Dr Anna Bussu

Profile

Biography

Dr Anna Bussu

Anna is a Chartered psychologist (Division of Forensic Psychology and Academics, Researchers and Teachers) and Senior Lecturer in Criminal Justice. She was the Programme Leader of BSc Psychosocial Analysis of Offending Behaviour (PAOB) (2020-2024). She has worked at Edge Hill University since September 2016.

Anna completed her PhD with a dissertation in Forensic Psychology from the University of Sassari (Italy) that investigates “Functions and competencies of the police officers to conduct an interrogation. The contribution of Forensic Psychology and qualitative research to define training requirements”. During her postdoc positions (2009-2012) and assistant professorship (2012-2015) at the University of Sassari (Italy), she collaborated on several international research projects.

In 2022, she secured external funding for implementing a research project in collaboration with a local charity, Early Music As Education -Liverpool; she has recently completed the project and published the research project  “Exploring the Impact of Music on the psychosocial wellbeing and life skills development of Liverpool’s children, young people and their local communities”.

Anna was awarded a Prometeo Scholarship. From 2015 to 2016, she spent over six months in Ecuador, where she worked at the Faculty of Psychology (University of Guayaquil) to implement her project on life skills and restorative practices.

From 2014 to 2016, she was a visiting scholar in the USA (e.g. University of San Diego, Skidmore College) and at several European Universities (e.g. Universidad de Girona, Université de Corse Pascal Paoli). From 2010 to 2015, she worked as a research coordinator and life coach at the Center for Counselling and Coaching at the University of Sassari.

From Jan 2011 to Dec 2013, she was an Honorary Judge (Expert in Forensic Criminology) at the Surveillance Court of Sassari. From 2004 to date, she has been a Trainer and Life Coach.

Research Interests

Her current research interests focused on:

Deviance and Crime prevention: risk and protective factors in offending behaviour; diversion & children and young people; cybervictimization; restorative practices and Police Practice.

Training and Vocation: peer mentoring and coaching; life skills development; professional training requirements; career guidance and vocational training.

Since December 2017, she has been Senior Managing Editor of “Police Practice & Research – An International Journal”.

Teaching and Learning

Anna is a Senior Fellow of Higher Education. Her objective is to implement and develop projects and initiatives both within the EHU and on a national and international scale. She focuses on supporting the vision of maintaining teaching excellence, as evidenced by the TEF Gold standard and promoting student retention.

In 2022, she designed and delivered a peer mentoring scheme for Early Career Academics organised by the Sociological Association of Ireland (SAI). She conducted training sessions for senior academics, serving as mentors and for Early Career Academics as mentees. Additionally, she successfully implemented a second edition of the program in 2023.

These are the modules she currently works on:

CROI3025: Psychological explanations of crime (ML)

CRI2030: Women, Girls and Offending (ML)

CRI1127: Addictions and Offending (ML)

CRI3027: Dissertation (ML)

CRI4005: Offending and Risk (ML)

Supervision: Master AMOB (Applied Management of Offending Behaviour)

Supervision: PhD in offending behaviours, criminal justice, psychology and health and social care.

Recent organisational responsibilities
o June 2023 – present, Internationalisation Coordinator, School of Law, Criminology & Policing, EHU.
o September 2023- present, Faculty reps on Research Degrees Sub-Committee, EHU.
o 2022 -present, Member working group on “Workload Allocation Model”, EHU.
o Co- Director of the Centre for Applied Criminal Justice and Policing Research at Edge Hill University with a remit Research Development and Mentoring of ECRs / PGRs / Practitioners in academia.

Research Interests

Dr Anna Bussu

Dr Anna Bussu is a Chartered Psychologist (Division of Forensic Psychology and Division of Coaching Psychology) and Reader in Criminal Justice in the School of Law and Criminal Justice at Edge Hill University. She is Co-Director of the Centre for Applied Criminal Justice and Policing Research, with a remit for research development and mentoring of Early Career Researchers, Postgraduate Researchers and practitioners transitioning into academia. She is also Senior Managing Editor and Acting Editor-in-Chief of Police Practice & Research: An International Journal (Q1).

Anna has recently taken on the role of PGR Contact Co-ordinator for the School of Law and Criminal Justice, supporting doctoral admission, GTA monitoring, PGR induction, and liaison with the Graduate School. This role further contributes to postgraduate research support and research culture within the School

Anna has established a distinctive research profile in Criminal Justice, focused on children’s and young people’s offending, victimisation and wellbeing. Her research is applied and partnership-based, involving collaboration with universities, justice agencies, community organisations, charities and international partners. Her complementary work on academic mentoring extends this relational and developmental focus into higher education, examining belonging, progression and research capacity-building.

Anna holds qualifications in psychology, criminology and education, including a PhD in Forensic Psychology from the University of Sassari, Italy. Before joining Edge Hill University, she developed an international applied research profile through two postdoctoral fellowships on restorative justice and inter-institutional mediation (2009 –2012), her role as Assistant Professor in Social and Forensic Psychology (2012 –2015), and a competitive Prometeo scholarship (2015–2016) to undertake teaching and research in Ecuador. Her professional experience strengthens the credibility and applied relevance of her teaching. This includes her work as an Honorary Judge and expert in forensic criminology in court settings (2011–2013), a role to which she was appointed through a competitive national process based on professional and academic qualifications, as well as her applied work in prison and community settings since 2006.

Anna has led and contributed to international and national funded research projects on restorative justice, life skills, youth prevention, cybervictimisation, mentoring, psychosocial wellbeing and community engagement. Her research is strongly applied and partnership-based, with a focus on producing rigorous scholarship that informs criminal justice practice, education, prevention and community wellbeing.

Research Interests

Anna’s research adopts an ecological framework to examine the psychosocial and criminogenic risk and protective factors that shape children’s and young people’s offending, victimisation and developmental outcomes. It focuses on early intervention and prevention through restorative, mentoring-based and life skills approaches. Her methodological expertise includes qualitative and mixed-methods research, systematic reviews, evidence synthesis, computer-assisted qualitative data analysis using ATLAS.ti and NVivo.

Anna’s current research interests include:

Restorative justice and relational practice
Restorative justice in criminal justice, youth justice and higher education
Youth justice, young people’s voice and participation
Children and young people’s offending, victimisation and desistance
Child criminal exploitation, gangs and organised crime
Early intervention, prevention and psychosocial wellbeing
Cyberbullying, cyberstalking and online victimisation
Hate crime and restorative responses
Peer mentoring, academic mentoring and belonging in higher education

Postgraduate and Doctoral Supervision 

She has an effective record of supervision and researcher development across postgraduate, doctoral and postdoctoral levels, including the supervision of  Master’s dissertations in the UK and Italy, successful PhD completion in Criminal Justice and line managament of post doctoral reserachers. She currently supervises doctoral researchers and has examined MRes work, while also mentoring research assistants and postdoctoral researchers through funded projects. Her supervision is mentoring-led and supports intellectual independence, methodological confidence, publication development and professional growth.

Research excellence and scholarly contribution

Anna’s research profile combines substantial volume, sustained quality, recent productivity, intellectual leadership, intellectual leadership and growing visibility. To date, she has produced 61 published outputs, comprising one authored book, 23 book chapters and 36 research papers, with a further Routledge Monograph forthcoming. This body of work is characterised by sustained quality and leadership: 25 peer -reviewed papers have been published in Q1 and Q2 journals, and the majority of her outputs have been published as first or second author, evidencing a leading contribution to her field.

Across her career, she has secured and contributed to approximately £2.2 million in research funding as Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator, spanning international, European, external and institutional awards. More recently, she has secured funding as Principal Investigator from the British Academy and the EMAE Charity, further evidencing her capacity to lead externally funded, partnership-based research

Selected publications

1. Bussu, A., & Mangiarulo, M. (2026). Harmony beyond the notes: Community members’ perspectives on the impact of classical music ensembles on children and young people’s life skills. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1002/casp.70221
2. Bussu, A., & Karp, D. (2026). Institutionalizing restorative justice in higher education: Insights from practitioners. Journal of Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2026.2684839
3. Bussu, A., & Karp, D. R. (2026). Achievements and challenges with embedding restorative justice in higher education: Lessons from institutional experiences. Journal of Criminal Justice Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/10511253.2026.2677152
4. Bussu, A., & Karp, D. (2025). Restorative justice in higher education: An analysis of challenges, strategies, and achievements using Normalization Process Theory. Innovative Higher Education, 51, 293–325. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-025-09846-5
5. Bussu, A., Pulina, M., Ashton, S-A., & Mangiarulo, M. (2025). Cyberbullying and cyberstalking in higher education: Policies and practices for supporting students and academic staff. Social Psychology of Education, 28, Article 34. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-024-09989-x
6. Bussu, A., & Mangiarulo, M. (2026). Playing music together: Exploring the impact of a classical music ensemble on adolescents’ life skills and self-perception. PLOS ONE, 19(7), 1-28 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306326
7. Bussu, A., Pulina, M., Ashton, S-A., Mangiarulo, M., & Molloy, E. (2024). Cyberbullying and cyberstalking victimisation among university students: A narrative systematic review. International Review of Victimology, 31(1), 59–90. https://doi.org/10.1177/02697580241257217
8. Bussu, A., Creaney, S., Price, J., Burn, S., & Myles, K. (2024). ‘It’s a sixth sense…I see you, you see me, and we’ve been there’: Benefits and challenges of developing a peer mentoring scheme with young people in youth justice services. British Journal of Community Justice, 19(2), 4–19. https://doi.org/10.48411/4c2h-hc54
9. Carroll, P., Hargreaves, F., Bussu, A., Creaney, S., Longpré, N., et al. (2024). Exploring the Liverpool Football Club (LFC) Foundation’s approach to youth intervention via Onside Programme. British Journal of Community Justice, 19(2), 66–84. https://doi.org/10.48411/xkyj-rt35
10. Bussu, A., Pulina, M., Ashton, S-A., & Mangiarulo, M. (2023). Exploring the impact of cyberbullying and cyberstalking on victims’ behavioural changes in higher education during COVID-19: A case study. International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice, 75, Article 100628. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlcj.2023.100628
11. Atenas, J., Nerantzi, C., & Bussu, A. (2023). A conceptual approach to transform and enhance academic mentorship through open educational practices. Open Praxis, 15(4), 271–287. https://doi.org/10.55982/openpraxis.15.4.595
12. Ashton, S-A., & Bussu, A. (2022). The social dynamics of adolescent co-offending. Youth Justice, 23(3), 350–371. https://doi.org/10.1177/14732254221136044
13. Ashton, S-A., & Bussu, A. (2020). Peer groups, street gangs and organised crime in the narratives of adolescent male offenders. Journal of Criminal Psychology, 10(4), 277–292. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCP-06-2020-0020
    Award: Outstanding Paper, Emerald Literati Awards 2021.

Forthcoming and Ongoing Publications

Ashton, S.-A., & Bussu, A. (2026). The psychology of child criminal exploitation: From initiation to desistance. Routledge Criminology and Criminal Justice. Monograph forthcoming.

Creaney, S., Price, J., Bussu, A., Burn, S., & Myles, K. (in press). The social and educational value of peer mentoring in a youth justice context. In A. Shafi, S. Case, N. Hazel, & H. Kent (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of children’s education in custodial and youth justice settings. Palgrave Macmillan.

Bussu, A., Creaney, S., & Price, J. (forthcoming). Bridging the gap: How peer mentoring can amplify children’s voices and address their needs within youth justice services. In A. Charles, A. Brown, J. D. Janes, & T. Kirk (Eds.), Marginalisation in youth justice. Palgrave Macmillan.

Bussu, A., Duggan, K., & Creaney, S. (under review). Peer mentoring in youth justice: What works, what hinders, and what matters? Evidence from a systematic narrative review. Youth Justice.

Mangiarulo M., & Bussu A. (under review).Building Community Through Music Ensemble Practice: Young People’s and Community Members’ Perspectives. Journal of Community Psychology.

External engagement

Since 2025, Anna served as Senior Managing Editor, Acting Editor-in-Chief and Ambassador of the Journal for Police Practice and Research: An International Journal, following earlier editorial leadership roles between 2017 and 2024. She is also Guest Editor of the special issue Transforming Youth Justice: International Perspectives and Approaches to Youth Voice and Participation in Youth.

Her wider external engagement includes membership of the CPS Mersey–Cheshire Hate Crime Scrutiny Panel; her role as Scientific Member of the Steering Group of the Social Observatory on Development and Crime in Sardinia at the University of Sassari, Italy; collaborations with organisations such as Liverpool Football Club Foundation, Early Music as Education, Victim Support Europe, Higher Education Authority, Sociological Association of Ireland, Liverpool City Council, the Runnymede Trust, the National Network for Education NGOs, and other international partners; keynote lectures, invited talks and professional training in the UK, Ireland, Italy, the USA and South America. 

Media dissemination and public research

Teaching and Learning

Anna is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and has held significant teaching, curriculum and programme leadership roles. She was Programme Leader of the BSc Psychosocial Analysis of Offending Behaviour from 2020 to 2024 and contributed to the development and validation of the new Criminal Justice degree provision at Edge Hill University. Her teaching is research-informed and practice-oriented, with emphasis on experiential learning, multi-agency work, restorative pedagogy, professional skills, mentoring and employability.

Anna’s teaching leadership is underpinned by over 15 years of international experience across Europe, South America and the United States. She has taught and delivered invited lectures in English, Spanish, French and Italian through module leadership, Erasmus+ staff mobility and international guest lecturing. Her teaching demonstrates sustained pedagogical leadership in curriculum development, professional skills education, mentoring, employability and the student experience.

She is currently the Module Leader for the following undergraduate modules:

(BSC Criminal Justice, BSC Criminal Justice and Law, BSC Criminal Justice and Psychology, BSC Policing, BSC Psychology and Criminal Justice)

LAC3002: Psychological Explanations of Crime (1st sem)
LAC1001: Multi-agency Work in Criminal Justice (2nd sem)
LAC1003: Addiction and Offending (2nd sem)
LAC3001: Criminal Justice Dissertation (1st sem and 2nd sem)

LAC3004 Research Report (1st sem and 2nd sem)

She also contributes to the following modules:

LAC1002: Doing Criminal Justice Research (2nd sem)
 

She is currently the Module Leader for the following postgraduate modules:

MSC Applied Management of Offending Behaviour

CRI4005: Offending and Risk (1rst sem)

CRI4004: Research Methods (1st sem)

Recent Organisational Responsibilities

2026 -present: PGR Contact Co-ordinator for the School of Law and Criminal Justice

2025–present: Co-Director, Centre for Applied Criminal Justice and Policing Research, Edge Hill University, with a remit for research development and mentoring of ECRs, PGRs and practitioners transitioning into academia.

2025–present: Steering Group Member, Racial Justice and Migration Research Group, Edge Hill University.

2024–present: Representative for the School of Law and Criminal Justice, Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee, Edge Hill University.

2024–present: Chair, Ethics Committee for the Criminal Justice Programmes, Edge Hill University.

2024–present: Year Leader, Level 6, BSc Psychosocial Analysis of Offending Behaviour, Edge Hill University.

2023–2024: Internationalisation Coordinator, School of Law and Criminal Justice, Edge Hill University.

2022–2023: Member, Workload Allocation Model Working Group, Edge Hill University.

2020–2024: Programme Leader, BSc Psychosocial Analysis of Offending Behaviour, Edge Hill University