Michelle is currently a Childhood Studies PhD Student at Rutgers and an affiliate of the SafeLab at Columbia University. Michelle gained a BA in Sociology from the University of Birmingham and a MSc in Children Youth and International Development from Birkbeck University of London.
Michelle has shared her Masters research ‘Digital Artefact V’s Digital Fingerprint: An Ethnography of Gangs Online’ as training for the Metropolitan Police, the UK Ministry of Justice, and the National Prison and Probation Service. Michelle has also shared this research at the House of Lords and published an article on her findings in the Journal of Youth Studies.
As a practitioner, Michelle worked with victims and offenders of serious youth violence in London for 10 years. She is the Co-Author of the Growing Against Violence curriculum which is the largest evidenced based violence prevention program in Europe. Michelle has been part of several National campaigns and research projects highlighting the experiences of young people who have been victims and/or perpetrators of Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation in the UK.