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Dr Tia McPherson

Research Associate

Faculty and Department

  • Faculty of Arts Cultures and Education
  • School of Criminology, Sociology and Policing

Qualifications

  • BA (University of Zagreb)
  • MA (University of Zagreb)
  • MSc (North Dakota State University)
  • PhD / DPhil (University of Strathclyde)

Summary

Tia Simanovic is a Research Associate at the University of Hull, working as a project coordinator on one of the largest, multi-site, randomized controlled trial evaluations of a violence prevention program targeting young people committing group violence in the community. Tia is supporting the summative aspect of the evaluation, as well as managing qualitative data collection for the formative evaluation of this focused deterrence initiative in five cities in England.

Tia acquired her PhD in Criminology from the University of Strathclyde in 2021, examining bereavement experiences of prisoners in two Scottish prisons. This was done through qualitative interviews and analysed using Descriptive Phenomenological framework. Following her graduation, Tia was awarded one of five highly competitive Scottish Justice Fellowships to further her work on bereavement in prisons and produce a policy brief.

Tia's research currently focuses on violence prevention and intervention, program evaluation, as well as working with complex interventions.

Recent outputs

View more outputs

Journal Article

Focused deterrence: A protocol for a realist multisite randomised controlled trial for evaluating a violence prevention intervention in the UK

Simanovic, T., McFarlane, P., Brennan, I., Sutherland, A., & Graham, W. (2024). Focused deterrence: A protocol for a realist multisite randomised controlled trial for evaluating a violence prevention intervention in the UK. PLoS ONE, 19(3), Article e0301023. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0301023

Policing the pandemic: Exploring public perceptions of the enforcement of COVID-19 restrictions in the United Kingdom

Boulton, L., Simanovic, T., McManus, M., & Walker, D. (in press). Policing the pandemic: Exploring public perceptions of the enforcement of COVID-19 restrictions in the United Kingdom. Police Journal: Theory, Practice and Principles, https://doi.org/10.1177/0032258X241228048

Research interests

Group violence; Violence in the community; Complex interventions; Institutional corrections (Prison research); Qualitative research

Co-investigator

Project

Funder

Grant

Started

Status

Project

Focused Deterrence data analysis guidance

Funder

Youth Endowment Fund

Grant

£9,981.00

Started

1 September 2024

Status

Ongoing

Project

HIKE: International Conference on Focussed Deterrence 2024

Funder

AHRC Arts & Humanities Research Council

Grant

£7,735.00

Started

1 February 2024

Status

Complete

Awards and prizes

Scottish Justice Fellowship

2022

The Scottish Justice Fellows initiative was launched by the Scottish Government, the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (SCCJR) and the Scottish Institute for Policing Research (SIPR) to explore the substantial untapped resource in PhDs on policing, crime, justice and related issues completed in Scotland. The six Fellows will receive financial support in addition to mentorship from both academic mentors and analysts from Justice Analytical Services within the Scottish Government, who will provide feedback and guidance, as well as help them with career advice and widen professional networks and engagement.

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