Ireland

Bios

Matt Bowden is a Senior Lecturer (Sociology), School of Languages, Law and Social Sciences & Head of Research, Faulty of Arts & Humanities TU Dublin. Dr Bowden’s research interests are in the sociology of crime and security with particular interest in questions of space (urban / rural) and governance. More recent work has focused on the formation of security fields, with reference to the Bourdieusian concept of field and is co-Principal Investigator with Amanda Kramer (Queens, Belfast) for the research project Post-Brexit Security Field on the Island of Ireland (BORDEX). Dr Bowden is also researching on policing and security related topics including on security and consumption, security fields in west Africa, rural security in Ireland, and on issues of policing culture and habitus. Dr Bowden is a founder member of the TU Dublin Security Research Group and a senior member of the European University of Technology’s Culture and Technology Lab (ECt+). 

Nicola Hughes is a Lecturer in Criminology in the School of Languages, Law and Social Science at Technological University Dublin. Her areas of interest include the reoffending of juveniles and young adults who have spent time in prison, and their subsequent desistance from crime. Focusing on the factors involved in their desistance from crime and reintegration into society. Recently Dr. Hughes has conducted research on the experiences and challenges faced by former prisoners, engaging in higher education following their release from prison. r. Hughes is a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for the Growing Up in Ireland study, a National Expert for the European Study, Overview of the availability, comparability, and consistency of administrative statistical data on recorded crime and on the stages of the criminal justice processes, and a member of the Technological University Dublin Working Group on Ending Sexual Violence and Harassment (ESV&H).