The 4th Annual Cambridge Criminology PhD Conference - Critical crossroads? A criminology that confronts

This event was held on 28-29 April 2026.

41 PhD students presented their research at the Institute over two days. They were joined by keynote speaker Dr Lynne Copson from The Open University and performers from Trybe House Theatre, a London-based theatre group. 

We were delighted to announce the return of our annual PhD conference. The student-led event brings together PhD students from Cambridge and beyond to share their research, network and engage in critical discussion about the discipline of criminology. 

This year, there were 41 presenters over 2 days presenting on themed panels such as: ‘Ethics, methodology, power’, ‘Legal construction, interpretation and discretion’, ‘Reintegration outside the carceral apparatus’, and ’Towards an emancipatory criminology: Critique, praxis and politics of reconfiguration’. 

Student presenters were joined by Dr Lynne Copson from The Open University, whose keynote address explored themes from her current research on the contemporary production of knowledge, how this impacts conceptualisations of harm and justice, and the development of a utopian method as a means for transcending the separation of fact from value in the contemporary production of academic knowledge. 

They were also joined by performers from Trybe House Theatre, a London-based theatre group, who will perform excerpts from the original play Ego’s Killing the Mandem. Ego’s Killing the Mandem is a work set within a courtroom, where “Ego” itself is put on trial. The play follows the lives of young Black men, exploring how their experiences are shaped by policing, perception, and systemic bias. At its core, the piece questions the fairness of the justice system, asking whether it truly serves those it claims to protect. Through themes of grief, identity, and pressure, it examines whether the paths these young men take are a matter of choice or a reflection of the conditions they are navigating.