Dr Victoria Cooper

Professional biography

Vickie Cooper is a Senior Lecturer in Social Policy and Criminology, based in the Department of Social Policy and Criminology, School of Social Sciences and Global Studies. She is the module team chair on DD212 25J, Understanding Criminology, a level 2 undergraduate module on the R21 Criminology degree programme; and a module team member on DD804 Crime and Global Justice, a postgraduate module on the MA Crime and Justice. Vickie also 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 disadvantaged and marginalised groups; and homelessness and mortality. Presently she is leading a research project exploring tenants' experiences of decarbonised housing in Wales, in partnership with Tai Pawb, a housing justice community organisation in Wales. You can find out more about this project here.