Professor Julie Berg she/her

Julie Berg is a Professor of Criminology at the University of Glasgow

Julie’s research sits at the intersection of criminology and governance studies, focusing on polycentric and whole-of-society governance, sustainable development, security, and the governance of harm in African and Global South contexts. She examines how societies respond to new and converging harms (including those associated with climate change) that extend beyond conventional crime frameworks, and how these global harmscapes are reshaping criminology as a field of inquiry. Her work has developed concepts including harmscapes, governing-through-harm, and assemblages of care, and she has co-developed southern blue criminology, which brings decolonial perspectives to oceanic harms and human–non-human entanglements. She also co-leads the Small Islands Security Governance Research Group, an international multidisciplinary network advancing research and dialogue on security governance in small island contexts.

Julie was Director of the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research at the University of Glasgow from January 2023 to December 2025.

Recent publications

Berg, Julie, Hübschle, Annette, Scott, John and Watson, Danielle (2026) Small island developing states: emerging harmscapes and criminological directions. In: Pessoa Cavalcanti, Roxana, Fonseca, David S., Vegh Weis, Valeria, Carrington, Kerry, Hogg, Russell and Scott, John (eds.)The Palgrave Handbook of Criminology and the Global South. Palgrave Macmillan: Cham. 

Hubschle, Annette and Berg, Julie (2026) Rethinking ocean harmscapes through the lens of southern blue criminology. In: Pessoa Cavalcanti, Roxana, Fonseca, David S., Vegh Weis, Valeria, Carrington, Kerry, Hogg, Russell and Scott, John (eds.) The Palgrave Handbook of Criminology and the Global South. Palgrave Macmillan: Cham.

Watson, Danielle, Blaustein, Jarrett, Pino, Nathan W. and Berg, Julie (2025) Crime and governance in the Global South. Annual Review of Criminology, 8(1), pp. 291-310.