Rebecca Foster

Rebecca joined the School of Applied Sciences at Edinburgh Napier University (ENU) as a Lecturer in Criminology in September 2022. Prior to joining ENU, she worked as a Research Fellow at the University of Stirling, based in the Salvation Army Centre for Addiction Services and Research (within Social Sciences). In that role, she was primarily involved in leading and supporting research projects relating to problem substance use. Funders for these projects included the National Institute for Health Research, and the Scottish Government/Drug Deaths Taskforce. Before that, she worked as a social researcher in the Scottish Government in the crime research team.

While her research interests are varied, inequality and marginalisation and the manifestations and experiences of these, are common themes. Rebecca is particularly interested in the lived experience of the criminal justice system (especially prison), problem substance use and homelessness. Methodologically, she is particularly interested in qualitative research, creative methods, ethnographic approaches and peer research.

Rebecca holds a PhD in Criminology from the University of Glasgow. She also holds an MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice, and LLB (Hons) (First Class), both from the University of Edinburgh.