Doctoral study in Criminology

Why study with us?

As a doctoral candidate, you'll benefit from: financial support for research expenses through PReSS funding; high-calibre supervision practices; and the networks and expertise of our world-class academic researchers.

Research opportunities

We welcome PhD research proposals in areas such as:

  • Corrections, including popular representations of prisons
  • Crime in popular culture, novels, television, and film
  • Crimes of elite offenders, especially those with high IQ scores
  • Criminalisation
  • Criminological theory
  • Critical and cultural criminology
  • Graffiti and street art
  • Indigenous criminology
  • Indigenous jurisprudence
  • Law and custom
  • Māori and New Zealand criminal justice policy
  • Mental health in prisons
  • Penology and punishment theory, especially incarceration and capital punishment
  • Power, deviance and control
  • Prisoner reintegration, recidivism and desistance
  • Self-report measures of crime
  • Sentencing, especially the use of risk instruments in sentencing decisions
  • Serial homicide, including its social construction
  • Specialist/problem-solving courts
  • The role of non-governmental organisations in criminal justice
  • Young people, digital technology and their sexual lives

Our people

Our criminologists explore both the causes of crime and the different ways societies respond to deviance in New Zealand and around the world.

Past research topics

Scholarships and awards

There are several scholarships you may be eligible for when you decide to pursue your PhD in Criminology:

Help and advice

For help with enrolling in your PhD contact our friendly staff at Student Hubs. 

If you would like to discuss your plans for your doctoral research you can contact our PhD Adviser.

Apply for doctoral study