Our Research Team

Kerry has 24 year’s experience as a researcher, and has worked in the public, private, academic and charity sectors. Having begun her career in 1998 as a psychology-based, quantitative researcher, she moved into social research in 2003, and specialised in criminal justice research in 2008.

Kerry has lectured for many years in various universities, teaching psychology, criminology and social research, and most recently held a post at the University of Portsmouth as a lecturer on the Professional Qualification in Probation (PQiP) programme. In 2020, she completed her PhD with her research, The life-stories of young adult men in the criminal justice system: A critical narrative analysis.

Kerry’s research interests include, young adults in the CJS, women in the CJS, probation practice, families of people on probation, practitioner wellbeing, mental health in probation, and most recently, the life-stories of domestic abuse perpetrators.

Kerry.ellis-devitt@interventionsalliance.com

Jess has a background in Social Psychology, and has been working in the justice sector since 2017. She is a qualitative researcher and has worked on several collaborative research projects, including with the University of Cambridge and in the HMPPS Probation Workforce Programme. She has conducted research on supported housing, reviewing the Senior Probation Officer role, and the experiences of transgender people at CFO Activity Hubs.

Jess is passionate about diversity and improving outcomes for both the people accessing services and the staff that deliver them. Her research interests include exploring the experiences of LGBTQ+ people (particularly people with minority gender identities), supporting the workforce and practice.

jess.lawrence@interventionsalliance.com

‘Holly is an education specialist; she taught English as an additional language for over four years in numerous settings within the UK and internationally. She also has extensive experience of working with displaced individuals including unaccompanied minors and refugees.

In 2022, Holly moved into an education research role at Seetec. She is a qualitative researcher and some of her work includes an exploration of how asylum seeker and refugee women experience accessing and attending English language classes in England as well as an investigation into the most appropriate language assessments for refugee doctors wishing to re-enter the medical profession in England.

She is currently working towards her PhD at Cardiff Metropolitan University and her research interests include refugee education, classroom methodologies, access to education, promoting social mobility through education and providing effective SEND provision to adults.’

holly.dono@seetec.co.uk