Nicola Campbell became an Honorary Research Fellow of the Institute for Crime and Justice Policy Research (ICPR) in May 2025. She began her work with us as a Research Assistant in February 2022, working primarily on courts and policing projects.
Nicola has a wide-ranging academic and professional background. She began her legal education at the University of Sheffield, studying international and European law, and developed a keen interest in miscarriages of justice, rape culture, and racialised policing. After completing her undergraduate studies, she worked in public legal practice in both Northern Ireland and England. Following her LLM at the University of Amsterdam, she joined the International Legal Centre in Amsterdam, contributing to projects on human rights and international criminal law.
From 2022 to 2025, she taught at the University of Manchester, delivering courses on criminal law, criminal evidence, and miscarriages of justice.
She currently lectures at the University of Westminster, specialising in policing and criminal justice. Her research is grounded in lived experience, with a particular focus on co-production and the role of the mother in the criminal justice system. She explores how justice-involved women and families navigate state systems and how their narratives can reshape legal and academic understandings. Nicola brings a feminist-queer perspective to her work, challenging dominant narratives and advocating for inclusive, community-informed research practices.