My research sits within Social Policy and Criminology and focuses on gender-based violence, social inequalities, justice and institutional responses to harm. I am particularly interested in how gender, culture, religion, law and wider social structures shape experiences of violence and abuse, access to justice, and responses from policy and practice.

My research has developed across three closely connected areas. The first examines gender-based violence, inequality and justice, including domestic and sexual violence, coercive control and women's access to justice in different cultural, legal and political contexts. My work in Iran and other Muslim contexts has explored the relationship between gender, law and structural inequalities, and more recently the concept of epistemic injustice and whose knowledge and experiences are recognised in understandings of justice.

A second strand examines the intersection of faith and gender-based violence, particularly spiritual abuse, religious coercive control, Sharia councils and religious arbitration in abusive marriages. This work considers the relationship between formal and informal systems of justice and how victim-survivors navigate religious, community and state responses.

My third and growing area of research focuses on children and young people, gender-based violence and technology-facilitated abuse. This includes teenage intimate partner violence, sexting, pornography, sextortion, online violence, consent and gender norms. I have a particular interest in participatory research with young people and in developing ethical approaches to researching sensitive and emerging forms of harm. My work also extends to children's rights and justice, including gender inequalities in the minimum age of criminal responsibility.

Across these areas, my research is primarily qualitative, comparative and participatory, and increasingly uses creative approaches to research impact and public engagement. This includes the development of research-informed animations on gender-based violence, including coercive control, economic abuse, technology-facilitated abuse, honour-based abuse, active bystander intervention and sextortion. The animations are developed for different age groups and audiences, with some aimed at those aged 16 and over and others designed specifically for younger people. Developed in English and Farsi, the animation series has received approximately 1.3 million views and is increasingly being used in education and professional training. I work with academic, practitioner, NGO and community partners nationally and internationally, with a strong emphasis on translating research into policy and practice.