Welcome to Cambridge: An introduction to our MSt in Applied Criminology, Penology and Management
This webpage is designed to provide you with essential information about the University and the Institute of Criminology, and how to successfully embark on the MSt in Applied Criminology, Penology and Management.
Our Master of Studies (MSt) programme in Applied Criminology, Penology and Management is a two-year part-time programme that equips senior and future leaders in criminal justice with the skills and knowledge to reflect on existing policy and practice and build towards better professional practice.
Developed originally in the 1990s, in partnership with Her Majesty’s Prison Service (HMPS), our MSt programme has since broadened to welcome criminal justice professionals from probation and community justice, the voluntary and third sectors, the legal community, and allied professions such as psychologists and psychiatrists. We welcome colleagues from beyond England and Wales, including from elsewhere in Europe and beyond. We take an inclusive approach to recruitment, which focuses on candidates’ motivations, skills, experience and potential. We warmly welcome applications to study from people who may have little previous experience of formal education, as well as people who have lived experience of criminal justice involvement or supervision.
The content of our course reflects the diversity of the socio-political, professional and educational backgrounds of our students. We aim to equip students with cutting-edge knowledge of criminological theory and research, and provide high levels of academic support so that students can develop independent research skills to locate, interpret, analyse and evaluate research, and explore and apply it in their work as senior criminal justice professionals, including through an independent research dissertation in the second year of the course. Through an intensive programme of four eight-day and two five-day residential blocks in Cambridge, across two years of study, students are introduced to key criminological concepts, including legitimacy, compliance, desistance and deterrence, key criminal justice policy and practice debates, and key methodological skills, including qualitative and quantitative approaches, ethics, and insider research. Ideas are explored ‘in context’, with course content designed to provoke reflection on some of the most urgent current challenges in criminal justice, including by reference to long-standing, ongoing debates and empirical knowledge in the field. We encourage students to think differently and broadly – historically, comparatively, and across the criminal justice system as a whole – about the contemporary nature and experience of criminal justice theory, policy and practice.
Teaching Blocks
Year One |
This comprises three formal residential blocks in Cambridge, each of eight days duration, supplemented by some pre-recorded lectures and additional days of remote study and supervision. Year One of the programme focuses on substantive criminological knowledge and the development of essential academic skills. The course is loosely structured around five key ‘strands’: • Criminological theory & research |
Year Two |
This comprises one further eight day residential block (supplemented by an additional day of remote study and supervision) and two one-week residential blocks (supplemented by a week each of remote study and supervision). |
Students live in College accommodation during blocks and attend a full daily schedule of lectures and workshops, as well as individual teaching sessions (‘supervisions’) with academics, and evening guest lectures. All teaching takes place at the Institute of Criminology or in university buildings nearby.
Term Dates 2025
Year One
| Block A |
7 April - 18 April 18 April non-residential reading day |
| Block B |
14 July - 25 July 14 July non-residential reading day |
| Block C |
8 September - 19 September 8 September non-residential reading day |
Year Two
| Block D |
31 March - 11 April 31 March non-residential reading day |
| Block E |
7 July - 18 July 7 July - 11 July non-residential study |
| Block F |
15 September - 26 September 22 September - 26 September non-residential study |
Course Information and How to Apply
Course Information |
Click on this link to access the current Course Handbook. |
Course Fees |
The total charge for this course is £22,000* (charged at £11,000 per annum) * The £22,000 covers the University composition fee (£13,398) and Extra costs of £8,602 which include; mandatory residential teaching blocks and other supplementary costs. |
How to Apply |
Applications for the course starting in 2025 are now closed. Applications for 2026 will open in early September 2025. |
Enquiries |
If you have a question about the course and the application process please contact the MSt Administration team using this email: mst.administration@crim.cam.ac.uk |
Funding Opportunities
The Institute has a limited number of studentships that MSt students can apply for, details of which can be found on the Funding Opportunities webpage.
For more information on the MSt in Applied Criminology, Penology and Management please click on the links below:
An introduction to the structure of the University, and key information about colleges and the Institute of Criminology
The Institute of Criminology will be the department within the University to which you will belong. As a graduate student your department is responsible for your teaching. You’ll find brief introductions to some of the MSt teaching team in the 'Your Support Network' section of this webpage.
All MSt Penology students matriculate as members of Homerton College – one of the 31 colleges in Cambridge. During each teaching block you will live at Homerton and you have access to all College facilities (gym, cafeteria, library etc) during your time in Cambridge. The College is focused on student welfare, and provides all students with a Tutor who provides responsive support.
Our History
Founded by Sir Leon Radzinowicz in 1959, the Institute of Criminology was one of the first centres of criminological excellence in the UK. The Institute has exerted a strong influence on the development of the discipline.
Housed first in temporary accommodation in Scroope Terrace and then in West Road, the Institute moved into its current permanent home on the Sidgwick Site in 2005.
Our Director and Institute Research Centres
The current Director of the Institute is Professor Manuel Eisner. The Institute's activities are structured around six active research centres: the Jerry Lee Centre for Experimental Criminology, the Centre for Analytical Criminology, the Centre for Penal Theory and Ethics, the Prisons Research Centre, the Centre for Community, Gender and Social Justice, and the Violence Research Centre.
Our Students
The Institute offers both full and part time PhD programmes, two full time MPhil programmes and two part-time Master of Studies programmes, one in Policing and one in Penology. Criminology at Cambridge is currently ranked at number 2 in the UK by the Complete University Guide.
The Radzinowicz Library
The Radzinowicz Library houses the most comprehensive criminology collection in the United Kingdom, and has one of the largest collections in the world on crime, deviance and related topics, including a wide selection of periodicals, pamphlets and publications of historical, as well as contemporary, interest. The library is also home to a beautiful collection of art produced by people living in secure environments. Course participants are encouraged to make full use of this valuable resource.
Aims of the Course
The MSt programme in Applied Criminology, Penology and Management aims to:
- Introduce senior criminal justice professionals to some of the most important and cutting-edge ideas and research in criminology, penology, leadership and management, grounded in contemporary challenges and experiences of criminal justice, as well as longstanding themes and debates;
- Provide students with opportunities to reflect on their own practice, as well as criminal justice policy and practice more broadly;
- Equip students with methodological skills so that they can locate, understand, undertake and evaluate research, and apply it in their professional practice; and
- Provide world-leading instruction, and academic, pastoral and administrative support that enables students to realise their educational goals and gain a University of Cambridge Postgraduate Certificate or Master's Degree in Applied Criminology, Penology and Management.
Learning Outcomes
Through an intensive programme of three nine-day, one eight-day and two five-day residential blocks in Cambridge plus 18 further days of remote learning and study, across two years of study, students are introduced to key criminological concepts, including legitimacy, compliance, desistance and deterrence, key criminal justice policy and practice debates, and key methodological skills, including qualitative and quantitative approaches, ethics, and insider research.
Course Structure
During Blocks A - C, students are expected to be in residence in Cambridge for nine days across a two week period. Block D requires eight days of residence.
The Monday prior to Block - D will be designated as a dedicated (remote) ‘reading day’, to help students to prepare for the block.
There is a mini-block of three days of online learning which will be scheduled for the middle of January for students starting the course in 2025.
Blocks E and F (July and September of Year 2) will each entail five days of residential teaching. These are periods during Year Two when students are working on their dissertation. Students will be expected to commit themselves to one week’s remote learning prior to or following the residential period, during which time they will have access to remote supervisions and surgeries (e.g. on data analysis; dissertation writing; etc).
Year One
Assessment
Year One is assessed by three essays, each of 3,000 words, from titles that students select from topics that are covered by the course.
One of these three essays must explore one of the taught criminological theories. Students must achieve an average mark of 65 in all of their essays to be invited to proceed to year two of the course and complete the full MSt. Students who do not proceed to year two can be considered for the award of a Postgraduate Certificate.
Supervision
One hour per week of residential and remote teaching periods.
Seminars
We provide approximately 40 hours of seminars per residential teaching block in Year One, including a small number of discussion sessions based on pre-recorded lectures.
We provide an average of approximately 25 hours per residential teaching block in Year Two. There are three residential teaching blocks per year and one mini-block of online learning (starting 2026).
Lectures
Most teaching is in the form of seminars, but the course content also includes a small number of pre-recorded lectures, which will form the basis for discussion groups.
In the second year of the course, students produce a dissertation. Dissertation research frequently entails the collection of primary empirical data, requiring fieldwork. To support students to develop these skills and analyse their data, optional practical research methods surgeries and workshops are held during appropriate teaching blocks in year two.
Feedback
Detailed written feedback is provided for all five assessed elements. Oral feedback is provided following oral presentations.
Year Two
Year Two is mainly focused on research methods training. This equips students with the knowledge they need to write a substantial dissertation, which may be based on either library or fieldwork.
Assessment
Students must:
- Complete a research methods assignment (of no more than 4000 words)
- Complete a dissertation (of no more than 18000 words, including footnotes or endnotes, but excluding appendices and bibliographical references).
There is additional information on the course structure and assessment processes in the Course Handbook. You will be provided with a copy at the beginning of your course.
Planning your Work and Studies
Studying remotely at the University of Cambridge demands good planning and self-discipline, especially when combined with ongoing employment.
You are expected to allocate at least 8 to 10 hours per week to studying (during the online phases) and writing (during the assessment phases), as well as making yourself fully available during the residential weeks.
Guidance on Essay Writing
The maximum word length for each essay is 3,000 words (4,000 for the research method assignment).
Essay writing tips
Essay writing guide
Guidance on Referencing
The link sets out essay referencing rules for all circumstances. Many of them will not apply to you and a simplified version of the rules will be the subject of a lecture in Block A. In the 'Useful Links' section on this page there are some websites you can also visit for assistance.
This is an introduction to the people who will teach, support and encourage you to realise your ambitions during your studies.
Teaching Team
MSt students are taught by an academic team with world-leading criminological expertise, rooted in prolonged empirical engagement and interest in the real world criminal justice contexts in which our students work.
We are committed to teaching and learning practices that nurture collaborative learning, critical thinking and reflective practice. We actively draw on our students’ varied professional experiences and perspectives to enrich our collective learning and to deepen the positive professional networks that develop throughout the course. Through these networks, increased knowledge and skills, and exposure to new ways of thinking, our students are equipped to return to their professional contexts with new possibilities for advancing criminal justice policy and practice.
| Professor Ben Crewe is the MSt in Applied Criminology, Penology and Management Course Director. He is also Deputy Director of the Prisons Research Centre, and Professor of Penology and Criminal Justice. Ben has researched widely on prisons and imprisonment, on topics including the ‘inner life’ of prisons, staff-prisoner relationships, prisoner adaptation, prison governors, and long-term imprisonment. He is particularly interested in how power is exerted in prison and how it is experienced by prisoners. His most recent book (with Susie Hulley and Serena Wright) ‘Life imprisonment from young adulthood: adaptation, identity and time’ was published in 2020, and he is currently leading a follow-up study of this research, in which he and his colleagues hope to re-interview everyone from the original project. Ben recently finished leading a five-year European Research Council consolidator grant, titled: ‘Penal policymaking and the prisoner experience: a comparative analysis. He is one of the founding editors of the journal Incarceration and is an International Associate Board member of Punishment & Society and Theoretical Criminology. He is also one of the series editors of Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology (with Yvonne Jewkes and Thomas Ugelvik) and is a Trustee of the Prison Reform Trust. |
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Dr Katherine Auty is a Senior Research Associate in the Prisons Research Centre. She has conducted research on a wide range of projects in criminal justice. Her work in the Prisons Research Centre has centred around the two survey tools that have been developed by the PRC. Her most recent analysis of the prisoner survey data (the Measuring the Quality of Prison Life or MQPL) aims to develop an improved empirically and theoretically derived conceptual model of prison quality. The study will explore minimum or ‘good enough’ and other thresholds of prison quality, reanalysing already collected empirical data on the moral quality of prison life and linking these analyses to relevant in-prison outcomes (such as homicide, self-inflicted death, self-harm requiring hospitalisation, and serious incidents of violence). Previous analyses have demonstrated that there was a relationship between the social or moral climate of a prison and the reoffending of those released from it. She has a long-standing interest in offenders with personality disorder and was part of a team evaluating the experience of Shared Reading in Psychologically Informed Planned Environments (PIPEs). She also has a strong interest in appraising the quality of research evidence in prisons research. She has conducted two systematic reviews and one meta-analysis to make an assessment of what is known about the benefits of yoga and meditation for prisoners and programs to reduce prison violence. Katherine’s PhD was completed at the Forensic Psychiatry Research Unit at Bart’s and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry. She analysed data from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development to examine whether psychopathic personality disorder and criminal offending are transmitted from one generation to the next. The results from this study have been published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, the British Journal of Criminology, the European Journal of Criminology. |
| Dr Jane Dominey is a Senior Research Associate at the Centre for Community, Gender and Social Justice. Her research interests include probation practice, desistance from offending, supervising offenders ‘through-the-gate’ and in the community, and the work of the penal voluntary sector. Current and recent projects include: evaluating services for women supervisees at risk of breach and recall, staff perceptions of telephone supervision, and new developments in Integrated Offender Management. |
| Professor Manuel Eisner is the Wolfson Professor of Criminology and the Director of the Institute of Criminology. He is a historian and sociologist by training, and joined the Institute of Criminology in 2000. His research revolves around the role of violence and its control in the development of human societies, and in the development of humans over the life course. He has conducted research on the history of homicide since the middles ages, and how violence is shaped by structures of power, state control, and the ways in which the self is defined by cultural forces. He is also the principal investigator of the Zurich Project on Social development from Childhood to adulthood. This is a 20-year longitudinal study of young people (and their children) who entered primary school in 2003. |
| Dr Hannah Gaffney is a Research Associate at the Institute of Criminology and the Betty Behrens Research Fellow at Clare Hall. She an affiliated member of the Institute’s Violence Research Centre, where she completed her PhD. Her doctoral research evaluated the effectiveness of anti-bullying programmes in schools. Hannah is also the current Associate Editor of Aggression and Violent Behaviour. Prior to coming to Cambridge, Hannah received her MSc in Forensic Psychology from the University of Kent; and she has a BA in Psychology from Maynooth University, Ireland. Her research primarily focuses on understanding what works to reduce the involvement of children and young people in crime and violence. This has included working the Youth Endowment Fund in creating a Toolkit to summarise the evidence on the effectiveness of different intervention programmes for children and young people. She has also recently found that sports interventions are an effective way to prevent children and young people from being involved in crime and violence. Her research interests are broad and generally related to prevention and intervention in youth crime and violence, but she also has a keen interest in meta-analytical models and methods. |
| Professor Loraine Gelsthorpe is an Emeritus Professor of Criminology & Criminal Justice, and a fellow of Pembroke College. She has wide interests in the links between criminal justice and social justice, looking at race, gender and social exclusion, women and sentencing, and women, crime and criminal justice more generally. Her research includes a focus on the effectiveness of youth and community penalties and on pre-sentence reports. She also has a strong interest in research methodologies and research ethics; human trafficking and the criminalisation of migrants. |
| Mr Tom Hawker-Dawson is the Brenda Hale Fellow in Law at Girton College and an Affiliated Lecturer at the Faculty of Law. His research concerns sentencing law, theory, and practice, including the legal framework in England and Wales and connections with the philosophy of punishment. He has recently focussed on the communicative dimensions of courtroom sentencing and the use of Prison Court Video Links. This involved conducting interviews with Crown Court judges and observing sentencing hearings in order to develop a framework for understanding communicative practices in court. His criminological interests extend further to include technology and criminal justice more generally, as well as public attitudes regarding crime and punishment. |
| Dr Susie Hulley is a Senior Research Associate in the Prisons Research Centre. She has worked on various projects, including an examination of staff and prisoner quality of life in private and public prisons. She has co-led a major study of the experiences of men and women serving long life sentences, which they received when they were young, and a ground-breaking study of practitioners’ and young people’s conceptions of friendship and violence in the context of joint enterprise. She is currently Co-Investigator on the follow-up study of men and women serving long life sentences, which aims to revisit interviewees involved in the original research to understand their experiences over time. |
| Dr Caroline Lanskey is a University Lecturer in Criminology and Criminal Justice and a deputy director of the Centre for Community, Gender and Social Justice. After an earlier career in teaching and educational research she joined the Institute of Criminology in 2006. Her research interests stem from her cross-disciplinary experience of education and criminology and include youth justice, education and the arts in criminal justice, citizenship and migration, the experiences of prisoners' families and research methodologies. Over the past fifteen years she has worked on a number of research projects including an evaluation of a training intervention for staff in secure settings for young people; a study of the education pathways of young people in the youth justice system, a historical review of safeguarding children in the secure estate and an evaluation of restorative prison and probation programmes in Hungary, Germany, Latvia and Bulgaria. She recently led the Families and Imprisonment Research (FAIR) Study (www.fair.crim.cam.ac.uk) and is currently co-leading three research projects: Inspiring Futures an evaluation of the role and meaning of arts programmes in criminal justice (www.if.crim.cam.ac.uk); a research study of youth justice and rurality with Dr Joel Harvey and an evaluation of the National House Project. |
| Dr Ben Laws is based in the Department of Social Anthropology, working on a project about the growing field of ‘nonreligion’, especially in relation to asylum claims. The freedom to have, not to have, to practice or not to practice any religion is a fundamental right under international law. In south Asia, those who do not conform to or question the dominant religion may face serious problems, including persecution, forcing them to flee and seek asylum in other countries. Ben’s role in this ERC funded project—which includes a collaboration with three other European universities—sets out to understand the lived, legal and emotional experiences of those seeking asylum as they reach Europe. This study will investigate the assumptions that inform European countries’ responses to cases in which asylum is sought on the basis of claimants’ religious nonconformism. It will extend beyond south Asia and examine global implications of critical debates and actions that are taking place. Previously, Ben was a Research Associate at the Institute of Criminology researching emotions in men’s and women’s prisons. He completed an ESRC funded postdoc project (2019-2021) titled ‘Prisoner Emotions at the Margins: Understanding the pathways to destruction and healing among prisoners in solitary confinement’. This study explored the emotional dimensions of segregation units in England and Wales, based on ethnographic fieldwork in the segregation unit at HMP Whitemoor talking with prisoners and officers informally and conducting semi-structured interviews. |
| Professor Alison Liebling is Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Cambridge and the Director of the Institute of Criminology’s Prisons Research Centre. Alison has extensive research expertise in prisons, leading studies on wide-ranging topics including suicide and self-harm, close supervision centres, incentives and earned privileges, staff-prisoner relationships, the location and building of trust in high security prisons, the work of prison officers, and measuring the moral quality of prison life, including comparative work between public and private sector prisons. Her books include Prisons and their Moral Performance, The Effects of Imprisonment, and The Prison Officer. She has recently been awarded a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship (2020-22) to carry out the project, ‘Moral rules, social science and forms of order in prison’ |
| Dr Jake Longhorn has experience in applying various Criminological theories in both police and prisons studies and is now applying these principles to social services. Jake is interested in understanding the ways in which power is experienced by professionals vested with it by the state, and members of the public that are subject to it. Jake is exploring the extent to which power-holders are considered legitimate in their interactions with a member of the public influences the individuals relationship to agencies of the state. Jake is also interested in the link between structural inequality and criminal behaviours, particularly in young people. His key interests are: The legitimacy of state agencies; Youth Justice and structural inequalities; Social Harm and Victimology and Processes of Criminal Justice in England and Wales. |
| Professor Nicola Padfield is an Emeritus Professor of Criminal and Penal Justice at the Law Faculty, University of Cambridge, where she has worked for more than 30 years. She was Master of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge from 2013 - 2019 and is now a Life and Honorary Fellow. She has a broad research lens, engaged in both ‘hard’ law and in socio-legal-criminological research. She is a leading European expert on sentencing law, including the law and practice of release from (and recall to) prison. A barrister by training, she has published widely on criminal law, sentencing and criminal justice. Her books include The Criminal Justice Process: Text and Materials (5th edition, 2016); Criminal Law (10th edit, 2016); Beyond the Tariff: Human rights and the release of life sentence prisoners (2002). She has edited collections of essays, and was for many years the editor of the influential monthly Archbold Review. She sat as a Recorder (part-time judge) in the Crown Court from 2002-2014, and is a Bencher of the Middle Temple, where she chairs the Education and Training Committee. Her main project at the moment is on the effectiveness of inquests. |
| Dr Gabriela Roman's main research interest focuses on self-concept and how our understanding of 'who we are' (self-image), 'who we wish to be' (ideal self) and 'who we could become' (future possible self) shape our experiences, perceptions, emotions and actions, including aggression, self-harm and mental ill-health. Methodologically, her interest lies with high-tech observational methodologies, such as virtual reality and phone-based digital apps. Analytically, she employs a range of quantitative methodologies, most notably structural equation modelling. |
| Dr Philip Stiles is an Associate Professor at the Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, and Director of the Centre for International Human Resource Management. He previously worked at London Business School. Philip has a long-standing research interest in leadership and has worked extensively with a number of public sector, private sector and third sector organisations about their approaches to leadership, as well as the motivation of employees and building effective cultures. He has led large scale research projects and research consortia, for example he developed a research group involving 30 major organisations worldwide and he is working currently with a number of firms exploring how they transform their workplace. He works with boards of directors looking at issues of transformation and decision making. His latest book, ‘Board dynamics’ was published in 2021 by Cambridge University Press. He has worked with the Institute of Criminology at Cambridge on organizational aspects of penology. Philip has been awarded the University of Cambridge Pilkington Prize for Teaching Excellence. He has also won an IBM faculty award for his work with IBM in the area of Services Science. |
| Dr Justice Tankebe is a Lecturer in Criminology. His interests lie in policing, legitimation and legitimacy, organisational justice, corruption, vigilantism and extra-legal punishment, comparative criminology, sociology of law, crime and criminal justice in sub-Saharan Africa. His current research projects include work that is exploring legitimacy and counter-terrorism policing, corruption among prospective elites, sentencing decision-making in Ghana, the death penalty in Africa, and police self-legitimacy. |
| Dr Ali Wigzell is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the Institute of Criminology. Her research interests include youth justice, the professional relationship, community supervision, emotions in criminal justice, and desistance from offending. She is currently leading a research study, funded by the Leverhulme Trust and Isaac Newton Trust, exploring the nature of care and its ethical dimensions in youth justice across custody and the community in England and Wales. Prior to joining the Institute, Ali worked as a Research Fellow at the Institute for Criminal Policy Research (ICPR), Birkbeck, University of London. Here she was involved with studies on a range of topics, from the impact of restorative justice training in prisons and probation services, to the effect of the What Works Centre for Crime Reduction on the use of evidence in policing. |
| Dr Lucy Willmott is a Teaching and Research Associate at the Institute of Criminology. She has research interests in criminology and forensic psychology, with cross-disciplinary experience in practice, teaching and research. She has recently published a book with Professor Roy D King, ‘The Honest Politicians Guide to Prisons and Probation’, reviewing 30 years of prison, probation and sentencing policy, which included interviews with all surviving Secretaries of State from Ken Baker to David Gauke, as well junior ministers, directors and inspectors of service, former Lord Chief Justice and key report writers. She is currently collaborating on several projects, including a review of mental health needs and sentencing with the Sentencing Academy for the Scottish Sentencing Council, a project to explore the informal mechanisms of change on the personality disorder Pathway with the London Pathways Partnership, and the development and evaluation of a restorative practice relationship skills training package for prisons with C2C. |
Support staff at the Institute of Criminology
Senior Graduate CoordinatorVacant The Senior Graduate Coordinator has overall responsibility for the MSt, MPhil and PhD courses at the Institute. She is based in Room 1.2, which is on the first floor of the building, and you are welcome to drop in or contact her by email or phone with any questions you may have. |
Email:sgc@crim.cam.ac.uk Phone: +44 (0)1223 335367 |
MSt Course AdministratorsSara Tattam, Emma Challis and Yvonne Blois are your first point of contact for any course queries. They are based in the MSt Office (Room 1.1), which is on the first floor of the building, and you are welcome to drop in or contact them by email or phone with any questions you may have. |
Email: mst.administration@crim.cam.ac.uk Phone: +44 (0)1223 767339 |
LibrarianStuart Stone, together with his team, curate our world-leading collection. The Library staff are always happy to support you to make the most of our resources within the library, both print and electronic. When you are in Cambridge, they will be happy to discuss any help you need, otherwise you can contact them by email at any time. |
Email: crimlib@.cam.ac.uk Phone: +44 (0)1223 33538 |
Support as part of the broader University
Graduate Tutor
Every University of Cambridge student has a Tutor. As a graduate student, you will be allocated a Graduate Tutor through Homerton College. Your tutor is there to support you outside of your academic department. Their main role is to help with any pastoral matters should you need it, including support with study skills, accommodation, mental health and wellbeing, and making the most of living and studying at Cambridge. Dr Melanie Keene is the current Graduate Tutor for MSt students at Homerton.
Accessibility and Disability Resource Centre
A disability is a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities.
If you have a disability, the University’s Accessibility and Disability Resource Centre (ADRC) is on hand to ensure that you receive appropriate support in your studies. We encourage our students to share information about their disabilities or broader specific learning needs with supervisors, or our Course Director, but you can also disclose a disability through the ADRC by completing the online form. The ADRC can help set up a range of support to help with your disability during you time studying with us, including formal assessments, allocating you a disabilities adviser, enabling the recording of lectures, and helping you with assistant technology.
University Counselling Service
Should you have need of it, the University Counselling Service offers a variety of services to help support you while you are a student with us. They can provide individual counselling, cognitive behavioural therapy, access to guided self-help and longer-term support in for form of group counselling. Counselling Service staff are experienced in supporting students from many different backgrounds and cultures, and can help with personal or work related issues. To make and initial appointment with a counsellor you will first need to complete a student pre-counselling form.
Graduate Union
As a graduate student, you are automatically a member of the Graduate Union. The Graduate Union (GU) focuses on four main areas – representation, welfare/support, events and services/facilities. The Students’ Unions’ Advice Service, which is run jointly with CUSU (Cambridge University Students’ Union), offers free confidential and independent support. The GU also arrange a variety of activities and events throughout the year in which you can take part.
Alumni Network
Once you have finished your course, you will become part of our dynamic alumni network – a community of more than 250 leaders in criminal justice. As an alumnus, you are always welcome to visit us, and we frequently offer opportunities for our alumni to return, sometimes for dinners, and sometimes to contribute to seminars. We welcome further ideas for collaboration so do get in touch if you have an idea that you’d like to share.
All MSt students live in Cambridge for the duration of each of our two week teaching blocks. We hope that the practical information below will help you to prepare for living at Cambridge, enabling you to ‘hit the ground running’ when you arrive.
Accommodation
MSt students matriculate as members of Homerton College. Homerton is your home base during teaching blocks. You’ll sleep there, eat there, and may choose to take advantage of the various sporting facilities, libraries and beautiful gardens.
Homerton College
Getting to Homerton is easy. The College is conveniently located, close to the railway station and with easy access from the M11. The College has a large car park located down Harrison Drive, which is off Hills Road. You will need to use the parking codes sent to you in your welcome letter to access the car park during your residential blocks. The College postcode is CB2 8PH.
Your room at Homerton will include bedding, towels and tea and coffee making facilities. If you have need of a hairdryer, one can be loaned from the lodge. Breakfast will be provided each morning but there are also communal kitchens that you can use in the residential blocks.
On arrival to Homerton for the first time, please follow signs to the Porters’ Lodge, where porters will assist you to locate your room. In case of any difficulties, the porters can be contacted on 01223 747111.
Learn more about Homerton College
Homerton is the newest Cambridge college, having a rich educational history going back over two centuries. Beginning life in London as a Dissenting Academy and then a teacher training institution, it moved to its current location in 1894. Homerton is one of the largest colleges in terms of student numbers, with a thriving and diverse population. Students from all over the world study a full range of subjects, from Ancient Greek to Zoology. Homerton has particular connections to Education and teacher training, and are building new links with the nearby biomedical research campus at Addenbrookes. A regular series of talks and events brings together and celebrates the diverse academic community. Set in attractive and spacious wooded grounds near to the train station, Homerton enjoys a mix of modern accommodation and historic buildings.
The library is modern, well-stocked, and a light and airy place to work. Students dine in a splendid gothic hall built in 1890, work out in the on-site gym, play sports on the football field, eat or drink in the Griffin bar and buttery, relax in the graduate Common Room or just wander through the orchard. All student rooms have been either rebuilt or refurbished to a very high standard within the last ten years. Your room will be en suite, include bedding and towels and have tea and coffee making facilities. Graduate students are also represented by a lively union, the MCR, which organises social events as well as supporting many different clubs and societies for music, rowing, drama, and more.
Getting around
Homerton is a 30-minute walk from the Institute of Criminology.
Buses - Buses run every ten minutes from outside the College into the centre of town and the Institute is a 10-minute walk from the centre of town. You may find the Universal bus helpful - see the timetable and map
Bikes - Many people move around Cambridge by bike. You can find some suggestions on where to hire bikes in Cambridge from the you-well website.
Taxis - Cambridge is well served by taxis. The main taxi ranks are in Drummer Street, St Andrews Street and at the railway station. You can also book through Panther Taxis on 01223 715715 or via their mobile app. Uber has limited presence in Cambridge.
Please note that parking on the Sidgwick Site is not permitted so driving to the Institute of Criminology is best avoided. If you do decide to travel by car, please use the pay-and-display parking on West Road or Sidgwick Avenue.
General Information
These links can offer more information on for you to look at if you would like to look into anything in more detail.
- University of Cambridge homepage: https://www.cam.ac.uk/
- Institute of Criminology homepage: https://www.crim.cam.ac.uk/
- Homerton College homepage: https://www.homerton.cam.ac.uk/
Student Links
These links cover the social groups and support services available to students.
- University Talks: https://talks.cam.ac.uk/dates
- Homerton College MCR website: http://www.homertonmcr.co.uk/
- Graduate Union: https://www.gradunion.cam.ac.uk/
- Students' Unions' Advice Service: https://www.studentadvice.cam.ac.uk/
- University Counselling Service: www.counselling.cam.ac.uk/
- Disability Services: https://www.disability.admin.cam.ac.uk/students/incoming-students
These are links to websites to use during your studies.
- University timetable system: https://2021-22.timetable.cam.ac.uk
- Turnitin UK https://www.turnitinuk.com/
- Moodle https://www.student-systems.admin.cam.ac.uk/moodle
Study Skills
Links for things that can help you with your studying.
- CamGuide: https://camguides.lib.cam.ac.uk/
- The Language Centre Homepage: https://www.langcen.cam.ac.uk/
- Virtual Learning Environment Information: http://www.ice.cam.ac.uk/studying-with-us/information-for-students/virtual-learning-environment
Links covering plagiarism and referencing help.
- University plagiarism website: https://www.plagiarism.admin.cam.ac.uk/
- Proctorial Notice on plagiarism: http://www.proctors.cam.ac.uk/documents/plagiarism-1-4.pdf
- University advice on referencing: https://www.plagiarism.admin.cam.ac.uk/resources-and-support/referencing
- Zotero: https://www.zotero.org/
- Mendeley: https://www.mendeley.com/
- Endnote: https://cambridge.store.academia.co.uk/endnote/endnote-20-single-student-licence.html