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  • Find a PhD Supervisor

Find a PhD Supervisor

Dr Michelle Butler

School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work
Michelle Butler in university cloister

Dr Michelle Butler

School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work

Dr Butler’s interests include criminological psychology, imprisonment, reducing reoffending, desistance, penal reform and social media related crimes.. Criminological psychology involves understanding why people engage in crime, how society reacts to and manages criminal behaviour, as well as how individuals begin to leave behind a criminal career. She has been involved in a number of research projects examining prison violence, the needs of young people on remand, fear of crime, prison disciplinary practices, prison-based parenting programmes, the effects of caregiver imprisonment, the experiences of vulnerable people in the criminal justice system and penal reform in the UK, Ireland, Uganda and Colombia.

Contact info

  • michelle.butler@qub.ac.uk
  • +44 (0) 28 9097 3956

Research Interests

Open to PhD applications in: 

  • Imprisonment
  • Criminological Psychology
  • Penal Reform
  • Reducing Reoffending
  • Desistance
  • Social media related crimes

Make a PhD enquiry


Public outreach & key achievements

Winner Queen’s University Belfast Supervisory Excellence Award 2018

Nominated for Queen’s University Belfast Supervisory Excellence Award 2016

Nominated for Queen’s University Belfast Supervisory Excellence Award 2015


Research students

PhD area Behind Closed Doors: A Study of Cell-sharing and Coping in Prison. 
Name Aimee Muirhead
Years of study 2015-2019 
Country UK 
   
PhD area Doing Desistance in Divided Neighbourhoods: The Role of Conflict Affected Neighbourhoods
Name Shane Bell
Years of study 2015-2019  
Country UK
   
PhD area The Detection and Prevention of Inappropriate and Criminal Behaviour in Social Media
Name Mark Williams
Years of study 2016-2020 
Country UK 

Alumni: Where are they now

PhD area Police Response and Understanding of Incidents of Domestic Abuse Involvement Children and Young People. 
Name Annemarie Millar
Years of study 2014-2018  
Country UK 
Current Position Charted Psychologist/Emotional Intelligence Coach.  
   
PhD area The Impact of State Intervention on the Work of Community-Based Restorative Justice Projects in Northern Ireland 
Name Lauren Hogg 
Years of study 2013-2017 
Country UK 
Current Position Queen’s University Belfast, Teaching Assistant.  
   
PhD area Initiations and Transitions into Injecting Drug Use and Heroin Use. 
Name Julie Harris PhD
Years of study 2009-2017 
Country UK 
Current Position University of Ulster, Lecturer in Criminology and Criminal Justice. 
   
PhD area The Potential Effects of Educational and Vocational Programmes on the Desistance Process in Imprisoned Young People
Name Keira Flanagan
Years of study 2014-2018
Country Ireland
Current Position Lecturer in Psychology, South East Technological University
   
PhD area The Potential Effects of Educational and Vocational Programmes on the Desistance Process in Imprisoned Young People
Name Sinead Meade
Years of study 2014-2018
Country Ireland
Current Position Lecturer in Applied Psychology, Institute of Art Design and Technology, Dún Laoghaire
   
PhD area Cyber security on social media: The self-disclosure of sensitive private information and risk of online blackmail on WhatsApp in Oman.
Name Abdullah Al Habsi
Years of study 2018-2022
Country Oman
Current Position Assistant Professor, Sultan's Qaboos Academy for Police Sciences.

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  • Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
  • School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work
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Contact Us

20 College Green
Belfast
Northern Ireland
BT7 1LN

E-mail: ssesw@qub.ac.uk

Tel:+44 (0)28 9097 5941

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  • Sociology

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