Dr Victoria Cooper

Professional biography

Vickie Cooper is a Senior Lecturer in Social Policy and Criminology, based in the Deparment of Social Policy and Criminology, School of Social Sciences and Global Studies. She is a member of the Module Team, DD212, Understanding Criminology, a level 2 undergraduate module on the R21 Criminology degree programme; and DD804 Crime and Global Justice, a postgraduate module on the MA Crime and Justice. Vickie is also the Qualification Lead for our BA (Honours) Criminology and Law degree programme (Q92/ W52), and co-leads the OU Grand Union, Doctoral Training Partnership for the Social Justice and Inequalities pathway.  

Qualifications

• Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (Liverpool John Moores University, 2012)
• PhD in Social and Economic Research (Sheffield Hallam University, 2009)
• MRes Urban Sociology (Glasgow University, 2005)
• BA (hons) Management and Organisation Studies (Lancaster University, 2002)

PhD Students

• Dr Carly Speed (completed 2019): co-supervised with Professor Joe Sim and David Scott. Secrecy and Denial in Matters of Life and Death: A critical analysis of deaths in psychiatric detention,1845-2018
• Dr Angela Charles (completed 2024): co-supervised with Professor Deborah Drake. Black Women in Prison: Exploring the intersections of race and gender in expereinces of imprisonment.
• Dr Angela Collins (completed 2024): co-supervised with Abigail Rowe. 'Just Look Busy': Experiences of criminal justice supervision at a women's centre in the north of England. 
• Andrew Sproul: Housing First (present): co-supervising with Daniel McCulloch. A comparative study of Housing First policy programme to eradicate homelessness in Scotland and Finland
• Jasmine Holland-Gilbert (present): co-supervising with Professor Steve Pile and Professor Michael Keith. Infrastructuring the Adapative City: Making, building and learning participatory democracy in Camden

Research interests

Vickie's research mainly focuses on homelessness and housing, with a particular interest in how society administers and manages homeless groups through various institutions. She has carried out research looking at homelessness and housing issues in the criminal justice system; the relationship between evictions, homelessness and housing markets; austerity and its violent effects on disadavantgaed and marginalised groups; and homelessness and mortality. Presently she is leading a research prioject exploring tenants' experiences of decarbonised housing in Wales, in partnership with Tai Pawb, a housing justice community organisation in Wales.