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Dr Maria Mellins

Professor in Criminology and Community Safety

Dr Maria Mellins

About Research

Email: maria.mellins@stmarys.ac.uk

Biography

Maria is a Professor in Criminology and Community Safety at St Mary’s, where she teaches on the undergraduate Criminology and Sociology BSc (Hons) and the Law with Criminology LLB (Hons). Her teaching includes modules that consider the following:

  • Addressing abuse: concepts and theories
  • The role of the stalking and domestic abuse adviser
  • Representation of crime in the media
  • Carrying out research and writing the dissertation

Maria is currently researching and writing about stalking and coercive control. Her textbook Young People, Stalking and Domestic Abuse (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023) has recently been published. It was co-edited with Rachael Wheatley and Caroline Flowers in partnership with the Alice Ruggles Trust. Her chapter 'Alice Ruggles: Stalking, the Media and Raising Public Awareness' features in her textbook Critiquing Violent Crime in the Media (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021), edited by Maria Mellins and Sarah Moore. This research presents the need to raise public awareness of stalking, particularly amongst young people.

Maria has also worked with the Alice Ruggles Trust (where she is a Trustee) and led an expert team to provide training on stalking awareness that was delivered to staff from the Metropolitan Police, London Probation and the Crown Prosecution Service, covering topics such as stalking motivations and behaviours, legislation, Stalking Protection Orders (SPOs) and safety planning. The project then involved Maria and the team developing a stalking awareness e-learning resource.

As well as her work delivering training within the criminal justice system, Maria also has a keen focus on raising awareness of stalking and domestic abuse within education environments. Maria has developed a suite of Ofqual accredited qualifications that focus on Stalking Awareness for Education Environments (SAfEE) and the CPD accredited course Recognising Stalking; Relationship Abuse and Coercive Control.

Maria is an Independent Stalking Advocacy Caseworker (ISAC) trained by Paladin National Stalking Advocacy Service and has also helped to establish and run the multi-agency Richmond upon Thames Domestic Abuse and Stalking Drop-In Service.

Supported by colleagues (internally and externally), Maria also leads the Community Safety Partnership at St Mary’s, a service that offers free, friendly support, advice, and information on matters related to crime and community safety. The Community Safety Partnership comprises of colleagues from St Mary’s, the Metropolitan Police Service, Richmond and Wandsworth Borough Council, victim support charities and legal advisers. It aims to:

  • Carry out vital prevention work with St Mary’s University and our local community.
  • Work in collaboration with Student Services and other agencies to provide trauma-informed support to those who have been victims of crime including (but not limited to): domestic abuse, stalking, harassment, sexual violence, and exploitation into forms of modern slavery.
  • Learn and contribute to knowledge through research, training, and working collaboratively with our partners.

Previously, Maria has written a number of sociological monographs, research papers, and articles and is supervising PhD students in the areas of crime, stalking, domestic abuse, and media representation.

Maria is an associate of the Bakhita Centre for Research on Slavery, Exploitation and Abuse.

Research

Areas of research supervision

  • Stalking
  • Domestic/relationship abuse
  • Young people and safety: addressing sexual violence in education environments
  • Crime and media representation

Research profile

Areas of research supervision

Maria can supervise research on:

  • stalking
  • domestic/relationship abuse
  • young people and safety: addressing sexual violence in education environments
  • crime and media representation.

Selected publications and monographs

 Media and television

  • Maria wrote, produced and featured in stalking awareness videos – there are three stalking awareness videos for SAfEE courses on Stalking, Coercive Control and How to Help Someone Who is At Risk of Stalking.
  • Maria provided a special interview on Stalking, the Media and Advocacy for Criminology Corner Podcast by Craig Barlow (2020).
  • The Monster Collections (Audible, 2018) Maria worked with Dr Peter Howell writing the Introduction to the Halloween editions of Dracula (Bram Stoker, 1897), Frankenstein (Mary Shelly, 1818) and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Robert Louis Stevenson, 1885) for Audible Publishers (an Amazon company).
  • Interviewed on BBC Radio Cornwall. Returning Eden book release. Tiffany Truscott. 3rd March. 2016. 3pm.
  • Interviewed on television by BBC World News 31st October 2013.
  • Interviewed on radio shows such as BBC London; Sept 2013.
  • Maria’s book Vampire Culture was featured as an article in Bizarre Magazine, Time Out and Local Guardian October 2013.

 Recent conferences, talks, and events

  • Keynote Speaker for Alice Ruggles Trust Conference, ‘Young People, Stalking Awareness and Domestic Abuse.’ October 2023.
  • Public Lecture - Metropolitan Police Safer Streets Event - Women’s Safety, Addressing Stalking. May, 2023.
  • Public Lecture - Richmond Upon Thames International Women’s Day Event that focused on stalking. March 2023.
  • Public Lecture for the Alice Ruggles Trust Lecture Series: Stalking, Abuse and Safety of Young People. Maria’s lecture was entitled ‘Addressing stalking and abuse in education: the SAfEE qualifications’.
  • Attendance – Suzy Lamplugh Trust Conference ‘Unmasking Stalking’ for National Stalking Awareness Week.
  • Attendance - Westminster Forum’s ‘Next steps for addressing sexual misconduct in Higher Education conference’ in April 2021.
  • Maria chaired two panels at The Alice Ruggles Trust Conference that focused on Stalking Amongst Young People.
  • Delivered a paper at the Festival of Research – St Mary’s University. True Crime and Cautionary Tales.

Media enquiries

For media enquiries, please contact our Press Office Team by emailing press.office@stmarys.ac.uk.