse as people trafficking, child sexual abuse, transnational policing, local safety councils in Slovenia and security policies in France and Italy. The Summer School concluded with a student conference at which all students made presentations.

The Summer School was part of a three-year Criminology programme funded by the EU, in which students from the seven universities named above exchanged for 6 months before all meeting up at the Summer Schools, the first two of which were held at Keele in 2007 and Slovenia in 2008. The students received full funding for the whole of the programme and have reported that it has been the experience of a lifetime. In addition to their studies, they had a great social life and have made new friends from other European countries and Australia. The top photo shows all the students and several staff; the bottom photo shows five Keele students and four Australian students who studied at Keele, with lecturers Professor Susanne Karstedt and Professor Anne Worrall. The programme has been run at Keele by Criminology staff in partnership with the Centre for International Exchange and Languages. Other Keele staff who attended the summer school were Professor Philip Stenning, Dr Annette Kratz and PhD student, Clare Jones.

Postgraduate opportunities in Sociology and Criminology at Keele

It's that time of year when third year students are getting their heads down on their dissertation, worrying about finals and whether there will be any jobs left in a few months (now that the merchant bankers have destroyed the economy...). Some of them, crazy though it might sound, are even wondering if they might carry on studying, now that they're only just working out what it is all about. Now (and we mean right now) is the time to get your act together if you would like to do some postgraduate study.

So what are the opportunities in Sociology and Criminology at Keele? Well, if you want to study Sociology, you might like to take our Masters in Research in Sociology, which offers ESRC-recognised research training with the chance of taking some advanced specialist modules in research-led fields. Sociology (with colleagues across Keele University) will shortly be advertising a Masters in Urban Futures (subject to University final approval, this course should be available from Autumn 2009 - please check back on this blog and the Sociology homepage for updates). Criminology also has a Masters' and Postgraduate Diploma in the Ethics of Policing and Criminal Justice, which is taught jointly with the Centre for Professional Ethics. This course is particularly useful for those already working in the areas of policing and criminal justice such as police and probation officers, magistrates etc, but applications are welcome from anyone with an interest in this field.

Often students take the MRes as a first step towards doing a Doctorate. PhD training is perhaps one of the most difficult but most rewarding postgraduate routes and if you've got a lot of dedication, a real niggling research question you'd like to solve (perhaps something you've been wondering in your dissertation but haven't been able to follow up...?) and you're prepared to work hard to apply for funding or help support yourself through it, you're probably the right person. You will need to work up a research proposal for a project you'd like to do, and be supervised by someone who is a specialist in that area or related area. Have a look at the research interests and specialist supervision areas of the Sociology group for a better idea of the fields we're interested in. You can also take a similar programme in Criminology and you can see the research interests and specialist supervision areas of the Criminology group here. A PhD is a route into a number of careers, notably professional social research in say Local Authorities, charities and thinktanks, an academic career in research and teaching, or as a 'career' researcher working on different and new projects.

So why Keele? You might start by having a look at the previous blog entry about Keele's success in the recent Research Assessment Exercise, in which staff in Criminology and Sociology had their research rated Internationally Excellent. This blog also gives some reasons why Keele is a great place to study. We particularly welcome International students to Keele - there is a thriving International student community at Keele with visitors from around the world. You can find some information mostly intended for undergraduate International students here but much of it applies to postgraduates also.

But the big question is all about the money. There's no doubt that funding for postgraduate courses and research is a very limited pot and it is highly competitive. It is particularly difficult to get external funding for a taught Masters' and if you can support yourself, you have a much stronger chance of fulfilling your ambitions. You need to have or expect a good (2.1 or above) degree to have a hope of applying for funds. You will also need a decent idea for a research project, even if you're going to apply for the 1+3 route (that is, taking the MRes first) and you will need to get your skates on as most of the deadlines are the end of February! The ESRC application deadline is later but you need to work with us to submit a good application and to have a chance of internal funding, so contact someone as soon as possible.

There are some (very competitive) options for funding at Keele, for example what is called a 1+3 route for Sociology - if you want to apply for this route, you need to get in touch with us NOW to help formulate your application: only the best candidates with the best ideas will get put forward.

If you're interested in Criminology or certain areas of Sociology, there are a few more options. The Institute of Law, Politics and Justice - which hosts all of the Criminology staff and some Sociology - has some dedicated studentships for priority areas plus a +3 scholarship (ie for someone who already has an appropriate Masters') - you can find more details on this link (look at the LPJ details). However, in all cases, we will be encouraging potential students to submit applications to external bodies such as the Economic and Social Research Council - so please have a look at their requirements and deadlines also.

All staff in Sociology and Criminology would be happy to advise you on specific issues to do with your areas of interest, but if you want to enquire more generally, could you please contact the following people:

MRes (Sociology or Criminology): Dr Lydia Martens
MA Urban Futures: Dr Mark Featherstone
MA Ethics of Policing and Criminal Justice: ethics@keele.ac.uk
PhD (including 1+3 options) for Sociology: Dr Lydia Martens and for Criminology: Prof Anne Worrall,


The postgraduate Taught course (Masters') prospectus is here - although it is not updated as frequently as this blog or our School homepage. You can also contact the Graduate School for information on applying for postgraduate Research degrees (PhD) at Keele. The Postgraduate Research Prospectus is here - although this information is not as frequently updated as this blog.

Criminology and Sociology research excellence at Keele...

Staff in the School of Sociology and Criminology are delighted today to hear that their research has been rated as excellent in the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE)* for 2008. The large bulk of staff submitted to the RAE from the School went under the Social Policy and Administration category (covering all of Criminology and some Sociology, as well as other bits of research, for example Social Work and Gerontology). This research grouping scored one of the highest scores in the university as a whole, and nationally, Keele is ranked 12th in the country in this field. This is an excellent result for us since it means Keele is at the forefront of international research in this area, with a large number of scholars of not only international reputation (65%), but also 'world leading' in their field (15%).

In our School, we are particularly proud to have achieved this given the commitment to high quality teaching. At Keele teaching and research are interdependent and we believe strongly in both. This means that students are taught directly by experts in their fields and have access to the best, newest research. At the same time, students are still the backbone of a university and without the best efforts of committed lecturers, our joint successes in teaching quality and research would not have been possible. The School of Sociology and Criminology for example features highly in examples of good teaching practice within the university, almost all of our staff have a Higher Education teaching qualification, our student feedback is fairly consistently good (including in the National Student Survey) and our support systems are efficient and, well, supportive! One of the things that isn't often discussed in the debate about the balance between research and teaching is the way in which teaching students can really enrich and develop research ideas. Most staff in our School teach options in their specialist research areas and this means that students themselves are contributing to the body of knowledge from the university.

Of course, the area where research strength makes the biggest difference is to postgraduate opportunities. World-class staff and a supportive research culture with appropriate resources make a big difference to postgraduates. Keele has a number unique advantages for postgrads.

First, it can rightly claim its place alongside the big hitters in research in these fields and since the choice of postgraduate degree is often based on supervisor's reputation, scoring well in the RAE is crucial here. Keele is a friendly and vibrant place to be a postgraduate student with plenty of research projects ongoing and the small size of the university means it is very easy to tap into the expertise of others. To find out more about the specialist areas of the Sociology and Criminology staff at Keele, please follow the links.

Second, Keele has a well-developed research infrastructure to support postgraduates. The two Research Institutes that cover staff in Sociology and Criminology are the RI for Lifecourse Studies and the RI for Law, Politics and Justice. Each has dedicated space for postgraduates to work, meet, attend a multitude of exciting research seminars, to access funding support for research activities such as conference attendance, and provision of high quality equipment and software. Keele's Graduate School also provides important support for postgraduates, ensuring the process runs smoothly and students are provided with appropriate supervision and resources.

Third, Keele has an amazing self-contained environment. One of the most beautiful rural campuses in the UK, we have acres of parkland and woodland in which to create those big thoughts. We have fully equipped sporting facilities, cultural facilities such as the art gallery and a full programme of music events from the Bach Choir and Keele Philharmonic to big-name bands in the students union, award winning coffee shop (and some of the best cakes - and Staffordshire oatcakes - in Staffordshire!). We have our own bookshop, our own nursery, an excellent school in the beautiful conservation area of Keele village, and even purpose-built housing for staff and postgraduates, as well as undergraduates. Keele is currently establishing new developments to build on our research expertise in Environmental Science/Policy and our amazing campus resource in order to develop Keele as a landmark 'green' campus.

Fourth, Keele is a good place to be, especially if you're visiting the UK from overseas. We are less than an hour from the major cities of Birmingham and Manchester, and Manchester Airport (50 minutes drive away) is a major international hub you can fly into from just about anywhere in the world. London is just under two hours away on the fast train service. We are - literally - minutes from the M6 motorway which can get you to the Lake District within 3 hours, and Scotland within 4.5. More locally, Chester, the Potteries, the beautiful English countryside of Cheshire, Shropshire and Staffordshire and even Wales are well within an hour.

*[The RAE is a measure of the quality of research output and research culture at universities. Every few years academic staff submit examples of their best publications and the research environment is measured by assessing how much funding for research projects staff bring in and how supportive of research the university is. ]

Serial Killers and Bees – A sting in the tale?

By Dr Tony Kearon

If recent media stories are to be believed, apparently scientists have suggested that the study of bees can help to catch serial killers .
I’ll resist the temptation to make a joke about beehive-ioral psychology, not least because these news reports unwittingly say something quite interesting about how academic research is often presented to a wider audience by the media. The actual research article itself, published online in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface in July 2008, spectacularly fails to live up to the media hype (and I mean that in a good way). The authors suggest that methods of geographical profiling developed to explore the behaviour of serial offenders (not just serial killers) can be applied to the study of foraging behaviour in animals. Almost as an aside they suggest that if these profiling methods are applied to a much wider range of subjects (like bees) this may help to develop and refine the methodology of geographical profiling in general. It is that final innocuous statement that has spawned the media hype.

However, what ever the possible relationship between the behaviour of offenders and foraging animals, I can't pass up the chance to say something about geographical profiling and the extent to which it may (or may not) help in the fight against crime.

Geographical profiling is predicated on certain assumptions about the spatial distribution and patterning of human behaviour. Humans are domocentric – most of our activities are carried out within a short distance of our domestic space. What ever some of us may think, criminals are human too, and in this respect their criminal activities tend to follow the same pattern of local activity (for example, known burglars committed most of their offences within a 2-3 mile radius of their domestic space). Where crime tends to differ from other forms of activity is that offenders often try to maintain a ‘buffer zone’ around their domestic space when it comes to their criminal activities. If I regularly put on a mask and rob convenience stores at gunpoint (one of my many hobbies), I am unlikely to rob the store at the end of my own street because someone might recognise my voice, clothes, mannerisms, or might see me leave the store after the robbery and enter my own house.

In a very simplified version of geographical profiling, if we map the location of offences committed by a serial offender, ideally we should see something resembling a ring doughnut, a cluster of offences within which is an area where no offences were committed – the buffer zone the offender keeps between his/her offences and domestic space. Brilliant - in the process of trying to avoid detection, ironically the offender pretty much tells us where they live – what’s not to like about this approach?

One problem is that it is actually more difficult than we think to link specific unsolved offences to particular unknown suspects. There is a depressing uniformity about the methods employed in burglaries, street robberies and many violent offences (and in the physical descriptions of their perpetrators) that often make it quite difficult to say with certainty which offences were carried out by one unknown serial offender. Alternatively, in more serious cases like serial murder, while the links between serial offences may be more obvious, the relative scarcity of the offences means that when they are mapped, no nice unproblematic single buffer zone emerges on the map.

In both of these situations, most of what we know about the spatial distribution of serial offending comes from the analysis of offenders who have already been caught and the offences they admit to committing, so at present, the ability of geographical profiling to actually help identify unknown offenders is somewhat limited.

Geographical profiling also has to contend with human agency. Unlike bees, serial offenders may actually be aware of news coverage, or even research, relating to their behaviour. It is possible for serial offenders to make changes to their patterns of offending to disguise the relationship between individual offences. They could even avoid committing crimes in particular areas some distance from their own locale to try to create false buffer zones.

These are some of the reasons why, as a Criminologist, I am interested in geographical profiling. It has the potential to make important contributions to our understanding of the spatial patterning of offending in our society. It is rooted in a quite simple set of assumptions about human behaviour, but once it is applied to real offenders in their complex social contexts it produces a picture which is much more fragmented, speculative and incomplete. This means that it bears all the hallmarks (and problems) of the classic Criminological 'big idea'. It has a superficially simple common sense appeal that could be taken up and over emphasised by sections of the media (and ultimately by politicians looking for the next crime solution to offer the electorate). But the underlying complexities of geographical profiling in practice mean that it would never be able to deliver the 'magic bullet' that such simple accounts seem to promise.
So in the run up to a General Election in which 'The Crime Problem' will feature heavily, I'm honestly not too bothered if the media want to make links between serial killers and bees – but I really hope they don't discover the apparent delights of the geographical profiling of offenders.

Welcome to the new Sociology and Criminology blog...

We hope you like the new blog. This will be somewhere to find out what is happening in the School of Sociology and Criminology at Keele University, pick up news, hear from some of your lecturers (or lecturers-to-be, if you are thinking of coming here), find out information and ask questions.

We also hope it will help to inspire you, support your learning (whether you're already studying with us or doing preparatory studies before coming to University) and sometimes perhaps make you laugh.

Please post your comments, ask questions about our courses and our School and make suggestions about the blog.