Dr Zoe Stephenson MSc, PhD

Dr Zoe Stephenson

School of Psychology
Assistant Professor in Forensic Psychology

Contact details

Address
School of Psychology
University Âé¶¹¾«Ñ¡
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Dr Stephenson is a lecturer in Forensic Psychology for the Forensic Psychology Practice Doctorate (ForenPsyD) and the Continued Professional Development (CPD) programmes. Her research projects have focused on female offending, the rehabilitation of violent and sex offenders in the UK, youth offending, alternatives to accredited treatment programmes (e.g. applied theatre), and alternatives to imprisonment.

Qualifications

PhD (Birmingham), ‘Treatment of offenders: The delivery and sequencing of interventions’

M.Sc. Forensic Psychology (Gloucestershire)

B.Sc. (Hons) Psychology with Sociological Studies (Gloucestershire)

Biography

Zoe has worked in academia for the last six years in capacities such as Psychology lecturer (BSc Psychology), Course Leader (BSc Psychology), Lecturer (MSc Forensic Psychology), Instructor (Forensic Psychology), and has been in the role of Lecturer in Forensic Psychology for the last year at the University Âé¶¹¾«Ñ¡. 

She has conducted research in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) on the topic of the sequencing of interventions with offenders.  She has also recently conducted analyses for the Council of Europe into alternatives to imprisonment. 

Teaching

Zoe currently lectures on the doctorate programme on the topics of research methods, training provision in forensic settings and qualitative analysis.  She supervises a number of Forensic Doctorate and CPD trainees and provides additional one to one support for UG and PG students.

In line with her research interests, she guest lectures on the topics of female offending and managing offenders in the community.

Research

Rehabilitation with sexual and violent offenders
Interventions used in prison or the community aimed to reduce the likelihood of an offender committing further crimes following their sentence. In addition to the content of the intervention (e.g., thinking skills, literacy skills, anger management) it is also necessary to consider the delivery of interventions such as timing (i.e., is an offender motivated to change?) and sequencing (i.e., should an offender take part in interventions in a particular order?).

Female offending
Although female crime rates are still lower than those of their male counterparts for the majority of crimes, it is thought that female crime may be on the rise. The need to consider gender specific risk factors for offending has been recognised with the aim of developing gender specific interventions to reduce rates of re-offending.

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Stephenson, Z & Jackson, A 2025, '', Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education.

Saunders, N & Stephenson, Z 2025, '', Journal of Forensic Psychology Research and Practice.

Norman, V & Stephenson, Z 2024, '', Journal of Sexual Aggression.

Purohit, N, Stephenson, Z & Stenfert Kroese, B 2024, '', Journal of Forensic Psychology Research and Practice.

Stephenson, Z, Fox, A & Eneje, E 2024, '', Journal of Forensic Psychology Research and Practice.

Tonks, S & Stephenson, Z 2024, '', The Journal of Forensic Practice.

Cajada, L, Stephenson, Z & Bishopp, D 2024, '', Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology.

Saunders, N & Stephenson, Z 2024, '', Journal of Religion and Health, vol. 63, no. 5, pp. 3926–3941.

Booth, CC & Stephenson, Z 2024, '', Journal of Forensic Practice.

Stephenson, Z, Jackson, A & Wilkes, V 2023, '', Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education.

Literature review

Tarpey, E, Stephenson, Z & Barker, R 2023, '', British Journal of Forensic Practice, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 243-262.

Review article

McMinn, LE, Kloess, JA & Stephenson, Z 2024, '', Trauma, Violence and Abuse, pp. 1-18.

Minnett, K-L & Stephenson, Z 2024, '', Adversity and Resilience Science.

Dias Cajada, L, Stephenson, Z & Bishopp, D 2023, '', Adversity and Resilience Science, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 245-257.

Tonks, S & Stephenson, Z 2019, '', International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, vol. 64, no. 9, pp. 903-921.