Crime in its Contexts

A unique and collaborative one-day conference for second and third year History and Criminology undergraduates took place recently at Edge Hill.

Crime in its Contexts, organised by Dr. Alyson Brown from the Department of English and History and Dr. Alana Barton from the Department of Law and Criminology, brought together a number of prominent guest speakers from across the academic community.

Aimed to engage students more directly in scholarly activity in their chosen disciplines, conference attendees were given the opportunity to hear papers by, and direct questions to, the very academics whose work they have used throughout their studies.

The event was split into two dedicated parts, ‘Crime', chaired by Dr. John Archer from Edge Hill University, and ‘Punishment', chaired by Dr. David Scott from the University of Central Lancashire.  During these sessions visiting academics presented papers written especially for the conference enabling students to discuss issues and explore themes in great detail.

In addition, students also hear d directly from two postgraduate students, Angela Tobin (Edge Hill University) and Jo Turner (Keele University) who gave details of their current work.

Alyson commented, "Through Crime and its Contexts we wanted to promote integration of these separate disciplines and open each out to the ideas and methods pursued in the other."

Alana added, "It is unusual at any university for undergraduates to be given access to genuine research in this way. This conference has offered an exceptional teaching and learning environment to students on both programmes."