Menu Close
Reader in Criminology (Illicit substance use and drug policy), Manchester Metropolitan University

I am a social science researcher with a broad interest in drug use, policy and markets. I have ten years’ experience conducting research, which has included evaluations of drug treatment programmes, projects looking at the nature and extent of novel psychoactive drug use (aka legal highs) and drug takers views on policy and the law. I interviewed adult recreational drug takers as part of my PhD at the University of Manchester and how they negotiate the deviance and criminality associated with their behaviour. I have three main areas of study.

1. Positives, pleasures and functions of substance use.

2. Innovative and evolving approaches involving the consumption and distribution of illicit substances.

3. Drug Policy Reform

I am currently undertaking a funded BA/Leverhulme small grant to explore the varied functions of drug use. This includes: physical pain and mental illness; creativity and problem-solving; spirituality and self-discovery and productivity and focus. Further details can be found at www.rebeccaaskew.com.

Experience

  • –present
    Senior Lecturer in Criminology (Illicit substance use and drug policy), Manchester Metropolitan University

Education

  • 2013 
    The University of Manchester, Criminology and Sociology