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.
Programme Manager
Rachel Dawes is the Programme Manager for the programme Prisons, Drugs And Mental Health: An Interdisciplinary Global Study, based within the School of History, Politics and International Relations at the University of Leicester. Rachel has supported a number of research grants over the past 15 years, with 8 years as the dedicated project administrator across 3 multi-million-pound grants; working with interdisciplinary and international teams across the University and wider sector, including HEIs in the Caribbean and Indian Ocean regions.
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 Postcolonial Literature in the School of Arts, Media, and Communications at the University of Leicester. Lucy has a research background in Caribbean literary studies and in international and interdisciplinary collaboration. Her previous research has focused on literary representations of crime and violence in the Caribbean, and on creative approaches to gender-based violence prevention. She is interested in exploring the use of arts-based research methods in prison contexts.
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.
Research Associates
Salima Bacchus-Hinds is a gender specialist and a Guyanese and Caribbean feminist with over 15 years of experience working across the Caribbean region. She has worked with women’s rights organisations, regional institutions, and international development partners to advance gender equality and social justice. Her work spans issues of women’s and girls’ empowerment, access to justice, policy reform, reproductive rights and justice, participatory research, and movement building. With a deep understanding of how gender intersects with race, class, poverty, disability, and sexuality, she advocates for intersectional, community-led, and participatory approaches that challenge power and create conditions for transformation. Salima holds an MA in Gender Analysis in International Development.
Joël Valérie is a filmmaker who strives to combine his creative work with social inclusion, aiming to raise awareness and evoke emotional connections to social issues. As a Co-Founder of the NGO Le Chantier in Mauritius, Joel is committed to the Conservation of Memories and Identities. He takes a research-based approach to understanding and connecting Mauritian history to built heritage. His passion for storytelling and history has led to multiple collaborative works in the southwestern region of the Indian Ocean.
Elodie Laurent Volcy is a researcher and historian specialising in the history of enslavement in Mauritius, with a particular focus on the experiences of enslaved women. Her research explores themes such as sexual oppression and motherhood within the institution of slavery. Alongside her academic work, Elodie has experience in the heritage sector, particularly in the field of public history. At the Intercontinental Slavery Museum of Mauritius, she was involved in research, curatorial practice, and extensive public engagement, working to make complex histories accessible to a wider audience. Her work is deeply committed to connecting history with contemporary realities, with the aim of fostering awareness and inspiring social change.
Dr. Ryan Walmsley is a Research Associate in the School of History, Politics and International Relations (HyPIR) at the University of Leicester. Ryan has a research background in the interconnected histories of Britain and the Caribbean, with a particular focus on the linkages between emotion and empire. Their first book, Oceans of Feeling: An Emotional History of Caribbean Migrants in Postwar Britain, will be published by Bloomsbury in 2025. Prior to their position at Leicester, Ryan was an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow at Swansea University.
Country Collaborators
Dr. Dylan Kerrigan is a Caribbeanist. He has a PhD in anthropology and was a lecturer in political sociology and social anthropology at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine from 2008 to 2019. From 2019 to 2022 he was a lecturer in criminology at the University of Leicester, UK where he worked with a multi-disciplinary team researching the definition, extent, experience and treatment of mental health, neurological and substance-use disorders in Guyana’s jails: both among inmates and the people who work with them. Dylan is most interested in how cultural and economic processes extend and shift over long periods of time.
Dr. Sonjah Stanley Niaah is a Jamaican scholar, cultural activist, writer, and international speaker. She is the first Ph.D. Cultural Studies graduate from the University of the West Indies (UWI) and the first to be appointed Lecturer, Senior Lecturer and Professor of Cultural Studies there. She is also the inaugural Rhodes Trust Rex Nettleford Fellow in Cultural Studies and has distinguished herself as a pioneer in the terrain of Caribbean Cultural Studies, specifically, Black Atlantic performance geographies, popular music, cultures of entertainment and the sacred. She is the author of the award-winning book Dancehall: From Slave Ship to Ghetto (2010), and editor of Dancehall: A Reader on Jamaican Music and Culture (2020), the first compilation of seminal and current writings on Dancehall music and culture, among others. She has also co-authored A Study on the Creative Industry as a Pillar of Sustained Growth and Diversification – The Film and Music Sectors in Jamaica: Lessons From Case Studies of Successful Firms and Ventures (UNECLAC Studies and Perspectives Series No. 72). Stanley Niaah has served the UWI in multiple capacities. She has been appointed in roles such as Director, Institute of Caribbean Studies and the Reggae Studies Unit, Deputy Dean, Faculty of Humanities and Education, and Director, Centre for Reparation Research through which she now spearheads programmes to increase research, education and advocacy around reparatory justice aligned with Marcus Garvey’s mission. She holds international appointments as member of the International Scientific Committee of UNESCO’s Routes of Enslaved Peoples project, and Senior Research Associate (honorary) at Rhodes University. Professor Stanley Niaah serves on various boards and editorial collectives, in academic associations, institutions and journals. A heavily sought after speaker / commentator, her research and opinions have appeared in various local and international media including The Guardian, BBC, The Washington Post, Netflix, NPR, and VICE TV.