Fiona Measham

Professor Fiona Measham has been Chair in Criminology in the Department of Sociology, Social Policy & Criminology at the University of Liverpool since 2019. Fiona has conducted research for three decades exploring changing trends in drugs and intoxication, festival and night time economies, drug policy and the wider socio-cultural context to consumption. Fiona’s current research programme includes annual research at UK festivals exploring the prevalence and policing of festival drug use; mapping local drug markets; research and evaluation of European drug checking services; a study of sexual harassment and sexual violence at festivals; and a partnership developing rapid forensic analysis for public health.

Fiona completed her US Inside-Out prison exchange programme instructor training in 2013 and introduced Inside-Out in the UK in 2014 at two men’s and one women’s prisons, at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, accredited by Durham University. She incorporates yoga and meditation into her teaching and qualified as a yoga teacher with the UK Yoga Alliance in 2018.

Fiona was appointed to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs by the Home Secretary 2008-18 and remains a permanent member of the ACMD Technical Standing Committee and New Psychoactive Substances Standing Committee. Fiona is a founding member of David Nutt’s Drug Science committee 2010 onwards and has been a member of expert panels on drug policy reform with the Conservative, Labour and Liberal-Democrat parties.

Fiona is co-founder and co-director of The Loop established in the UK in 2013 and in Australia in 2018, non profit NGOs providing an integrated service of drugs advice, information, forensic testing, brief interventions, research and evaluation. The Loop is best known for introducing face-to-face drug checking to UK festivals in 2016 and UK cities in 2018. (For more details see: www.wearetheloop.org)