Dr Karen Washington-Dyer

Dr Karen Washington-Dyer is a Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader for the MA Criminology and Criminal Justice Degree Programme. Karen began her career in the Wrexham Youth Service where she went on to become an area co-ordinator. As well as working with young people in the community Karen was also the resident youth worker in a Wrexham high school working with young people excluded from mainstream education.
Following this Karen went on to work with vulnerable adults suffering from poor mental health before moving on to working with convicted sex offenders being released from prison in an attempt to resettle them back into the community, whilst also holding them accountable. Karen began her academic career in 2008 when she enrolled onto the BA (Hons) Criminology and Criminal Justice programme at Wrexham Glyndwr University. Following graduating with a first-class honour’s degree Karen achieved a scholarship to undertake her PhD. This was awarded in 2016 and explores how the construction of ‘New’ terrorism since 9/11 has influenced perceptions of Islam. Karen began as a lecturer on the BA (Hons) Criminology and Criminal Justice programme in 2014 and in 2018 was made senior lecturer and programme leader of the MA Criminology and Criminal Justice programme at Wrexham Glyndwr University. Karen teaches a range of modules across the BA and MA with a main focus around social inequality, hate crimes, and terrorism. Karen is also a member of academic development teams at Wrexham Glyndwr University, most prominently with the peer mentor programme, she is also a member of the religion and faith forum and has been a keynote speaker at one of the chaplaincy conferences. Karen has experience of working on high value research projects, most recently contributing to research considering the experience of homelessness, with both males and females within the Criminal Justice System. Karen is also supervisor to several PhD students which cover many areas of interest such as stalking, bilingualism in the criminal justice system, perceptions of female offenders, and trust in the police service.