Dr Maria Fotopoulou

she/her

Maria is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Stirling with research interests in the areas of substance use and particularly problem drug use. Maria’s doctoral work explored the experience of becoming a problem drug user in Greece, as well as drug affected parents’ experiences of, and responses to unfolding problem drug using careers. Prior to joining the University of Stirling she worked in the field of policy and service evaluation of the health and social care of marginalized and minority groups in the UK and Greece. She originally joined the University of Stirling as a research fellow at WithScotland, where she was involved in knowledge exchange activities within the area of adult and child protection. Maria’s current research activity revolves around: evaluation of social policy with a specific focus on problematisation processes in drug policy and its intersection with criminal justice; problem substance use in relation to recovery processes and gender; modern slavery/human trafficking especially where this intersects with drugs use/trade.

Recent publications

Fotopoulou, M. and Aston, L. The Policing of Drugs in Scotland,In: in Bacon,M and Spicer (eds) Policing Drugs in Times of Continuity and Change, Routledge (in press)

Toomley, C., Fotopoulou, M. and Armstrong, A. (2022). Mapping Drug Use, Interventions and Treatment Needs in Scottish Prisons: A literature review.

Rigby, P., Fotopoulou, M., Rogers, A., Manta, A. & Dikaiou, M. (2021) Problematising separated children: a policy analysis of the UK ‘Safeguarding Strategy: Unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children’. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 47 (3), pp. 501-518 https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183x.2019.1694407.