Monica Thomas

Personal statement

Monica Thomas is a Teaching Fellow in Criminology at Bath Spa University.

Monica's ESRC funded PhD research focuses on the experiences of Black mothers in and after imprisonment, using Black feminist narrative methods. Her more general research interests include black feminist thought, critical race theory, social and racial justice, prisons research, narrative methodologies and other qualitative approaches to research methods. In 2017, she gained her Master of Science Degree in 'Social Science Research Methods (Criminology)'.

During her PhD Monica has been involved in the co-development of several student-led projects, webinars and conferences relating to racialised and gendered experiences in Britain and was one of the co-founders of the Migration, Ethnicity, Race and Diversity research group (MEAD), which she co-convened between December 2019 to July 2021.

Monica also has experience working with, and advocating for, imprisoned people and their families within charity and governmental organisations.

Academic qualifications

• Associate Fellowship (AFHEA) status
• MSc Criminology
• BSc Criminology and Sociology

Areas of expertise

• Imprisonment
• Maternal Imprisonment
• Racialisation and Racism
• Intersectionality
• Black Feminism
• Qualitative Research

Research supervision

• Imprisonment
• Mothering and Imprisonment
• Gender and Imprisonment
• Processes of Racialisation and Racism in the Criminal Justice System