About
Michelle joined the University of Southampton in 2018 after working for nine years as a Senior Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Portsmouth. Prior to her posts in academia she worked in prisons and psychiatric hospitals with violent offenders.
Her research primarily seeks to understand offenders’ motivations for criminal behaviour as well as attitudinal change and desistance from offending. She is particularly interested in violent crime, including murder, domestic violence, and animal cruelty, and the interrelations between these.
Michelle has conducted various projects which have investigated how domestic violence perpetrators abuse companion animals as a way to manipulate and coerce human victims. She is also interested in perpetrators' motivations for engaging in wildlife crime and is currently carrying out research that is investigating the poaching of rhino horn and pangolin scales in East Africa.
Research
Research groups
Research interests
- Motivations for criminal behaviour
- Violent offending (murder, intimate partner violence and animal cruelty)
- Poaching and the illegal wildlife trade
- Criminal thinking styles
- Negative interpersonal relating
Current research
Michelle's current research encompasses the following topics:
Animal abuse and interpersonal relating
Animal abuse and 'dark' personality traits (especially psychopathy, machiavellianism, narcissism and sadism)
Intimate partner violence and animal abuse
Offender motivations for wildlife crime
Deterrent strategies for poaching
Publications
Teaching
Michelle currently leads and/or teaches on the following modules:
Criminological Psychology (year 2)
Perspectives in Criminology (year 2)
Penology (year 3)
Violent and Sexual Offenders (year 3)
She has also previously led and taught on a number of other undergraduate and postgraduate modules including:
Psychology for Criminologists (year 1)
Individual Differences and Abnormal Behaviour (year 1)
Forensic Mental Health (year 1)
Research Methods and Statistics (year 1)
Witnesses and Victims: Forensic Psychology in Practice (year 2)
Living with Justice (year 2)
Forensic Psychology (year 3)
The Psychology of Criminal Behaviour (MSc)
Advanced Quantitative Statistics (MSc)
Offender Assessment and Formulation (MSc)
Offender Treatment and Interventions (MSc)
External roles and responsibilities
Biography
Previous employment
Before joining the University of Southampton in 2018, Michelle worked in other academic posts (in both further education and higher education) as well as non-academic posts within the NHS and Prison Service. Some examples of her prior work include:
- Senior Lecturer in Forensic Psychology, Sheffield Hallam University
- Senior Lecturer in Forensic Psychology, University of Portsmouth
- Lecturer in Psychology, Brunel University
- Lecturer in Psychology, Richmond College
- Lecturer in Psychology, East Surrey College
- Chartered Psychologist & Researcher, HM Prison Service
- Assistant Psychologist, NHS & Prison Service
- Mental Health Unit Day Care Lead, Buckinghamshire County Council
- Mental Health Support Worker, Buckinghamshire County Council
Roles at the University of Southampton
Michelle holds the following roles at the University of Southampton:
- Programme Director, BSc Hons Criminology and Psychology (British Psychological Society accredited)
- Head of Work Planning
- Academic Integrity Lead
- Member of the Teaching Programme Team
- Member of the Teaching, Learning and Assessment Working Party
- Member of the Faculty Academic Validation Panel
- Module Lead and Lecturer on CRIM2004 Criminological Psychology
- Module Lead and Lecturer on CRIM3001 Penology
- Lecturer on CRIM2001 Perspectives in Criminology and CRIM3007 Violent and Sexual Offenders
- Undergraduate Dissertation Supervisor
- MSc Dissertation Supervisor
- PhD supervisor
- Faculty Ethics Committee Reviewer
- Member of the Research Strategy Steering Group
- Member of the Institute of Criminal Justice Research
PhD supervision
Michelle has successfully supervised the following PhD students to completion:
- Utilising recovery capital to support offender treatment (Advisor for Zeddy Chaudry, 2018-2021)
- Male sexual assault in UK prisons (Second Supervisor for Jo Wilkinson, 2017-2020)
- Transnational child sex offending: Understanding threat to disrupt and target (Advisor for Sarah Wefers, 2017-2020)
- Child grooming: Predicting risk to prioritise offenders (Advisor for Oliver Merry, 2016-2019)
- Dark Triad traits and justification of immoral behaviour (Advisor for Sara Hughes, 2015-2018)
- Female offenders' experiences of supported resettlement (First supervisor for Jennifer Hardy, 2013-2018)
- Introducing risk assessment to the Maltese Probation Service (First supervisor for Chantal Avellino, 2010-2014)
- Maladaptive personality traits and their influence on violent and sexual aggression (First supervisor for Louise Maxwell, 2010-2013)
Michelle currently supervises the following PhD students:
- Motivations driving consumption of illegally-traded wildlife products (Arjun Awasthi, 2021-2024)
- The impact of anti-domestic violence law in China (Shaoai Zhong, 2020-2023)
- The ecological consequences of marine wildlife crime (Kim Hadfield, 2019-2023)
- Life after trafficking: The social reintegration process of victims of sex trafficking in Indonesia (Sasie Rekha, 2018-2022)
Michelle has also examined a number of PhD theses.
Awards and nominations
Michelle has received a number of awards and nominations as follows:
- Awarded 2021: Employee Dedication Award, University of Southampton
- Nominated 2020: Vice Chancellor’s 'In the Face of Adversity’ Award, University of Southampton
- Awarded 2017: Faculty Inspirational Teaching Award, Sheffield Hallam University
- Awarded 2017: Faculty Inspirational Teaching Award, Sheffield Hallam University (Malaysia Campus)
- Nominated 2016: Faculty Inspirational Teaching Award, Sheffield Hallam University
- Awarded 2015: Exceptional Contribution Award, Sheffield Hallam University
- Nominated 2015: Faculty Inspirational Teaching Award, Sheffield Hallam University (Malaysia Campus)
- Awarded 2009: Performance Recognition Award, HM Prison Service