Doctoral study in Criminology
Why study with us?
As a doctoral candidate, you'll benefit from: financial support for research expenses through PReSS funding; high-calibre supervision practices; and the networks and expertise of our world-class academic researchers.
Research opportunities
We welcome PhD research proposals in areas such as:
- Corrections, including popular representations of prisons
- Crime in popular culture, novels, television, and film
- Crimes of elite offenders, especially those with high IQ scores
- Criminalisation
- Criminological theory
- Critical and cultural criminology
- Graffiti and street art
- Indigenous criminology
- Indigenous jurisprudence
- Law and custom
- Māori and New Zealand criminal justice policy
- Mental health in prisons
- Penology and punishment theory, especially incarceration and capital punishment
- Power, deviance and control
- Prisoner reintegration, recidivism and desistance
- Self-report measures of crime
- Sentencing, especially the use of risk instruments in sentencing decisions
- Serial homicide, including its social construction
- Specialist/problem-solving courts
- The role of non-governmental organisations in criminal justice
- Young people, digital technology and their sexual lives
Our people
Our criminologists explore both the causes of crime and the different ways societies respond to deviance in New Zealand and around the world.
Past research topics
- "Women godfathers of organised crime: As presented by twenty-three auto/biographies" | Supervised by Dr Bruce Cohen and Dr Ron Kramer
- "Prison museums: Learning punishment" | Supervised by Associate Professor James Oleson and Professor Tracey McIntosh
- "A kaupapa Māori analysis of the use of Māori cultural identity in the prison system" | Supervised by Professor Elizabeth Stanley and Dr Robert Webb
- "Māori and Romani and juvenile justice – Approaches and responses from different justice systems" | Supervised by Dr John Buttle and Dr Robert Webb
Scholarships and awards
There are several scholarships you may be eligible for when you decide to pursue your PhD in Criminology:
- University of Auckland Doctoral Scholarship
- Faculty of Arts Doctoral Scholarship
- Freemasons University and Postgraduate Scholarships
Help and advice
For help with enrolling in your PhD contact our friendly staff at Student Hubs.
If you would like to discuss your plans for your doctoral research you can contact our PhD Adviser.