Seminar: Criminology and the Debate on Public Social Science

‘Criminology and the Debate on Public Social
Science’

Wednesday 12th March 2008, 4pm – 6pm, Lecture Theatre
B3 (Cottrell Building, University of Stirling)

This seminar will provide an overview of the contemporary intellectual debates
surrounding public social science and their bearing on criminology. It will explore
notions of autonomy and constraint in relation to criminological research and policy
making as well as provide a conceptual basis for understanding criminology’s
relationship to the ‘public sphere’. In so doing, the seminar hopes to generate debate
on criminological knowledge, its influence on policy and its civic role as a ‘public
good’.

Keynote Speakers

Richard Sparks: Richard Sparks is Professor of Criminology at the University of
Edinburgh School of Law, and is co-director designate of the Scottish Centre for
Crime and Justice Research. Most of Richard’s academic and professional
experience has been in social science fields and he views criminology as a field that
intersects law, social theory and research, and public policy. He is an Associate of
the Scottish Consortium on Criminal Justice and a Committee Member of the Howard
League Scotland. His key research interests are: prisons and imprisonment;
punishment and social and political change and public responses to crime and
punishment.
Tim Hope: Tim Hope is Professor of Criminology at Keele University. He is a
member of the Groupe européen de recherche sur les normativités (GERN), and an
academic adviser to the International Centre for the Prevention of Crime (ICPC), the
European Forum for Urban Safety (EFUS) and the Neighbourhood Policing
Programme (Home Office/ACPO). His current research interests lie in understanding
both the macro-sociological dynamics of crime, via the analysis of crime trends, and
the micro-level dynamics of crime victimisation and offending, via the modelling of
survey data. He is also concerned with the relationship between criminological
research, policy-making and evaluation.

Please address all enquiries to: –
Margaret Malloch
Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research
University of Stirling
Stirling FK9 4LA
Tel: 01786 467723
Fax: 01786 466319
Email: m.s.malloch@stir.ac.uk