Carol Robinson
Senior Lecturer

Profile

Biography

I joined the University of York in September 2019, having worked in high and medium security and open prisons as a prison chaplain, providing pastoral support, for more than 9 years. My experience of working in prisons gave me lots of questions, which led me to study for an MA in Criminology and Social Research at the University of York. I then studied for a PhD at York, funded by the ESRC,  to explore what happens when a someone is dying of natural causes in prison custody. This work looked particularly at emotional labour. 

My career has included several years working in the voluntary sector, including as director of a charity working with young people experiencing homelessness and later as chief executive of an environmental campaigning charity. I was also manager of the Learning and Teaching Subject Centre for History, Classics and Archaeology, based at the University of Glasgow.
My focus is on teaching criminology, but I’m still interested in how prisons function, in prison cultures and staff-prisoner relationships.

Departmental roles

• Deputy Examinations Officer, Department of Sociology

University roles

• Chair, Interdisciplinary Studies Education Committee

Research

Overview

My core research interests relate to how we understand and enhance teaching and learning, including in connection with studying criminology. I am interested in the contributions made by practitioners as guest speakers in the classroom. I’m also interested in identity and am currently collaborating with colleagues in the US, UK, South Africa and Australia on a State of the Art literature review looking at how lecturers’ professional identity and students’ academic identity interact to influence the teaching-learning process in undergraduate education. Through this work, I’ve developed a further research interest in ensuring the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) meets high ethical standards.

Publications

Selected publications

Prison studies

• Robinson, C. (2023). Dying in prison: deaths from natural causes in prison culture, regimes and relationships. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Robinson, C. (2021). The anticipation of an investigation: The effects of expecting investigations after a death from natural causes in prison custody. Criminology & criminal justice.
• Robinson, C. (2020). Prison officers: emotional labour and dying prisoners. In Phillips, J., Waters, J., Westaby, C. and Fowler, A. (Eds.). Emotional Labour in Criminal Justice and Criminology. London: Routledge. 

Teaching related

• Robinson, C. (2026). Producing Literature-Based research. In Penfold-Mounce, R. and Falcetta, S. (eds.). Innovative Qualitative Methods for Criminology: An Introduction to Dissertation Research. London: Routledge.
• Robinson, C. (2024). Teaching criminological theory in higher education: What is known about enhancing student learning?. Learning and Teaching 17 (2), 94-116. 
• Robinson, C., Lang Burns, V. and Thompson, P.  (2024). Taking the prison to the classroom: prison service professionals as guest speakers in Higher Education. Prison Service Journal 275, 17-22.

Ethics related

• Robinson, C. (2020). Ethically important moments as data: reflections from ethnographic fieldwork in prisons. Research Ethics. 16 (1-2) p1-15
• Robinson, C. (2018) Tackling the ethical approval process. Forms over function: ethics, ethnography and the NHS. 15 January 2018, Women Are Boring. [Online] Available at: https://womenareboring.wordpress.com/2018/01/15/tackling-the-ethical-approval-process/

Teaching

Overview

I teach criminology to undergraduate and postgraduate students, including helping them explore criminological theory.

I also teach about working in the criminal justice system, drawing on the sociology of work.

My teaching style foregrounds student interaction and participation, and I encourage student reflection to identify their priorities for learning. 

Supervision

I am currently co-supervising a PhD student researching prisoner healthcare complaints.

External Activity

Overview

• International Society for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL)

I co-chair the subgroup working on Grand Challenges for SoTL#4, which looks at identity in teaching and learning. In this role I support and enable colleagues internationally to develop their own Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) practice.