Research Interests
Oopen to PhD applications in:
- Sexual abuse or exploitation
- Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV)
- SGBV in the digital age
- Peer forms of abuse
- Historical forms of abuse
- Restorative justice
- Risk management of sexual offending
- Transnational regulation of sexual crime
- Criminal justice responses to sexual offending
- Community responses to sexual offending
- Cultural myths around sexual violence
- Public health and prevention
Public outreach & key achievements
- Editorial Board Member of The Journal of Sexual Aggression; Contemporary Justice Review; and The Prison Service Journal
- Two periods of external consultancy for the Northern Ireland Office/Department of Justice and Public Protection Arrangements Northern Ireland (PPANI) on ‘Public Attitudes to Sexual Offending’ and ‘Employment Opportunities for Sexual Offenders’
- Invited international expert and gave oral and written evidence to the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (2017) on ‘grooming and entrapment’
- Invited key note address at the NOTA (National Organisation for the Treatment of Abuse) International Conference three times (September 2010, 2015 and 2019)
- International media activity – interviewed for and quoted in: The New York Times; The Economist; ABC Radio
- Profiled in the Times Higher as a ‘World Leading Researcher’ from QUB (Feb 2018)
Research students
| PhD area | Phantom of the courtroom: Disgust's influence on the criminal process and pornography trials in Northern Ireland |
| Name | Eamonn Rea |
| PhD area | He who shall not be named? Rethinking Northern Ireland's approach to defendant anonymity in rape trials |
| Name | Chloe Hanna |
| PhD area | A critical evaluation of the admission of sexual history evidence in Northern Ireland trials: Prevalence, impact and reform |
| Name | Chloe Templeton |
| PhD area | Have Inquiries been used to limit the number of 'provable truths' about the conflict in Northern Ireland or the legacy of historical institutional abuse? |
| Name | Conor Flannery |
Alumni: Where are they now
| PhD area | Remembering what they can never forget: Memorialisation of historical institutional abuse in Ireland |
| Name | Dr Paula Shilliday |
| Years of study | PhD awarded 2022 |
| Quote | It was my privilege to be guided and mentored by Prof McAlinden throughout my PhD journey and to be supported to grow in confidence through her vast knowledge, experience and expertise. Her valuable and constructive feedback, together with her kindness, encouragement and understanding, are instrumental in my development as a researcher and in the successful completion of my doctoral thesis. |
| PhD area |
A critical analysis of the emergence, impact and regulation of 'cyberbullying' and 'sexting' among young people in Northern Ireland |
| Name | Dr Elizabeth Agnew |
| Years of study | PhD awarded 2018 |
| Current Position: | Lecturer, School of Law, Queen’s Belfast |
| PhD area |
Understanding desistance from sexual offending |
| Name | Dr Mark Farmer |
| Years of study | PhD awarded 2016 |
| Current Position: | HMPPS |
| PhD area |
The punitive effect of victim-focused discourse on legislative responses to child sexual abuse: Examining the influence of the USA on England and Wales and South Korea |
| Name | Dr Hyo Won Kang |
| Years of study | PhD awarded 2016 |
| Current Position: | Teaching assistant, Queen’s University Belfast |
Discover More
- Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
- School of Law
- Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice
- The Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice
Get ahead: tips on how to prepare your application to study for a PhD at QUB Law
Read our guidance on the steps in our PhD applications process and how to present your research proposal.
Interested in a postdoctoral fellowship at QUB Law?
If you have already completed a PhD or are about to do so, and you are looking for a mentor for a postdoctoral fellowship in one of my areas of expertise, please get in touch via email. The School of Law has a strong track record in supporting able candidates who are working towards fellowship applications to funders such as the British Academy, EU Marie Sklodowska-Curie scheme, ESRC NINE and the Leverhulme Trust.