Professor Helen Johnston

Helen Johnston is an expert in the history of crime and punishment from 1750. She is the first female Professor of Criminology at the University of Hull. She has undertaken extensive research on local prisons, convict prisons and licensing/early release mechanisms and primarily, the experiences of prisoners subject to such systems.

She has also researched the often hidden experiences of prison staff and most recently undertook research on the impact of both World Wars on prison estate, administration and experience of living and working in prisons at this time. She is interested in the evolution of prison architecture, the location and geographies of prisons and imprisonment over time.

Helen is also interested in crime and criminal justice heritage and in cultural memory, historic injustices and legacies, and in the evolution of institutions over time. Further research and public engagement activity has related to the preservation, presentation and dissemination of crime heritage in museums, archives and heritage sites.

She has been Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator on a range of funded research projects supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Economic and Social Research Council, the British Academy and the Leverhulme Trust.