Higher Degree by Research (HDR) Scholarships and Top-ups

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1 Higher Degree by Research (HDR) Scholarships and Top-ups Griffith University hosts one of the largest, most vibrant, and high-performing criminology research communities in the world. At the Griffith Criminology Institute (GCI) internationally-renowned scholars are collaborating in a broad range of areas to produce cutting edge knowledge that helps create safe, just, wellgoverned and equitable societies. Our research aims to address the major challenges that confront society and is organised around themes and projects which currently include: violence prevention, life course studies, prevention science, policing, corrections, innovative justice, procedural justice, vulnerable families, prosecutions, justice in the Asia-Pacific, investigative interviewing and countering violent extremism. Prospective Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students are invited to apply for a PhD Scholarship with the Griffith Criminology Institute. Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Stipend Scholarship, Griffith University Postgraduate Research Scholarship and Griffith University Indigenous Australian Postgraduate Research Scholarship applications are currently open, closing Tuesday 2 October These Scholarship opportunities each provide a living allowance of approximately $27,082 (2018 rate, indexed annually) per annum. Tuition Scholarships are also available for international HDR candidates. How to Apply Prospective students should follow the process for submitting an online Scholarship application outlined on the Griffith University website; GCI Scholarship Top-up Funding To complement the Scholarships above, GCI is offering up to 5 Top-up Scholarships each valued at $6,000 per annum, paid in addition to the usual living allowance. Applicants must meet the University s selection criteria for entry into the PhD programme and be awarded a living allowance Scholarship to qualify for the extra GCI Top-up funding. All students who apply for a Scholarship with GCI will be considered for top-up funding. Students may undertake one of the pre-formulated projects outlined in the following pages or any other HDR project within the Institute. All Scholarship applications will be considered via the usual round assessment process and topups will be awarded to the highest ranked GCI candidates in the Order of Merit. Students must contact the supervisor or supervisory team by early-september 2018 to discuss the project and develop a research proposal for inclusion with the Scholarship application. Contact details for the supervisory teams of pre-formulated projects are provided below and students may contact our members directly to discuss projects and supervisory arrangements. Other GCI PhD Scholarships and Top-ups Additionally, GCI is proud to support the Tony Fitzgerald Top-up Scholarship, and the Nina Westera Scholarship in Adult Investigative Interviewing. Please see the following links for further information regarding these Scholarships:

2 Project Title: Supervisory Team: Maternal incarceration and children s developmental wellbeing Professor Susan Dennison (susan.dennison@griffith.edu.au) Prof Dennison has extensive research experience on the impact of parental incarceration on the development and wellbeing of parents in prison, their children, and caregivers. More broadly, her research focuses on the contexts affecting children s developmental systems and life outcomes as well as using evidence-based research to inform policy and prevention for atrisk children. She is an experienced PhD supervisor and is currently supervising three other PhD candidates on projects relating to parental incarceration. She is the lead Chief Investigator on the current ARC Discovery Project that this PhD project will contribute to; Maternal incarceration: Mechanisms of risk and resilience in children s developmental contexts Professor Lisa Broidy (lbroidy@unm.edu) Prof Broidy is a Professor in sociology at the University of New Mexico, an Adjunct Professor in the Griffith Criminology Institute and a partner investigator on the current ARC Discovery Project. She is an internationally recognised scholar in developmental criminology, particularly in relation to the intersectionality of race and gender on offending pathways and outcomes. Project Description: An ECR associate supervisor may also be recruited to provide an opportunity for supervision mentoring and development. Aims and Background: The PhD project will be part of the ARC Discovery Project Maternal incarceration: Mechanisms of risk and resilience in children s developmental contexts. The number of female prisoners has increased 60% in the last decade, with over 2,800 women in prison. At least half of these women are mothers, and the impact of incarceration on their children is likely profound and enduring. Research on children of incarcerated fathers shows that negative impacts on children s psychological and social competence contribute to early and chronic offending. As mothers are central to children s developmental outcomes, the impacts of maternal incarceration should mirror or even eclipse those of paternal incarceration. But, because of methodological weaknesses in research on children of incarcerated mothers, we do not fully understand how maternal incarceration shapes children s short- and long-term life course outcomes. The ARC Discovery project has two overarching aims: 1. To determine whether or not maternal incarceration affects children s psychological and social development and how this links to children s antisocial and offending outcomes. 2. To build from existing criminological theories to develop an evidence-based, theoretical model of the mechanisms by which maternal incarceration exerts its effect on children. Research Plan: The successful candidate will develop a research project that draws from interviews with mothers in prison, their children and their children s caregivers, as well as mothers on probation and their children. The PhD candidate will be expected to contribute to the collection of primary data within the ARC project and to work alongside other students and project staff. The project is housed in the Griffith Criminology Institute and the candidate will have the opportunity to participate in the professional development activities offered through the Institute. Timetable: Year 1: Conduct literature review; develop research questions within scope of aims of ARC Project; interview training; data collection. Year 2: Data collection; analyse data, write 1 st paper. Year 3: Analyse data; write 2 nd paper; write thesis; present paper at international conference. Travel for data collection and transcription of interviews will be supported from the ARC Discovery Project budget in consultation with the project investigators.

3 Other Important information: The successful applicant will join an innovative team of researchers at the Griffith Criminology Institute undertaking research on prison and the family. As a doctoral student, you will develop expertise in cutting edge criminology, gain experience in research design and methods, and produce insights that may lead to improved social and wellbeing outcomes for justice-affected mothers and their children. Applicants should be available to start in early 2019 and have the following attributes: An undergraduate degree Class I Honours in an appropriate discipline (such as criminology, psychology, sociology, social work, or some combination of these areas) An ability to work with quantitative and qualitative data, with specific experience or interest in qualitative research Excellent interpersonal skills and willingness to work in a team environment A driver s licence to enable travel to prisons and communities to conduct interviews Hold a blue card or be blue card eligible in order to interview children and young people Be intending to enrol full-time in the doctoral program through the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice

4 Project Title: Supervisory Team: Indigenous mothers in the criminal justice system Professor Susan Dennison Prof Dennison has extensive research experience on the impact of parental incarceration on the development and wellbeing of parents in prison, their children, and caregivers. More broadly, her research focuses on the contexts affecting children s developmental systems and life outcomes as well as using evidence-based research to inform policy and prevention for atrisk children. She is an experienced PhD supervisor and is currently supervising three other PhD candidates on projects relating to parental incarceration. She has conducted research with Indigenous fathers in prison and is currently supervising a PhD project evaluating a program for Indigenous parents in prison. She is the lead Chief Investigator on the current ARC Discovery Project that this PhD project will contribute to; Maternal incarceration: Mechanisms of risk and resilience in children s developmental contexts. Professor Lisa Broidy (lbroidy@unm.edu) Prof Broidy is a Professor in sociology at the University of New Mexico, an Adjunct Professor in the Griffith Criminology Institute and a partner investigator on the current ARC Discovery Project. She is an internationally recognised scholar in developmental criminology, particularly in relation to the intersectionality of race and gender on offending pathways and outcomes. Project Description: An ECR associate supervisor may also be recruited to provide an opportunity for supervision mentoring and development. Aims and Background: The PhD project will be part of the ARC Discovery Project Maternal incarceration: Mechanisms of risk and resilience in children s developmental contexts. Internationally, parental imprisonment has a demonstrated effect on intergenerational offending as well as a worsening of intergenerational disparities, racial inequality and social exclusion. In Australia, First Peoples comprise approximately 2% of the adult population but make up more than a quarter (27%) of our prison population. As a result of this overrepresentation in prison and in the justice system more broadly, Indigenous children are disproportionately more likely to experience parental incarceration than non-indigenous children. However, we have very little understanding of the ways that Indigenous children in Australia are affected by the incarceration of their mother. Furthermore, we do not know whether children whose mothers are involved in the criminal justice system but who are not incarcerated (i.e. are on probation) are similarly affected. The ARC Discovery project has two overarching aims: 1. To determine whether or not maternal incarceration affects children s psychological and social development and how this links to children s antisocial and offending outcomes. 2. To build from existing criminological theories to develop an evidence-based, theoretical model of the mechanisms by which maternal incarceration exerts its effect on children. An outstanding Indigenous doctoral candidate is sought to undertake studies on experiences of maternal incarceration for First Peoples children. This project forms part of a larger ARC Discovery Project using mixed-methods to investigate the developmental contexts of children who have a mother in prison or on probation. The successful PhD candidate will have the opportunity to adapt the methodology of the ARC Discovery project to incorporate methodologies suitable for research with First Peoples. They will be involved in primary data collection; conducting interviews with Indigenous mothers and their families in Queensland. Research Plan: In this PhD project the candidate will consider the specific challenges for justice-affected Indigenous mothers and their children and caregivers. The research will focus on identifying the mechanisms that drive adverse developmental outcomes for children as well as those associated with resilience. Through this project the candidate will identify key programming and policy targets that can address the risks and needs specific to mothers, children, families and communities.

5 Timetable: Year 1: Conduct literature review; develop research questions within scope of aims of ARC Project; interview training; data collection. Year 2: Data collection; analyse data, write 1 st paper. Year 3: Analyse data; write 2 nd paper; write thesis; present paper at international conference. Other Important information: Travel for data collection and transcription of interviews will be supported from the ARC Discovery Project budget in consultation with the project investigators. The successful applicant will join an innovative team of researchers at the Griffith Criminology Institute undertaking research on prison and the family. As a doctoral student, you will develop expertise in cutting edge criminology, gain experience in research design and methods, and produce insights that may lead to improved outcomes for Indigenous mothers and their children. This HDR project is reserved for applicants of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent, who identify themselves as such, and are accepted by the community with which they are associated with as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. Applicants should be available to start in early 2019 and have the following attributes: An undergraduate degree with Class IIA Honours or above, in an appropriate discipline (such as criminology, psychology, sociology, social work, or some combination of these areas) An ability to work with quantitative and qualitative data, with specific experience or interest in qualitative research Experience or interest in developing their expertise in Indigenous research methodologies Excellent interpersonal skills and willingness to work in a team environment A driver s licence to enable travel to prisons and communities to conduct interviews Hold a blue card or be blue card eligible in order to interview children and young people be intending to enrol full-time in the doctoral program through the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice

6 Project Title: Supervisory Team: Barriers preventing access to justice for Indigenous people in criminal law contexts Professor Elena Marchetti Elena Marchetti is an internationally leading researcher focused on interactions between Indigenous people and justice systems, Indigenous courts and justice practices, innovative evaluations of Indigenous justice programs and Indigenous methodologies. Professor Janet Ransley Janet Ransley is the Director of the Griffith Criminology Institute and widely respected as a scholar and leader in criminal justice education across Griffith University as well as across the international field of Criminology. She has led a number of industry funded research projects with policing organisations and related justice agencies and has been Chief Investigator on several Australian Research Council and Criminology Research Council grants. Professors Marchetti and Ransley have co-published several articles and chapters together and between them have supervised 15 students to completion. Project Description: An ECR associate supervisor may also be recruited to provide an opportunity for supervision mentoring and development. Aims and Background: This project will focus on barriers that restrict Indigenous people accessing justice in Australia in criminal justice contexts. Despite reform attempts over the last 25 years, Indigenous people generally, and young people in particular, continue to be incarcerated at ever-increasing rates. Numerous inquiries over the last months have addressed aspects of this problem, including those into the NT Don Dale detention centre, Queensland s youth detention system, and the Law Council of Australia s Justice Project. Governments around Australia have introduced various policy innovations, including specialist courts and diversion programs, but their impact is disputed and often their funding is precarious. For this project, the successful student will work with the supervisory team to tailor a research program that will examine one or more aspects of this problem. Possible projects include: Why are so many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people being sentenced for breach of bail? According to a recent report prepared by the Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander offenders make up 26.1% of all offenders sentenced for a breach of bail offence as their most serious offence over an 11 year period in Queensland, which is considerably higher than the proportion of all sentenced offenders over that same time period who identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. Female Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander offenders are more highly overrepresented in these statistics than males. It is unclear why this is the case and in particular why this is so for females. We know that there may be a range of reasons why this is happening but unless we understand this better, we cannot enact laws or introduce policies that provide Indigenous offenders with better access to justice. Indeed the ALRC s Pathways to Justice report encouraged governments to look at developing a holistic package for bail law reform. The project would result in proposals for policy and law reform. The need for and efficacy of Youth Murri Courts The Youth Murri Courts were operating alongside each Adult Murri Court in Queensland when the Murri Courts were first established. However, in 2012 they were defunded, along with the Adult Murri Courts. When funding was reinstated in 2016, it was only for the Adult Courts. Despite this Youth Murri Courts are still operating on an informal basis in some areas, including Brisbane. This PhD project would look at the use of youth or children s Indigenous sentencing courts as a tool for increasing access to justice for young people, specifically focusing on their historical and continued use in Queensland.

7 It has long been acknowledged that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people need access to interpreter services when appearing before the criminal (or in that matter, civil) justice system. However, we have little knowledge of how often this occurs and whether interpreter services are adequate, particularly in more urban areas. A PhD project could study the use of interpreter services across Queensland and possibly in other states (such as the Northern Territory) to determine whether such a service is providing better access to justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Research Plan: The research plan will vary depending on the project chosen, however any of these projects will likely used a mixed methods approach incorporating predominantly qualitative data collection via interviews, focus groups and documentary analysis, complemented by the analysis of administrative data where appropriate. For any project, research will be conducted within the developing frameworks of Indigenous Methodologies that give due weight to Indigenous forms of knowledge. Other Important information: Timetable: Prof Marchetti has excellent contacts throughout the Qld justice system both due to her research history and her role on Qld s Sentencing Advisory Council, and this will assist the student to access data and stakeholders. Year 1 of any of the projects is likely to focus on reviewing the current state of knowledge in the area and developing appropriate methodology. Year 2 will be devoted largely to data collection and year 3 to analysis and write-up. The successful applicant will join an innovative team of researchers at the Griffith Criminology Institute undertaking research on Indigenous Justice. As a doctoral student, you will develop expertise in cutting edge criminology, gain experience in research design and methods, and produce insights that may lead to improved environmental and social outcomes in practice. Applicants should be available to start in early 2019 and have the following attributes: an undergraduate degree with Class I Honours in an appropriate discipline (such as criminology, law, legal studies, environmental science, the humanities, social sciences, or some combination of these areas).

8 Project Title: Supervisory Team: Community guardianship & crime control in the digital age Dr Danielle Reynald Danielle is the GCI and School or Criminology and Criminal Justice PhD Program Director and an emerging leader in the field of applied situational crime prevention. She has expertise on guardianship, situational crime prevention and crime prevention via environmental design. Prof Clifford Shearing Professor Clifford Shearing is one of the world s leading scholars in security governance and policing. He is currently Professor in the Griffith Criminology Institute and was formerly Director of the Centre of Criminology at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Prior to that he held senior appointments and visiting roles at universities in Canada, Australia, Britain and Norway. As well as his prolific academic output, Clifford has made major policy contributions to the reshaping of policing and security in South Africa, Canada, Jamaica and Northern Ireland. Project Description: An ECR associate supervisor may also be recruited to provide an opportunity for supervision mentoring and development. Aims and Background: This project will focus on examining how guardianship against crime (and other related factors) has fundamentally changed with new technological developments. Focusing on digital neighbourhood watch/community safety applications, this project will examine how these apps generate new opportunities for effective guardianship via mobile devices both at the individual and collective community level. It will also examine disadvantages associated with these apps, including ways in which they may undermine the principles of guardianship and community by providing platforms that motivate discrimination and foster opportunities for victimisation. The goal of this project is to provide an evidence-base for what works, what does not and under what conditions, when it comes to maximising the utility of these apps for their intended purpose of collective crime prevention within communities. The end result of this project will be best practice guidelines for the optimal design of digital crime prevention applications so we can maximize their potential to enhance citizen involvement in crime prevention and control. Research Plan: A mixed methods approach will be employed for this study, involving both quantitative and qualitative analyses. The study will involve an international comparison across countries including Australia, the UK, Sweden and the US. The study may also involve the design of an experiment using already existing applications in these countries. Other Important information: Timetable: Year 1: Review of existing literature, definition of study scope, empirical research design Year 2: Data collection and data analyses Year 3: Write up and dissemination of findings The successful applicant will join an innovative team of researchers at the Griffith Criminology Institute undertaking research on guardianship, technology and crime prevention. As a doctoral student, you will develop expertise in cutting edge criminology, gain experience in research design and methods, and produce insights that may lead to improved environmental and social outcomes in practice. Applicants should be available to start in early 2019 and have the following attributes: an undergraduate degree with Class I Honours (or international equivalent) in an appropriate discipline (such as criminology, psychology, environmental science, computer science and information technology, the humanities, social sciences, or some combination of these areas).

9 Project Title: Supervisory Team: Engaging Muslims in the fight against terrorism: A procedural justice policing perspective Professor Kristina Murphy (t.murphy@griffith.edu.au) Kristina Murphy is Australia s leading procedural justice policing scholar and is internationally recognised for her work in this field. She will be the lead supervisor of the PhD student, complemented by Dr Louise Porter and Early Career Scholar Dr Keiran Hardy. Kristina has extensive experience working with the Muslim community and has worked closely with the Queensland Police Service and other police agencies in Australia on implementing procedural justice into police practice. She has also examined procedural justice within the context of counter terrorism policing. Dr Louise Porter (l.porter@griffith.edu.au) Louise Porter is a leading policing scholar in Australia and brings expertise in police use of force, internal investigations and integrity, having conducted quantitative and qualitative research in these areas. She has extensive PhD supervision experience and has supervised with Kristina Murphy a former University Medal winner. Project Description: Dr Keiran Hardy (k.hardy@griffith.edu.au) Keiran Hardy has expertise on the policing of counter terrorism. His law background and the focus of his current Griffith University Postdoctoral Fellowship project on counter-terrorism strategies around the world will be valuable to the PhD project. His involvement will also serve as a mentoring opportunity to see him gain experience in PhD supervision. Aims and Background: The PhD project will be part of an Australian Research Council Funded Future Fellowship Project awarded to Kristina Murphy Engaging Muslims in the fight against terrorism. The PhD project aims to address a significant problem faced by police: How can they encourage Muslims to report terror threats? Collaboration from Muslims is essential to prevent terrorism. Yet police often struggle to engage Muslims in terrorism prevention. Current responses to terrorism often result in Muslims feeling stigmatised, reducing their willingness to work with police to prevent terrorism. The PhD project outcomes will identify when and why police are willing to use procedural justice in counter-terrorism. This will benefit society through improved police relationships with Muslims and will assist in terrorism prevention. Work already undertaken in the field (including some work by Murphy) reveals that perceptions of procedural justice are very important to Muslim communities, and these perceptions have been shown to be linked to Muslims willingness to work with police (Huq et al 2011; Tyler et al 2010; Cherney & Murphy 2016; 2017; Madon, Murphy & Cherney 2016; Murphy, Cherney & Teston 2018). However, we know very little about how police perceive Muslims and how they perceive procedural justice as a viable option for policing Muslim communities in the counter-terrorism space. The PhD project will address this gap in the field. Research Plan: The PhD project has two aims: 1. To identify the challenges police face in implementing procedural justice in the counter-terrorism context; 2. To use a police culture framework to identify factors that influence police officers receptiveness to procedural justice in the counter-terrorism context. In Year 1, the student will interview up to 40 police in QPS (N=20) and NSW police (N=20) about the challenges and barriers police face using procedural justice in counter-terrorism policing. In Year 2, Murphy will collect survey data from Queensland and NSW police (N=400) about their views on policing Muslims in counter-terrorism contexts. The survey will contain questions about police culture, views of procedural justice, views of Muslims, and opinions

10 regarding the value of procedural justice in counter-terrorism policing. The PhD student will use some of the survey data for their PhD project to examine how police culture factors influence receptiveness to using procedural justice with Muslims in counter-terrorism policing. Timetable: Year 1 Study 1: ethics for whole Future Fellowship project; literature review; confirmation; undertake up to 40 interviews with police, transcription and analysis, prepare paper 1 Year 2 Study 2: assist in survey design; analysis of relevant survey data; prepare paper 2 Year 3 Thesis write-up and conference presentation at ASC. Other Important information: Travel for data collection and transcription of interviews will be supported from the ARC Future Fellowship Project budget in consultation with the supervisory team. The successful applicant will join an innovative team of researchers at the Griffith Criminology Institute undertaking research on the value of procedural justice policing in counter-terrorism. As a doctoral student, you will develop expertise in cutting edge criminology, gain experience in research design and methods, and produce insights that may lead to improved environmental and social outcomes in practice. Applicants should be available to start in early 2019 and have the following attributes: an undergraduate degree with Class I Honours in an appropriate discipline (such as criminology, psychology, law, legal studies, environmental science, the humanities, social sciences, or some combination of these areas).