Dr Rebecca Foster

she/her

Rebecca joined the School of Applied Sciences at Edinburgh Napier University as a Lecturer in Criminology in September 2022. Rebecca teaches and supervises on undergraduate Criminology programmes. Prior to joining ENU, she worked as a Research Fellow at the University of Stirling, based in the Salvation Army Centre for Addiction Services and Research (within Social Sciences). In that role, she was primarily involved in leading and supporting research projects relating to problem substance use, in both Primary Investigator and Co-Investigator capacities. Funders for these projects included the National Institute for Health Research, and the Scottish Government/Drug Deaths Taskforce. Before that, she worked as a social researcher in the Scottish Government in the crime research team.

While Rebecca’s research interests are varied, inequality and marginalisation and the manifestations and experiences of these, are common themes. She is particularly interested in the lived experience of the criminal justice system (especially prison), problem substance use and homelessness. Methodologically, she is particularly interested in qualitative research, creative methods, ethnographic approaches and peer research.

Rebecca has a PhD in Criminology from the University of Glasgow. She also holds an MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice, and LLB (Hons) (First Class), both from the University of Edinburgh.

Recent publications

Foster, R., Carver, C., Wallace, J., Dunedin, A., Burridge, S., Foley, P., Pauly, B., and Parkes, T (2021). “PPI? That sounds like Payment Protection Insurance”: Reflections and learning from a substance use and homelessness study Experts by Experience group.” BMC Research Involvement and Engagement. 7(82). https://researchinvolvement.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40900-021-00324-8

Mercer, F. Miler, J.A., Pauly, B., Carver, H., Hnizdilova, K., Foster, R. and Parkes, T. (2021). “Peer Support and Overdose Prevention Responses: A Systematic ‘State-of-the-Art’ review.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18 (22), 12073. https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/22/12073

Barkas, B., Deacon, K., Foster, R., Jardine, C., Primrose K., Troy, V. (2021). “Getting it right for families affected by imprisonment: Lessons from ten years of research, Briefing Paper.” Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research. https://www.sccjr.ac.uk/publications/getting-it-right-for-families-affected-by-imprisonment/