Principal Investigator
Clare Anderson is Professor of History in the School of History, Politics, and International Relations and the Director of the Leicester Institute for Advanced Studies. Clare has a research background in the history of incarceration and penal transportation in the British Empire, including in South Asia, the Indian Ocean and the Caribbean region. She is interested in connecting colonial histories of imprisonment to present-day practices of punishment.
Co-Investigators
Dr. Tammy Ayres is Associate Professor of Criminology in the School of Criminology, Sociology, and Social Policy at the University of Leicester. Tammy has an interdisciplinary background and undertakes research in the area of drugs, drug policy and drug addiction, particularly in the context of prison. She is interested in looking at why some people can control their drug use, while others cannot, and has undertaken research for HM Prison Service and the Ministry of Justice in this area.
Dr. Lucy Evans is Associate Professor of Colonial Literature in the School of Arts, Media, and Communications at the University of Leicester. As a British researcher, located in the UK, working in Caribbean literary studies, international collaboration is a central element to her research practice. Lucy is currently interested in research ideas around the use of arts-based methods in prison contexts in the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean.
Dr. Mellissa Ifill is Deputy Vice Chancellor at the University of Guyana. Mellissa works with academic stakeholders from across the University of Guyana to pioneer and manage a diverse portfolio of research activities. She also works closely with external partners, including the Guyana Prison Service, NGOs and government organisations, and has experience of developing, delivering, and supporting various knowledge exchange and impact activities.
Dr. Janeille Zorina Matthews is an interdisciplinary criminal justice scholar in the Faculty of Law at the University of the West Indies, Barbados. She is currently engaged in work around storytelling for social justice, decarceration and decriminalizing minor offences in the Anglophone Caribbean as she interrogates the persistence of colonial legacies in contemporary penal practices. Janeille is the Research Coordinator of The UWI Rights Advocacy Project, a collective of UWI public law scholars committed to human rights, and social justice in the Caribbean.
Dr. Kellie Moss is Senior Research Associate for the Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Leicester. Kellie has a research background in the global integration of coerced labourers in the British Empire, with a particular focus on the entanglements between indentured servants, apprenticed juveniles, convicts, enslaved Africans, and Indigenous peoples. In her capacity as a research associate on various multi and interdisciplinary projects Kellie collaborates closely with external partners, including non-governmental organizations and governmental bodies.
Dr. Vijayalakshmi Teelock is Director and Founder of the NGO Le Chantier in Mauritius. Its specialisation is in understanding the history of Mauritius, and how its colonial past continues to affect contemporary (post-colonial) Mauritius. Le Chantier’s interest in social justice and using inclusive practices in their research means that several members of the NGO routinely work with the police and mental health services. Vijaya is particularly concerned about the large number of youths being imprisoned for drugs-related offences.