Personal statement
I'm a Professor of Criminal and Social Justice in the School of Social Work and Social Policy, specialising in Criminology and Criminal Justice Social Work. I teach on both the undergraduate and postgraduate courses in social work and also supervise PhD student in Social Work, Criminology and Public Health I am also Associate Director of the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (SCCJR), and an appointed member of the Scottish Advisory Panel on Offender Rehabilitation (SAPOR).
I am actively engaged in a number of research networks, research projects and knowledge exchange activities with specific interests in desistance, user involvement and co-production and the use of through-the-prison-gate social cooperative structures of employment. All of my research has an applied focus on penal reform.
Teaching
My teaching interests include criminology, law and penal policy for criminal justice social work; penology and penal change; the dynamics of community supervision, rehabilitation and desistance; risk assessment and risk management in criminal justice.
Research interests
My research activities are principally concerned with desistance from crime, the regulation and governance of the community supervision of people involved in the criminal justice system and the management of those classified as high risk.
I am particularly interested in the role of social relations in the onset, maintenance and conclusion of criminal careers, specifically how people's relationships with and to friends, families and communities shape and influence their offending trajectories and the implications of this for penal policy and practice. My doctoral research in this field has led to further projects examining the outcomes of mutual aid based group work and the role of through-the-prison-gate social cooperative structures of employment in processes of desistance and social reintegration, the latter of which is funded through the ESRC Future Research Leaders scheme.
Professional activities
- Coproducing Justice: The Role and Contribution of Social Cooperatives in Supporting Desistance and Social Integration
- Speaker
- 12/2021
- The Collateral Consequences of Criminal Records
- Organiser
- 25/2/2021
- Evidence of Redemption: Employing People with Conviction: The Impact, The Issue, The Evidence
- Speaker
- 26/11/2020
- (Beyond) Employability in Scotland: Coproducing Justice
- Speaker
- 24/9/2020
- Inclusive Justice: Coproducing Change (East Dunbartonshire)
- Consultant
- 31/1/2020
- Inclusive Justice: Co-producing Change (East Dunbartonshire)
- Consultant
- 21/11/2019
More professional activities
Projects
- Measuring Justice
- Weaver, Beth (Principal Investigator)
- 15-Jan-2018 - 14-Jan-2019
- EVALUATION OF THE WOMEN’S CENTRE PROGRAMME
- Weaver, Beth (Principal Investigator) Lightowler, Claire (Co-investigator)
- 14-Jan-2017 - 14-Jan-2019
- Reimagining Justice
- Weaver, Beth (Principal Investigator)
- 01-Jan-2017 - 31-Jan-2017
- User Engagement Project for Community Justice Ayrshire
- Weaver, Beth (Principal Investigator) Lightowler, Claire (Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2016 - 31-Jan-2018
- Criminal Justice Managers Training
- Weaver, Beth (Principal Investigator) Dyer, Fiona (Co-investigator)
- 06-Jan-2016 - 17-Jan-2016
- Developing and designing the women and family centre programme: exploring effectiveness and sharing learning
- Weaver, Beth (Principal Investigator) Lightowler, Claire (Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2015 - 31-Jan-2016
More projects
Address
Social Work and Social Policy
Lord Hope Building
Lord Hope Building
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