Other Emily Wertans

I am a part-time Teaching Fellow and PhD candidate in the School of Criminology. I started with the School in 2014 completing my BA Criminology and MSc Criminology in Practice degrees here graduating with a First-Class Honours and a Distinction respectively. Alongside these degrees and since their completion I have worked with a range of charitable organisations undertaking work including mentoring prisoners volunteering in courts and working with homeless populations and victims of gender-based violence. I have also supported and led commissioned research and evaluation projects in the field of hate studies homelessness and femicide. Most recently I have been working in the area of hate and harassment in Higher Education working with partners around the world to address this issue at both policy and practice levels. Alongside these roles I also engage in public engagement through running creative writing sessions with vulnerable marginalised and homeless people. 

My PhD examines targeted hostility prejudice and discrimination directed towards homeless populations. Despite a rise in reports of extreme harassment against homeless people in particular rough sleepers there is a scarcity of robust research exploring the diverse nature of such abuse and the impact that this has on its victims. As such my research employs non-traditional and creative qualitative methods to meaningfully engage with this seldom heard group to increase understanding and awareness of the nature location and impact of unacceptable behaviour and the resultant support needs. Beyond this research I work with the Centre for Hate Studies on the topic of hate and harassment in Higher Education. Having recently published a report following an intensive study commissioned by the University of Leicester we are continuing to work with partners to improve awareness and develop new responses to address this ongoing global issue.

(0) Journal Articles
Suhomlinova, O., Ayres, T., Tonkin, M., O'Reilly, M., Wertans, E. and O'Shea, S. (2021) Locked up While Locked Down: Prisoners' Experiences of the COVID-19 Pandemic, The British Journal of Criminology, online first.

Reports
Wertans, E. and Chakraborti, N. (2021) Catalyst for Change: Recognising and Responding to Students' Experiences of Harassment. Leicester: University of Leicester

The Femicide Census (2020) Femicide Census: 10 year report. London: Nia.

The Femicide Census (2019) Annual Report on UK Femicides 2018. London: Nia.

Blogs
Wertans, E., "Homeless Hate: The pandemic's impact on prejudice", International Network for Hate Studies (2020).

Veritas Justice (2019) Who are stalkers?. Brighton: Veritas Justice

Veritas Justice (2019) What is stalking?. Brighton: Veritas Justice.

I currently supervise undergraduate research on the topics of: hate crime prejudice extremism gender-based violence victimisation and perpetration.

CR1001 Theories of Crime and Criminality CR1002 Criminal Justice in Action CR3020 Drugs and Crime CR3038 Undergraduate Dissertation and Student Research Projects CR7146 Criminological Research Methods 

My specialist areas include hate crime and harassment particularly within an educational context and engaging seldom heard and overlooked communities in scholarly research. My main area of focus is homelessness including experiences of victimisation policies approaches to wellbeing and support needs.

First Class BA (Hons) Criminology Distinction in MSc Criminology in Practice Associate Fellow for the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA)