My Biography

Dr. Geraldine Cleere lecturers in Law and Criminology at Waterford Institute of Technology, Ireland. Having completed her undergraduate degree in Law and Business at Waterford Institute of Techology, she studied Law as a postgraduate in University College, Cork. Following on from this she carried out an additional Masters in Law and Criminal Justice at UCC, before going on to undertake a Ph.D. in the area of Criminology from which she graduated in 2014.

In addition to lecturing various modules related to Law and Criminology at Waterford Institute of Technology, she is currently supervising two Ph.D. students undertaking research in the field of criminology. 

Her main research interests are prison education, desistance, the sociology of the prison, prison-based social capital, legal rights of prisoners and legal rights awareness among prisoners. 

Dr. Cleere is a member of the ACJRD Working Group on Education and the European Society of Criminology Working Group on Prison Life and the Effects of Imprisonment. She is the Chairperson of Research at U-Casadh, an organisation that works with ex-offenders and assists with their reintegration and training needs. She is also a sitting Director on the Board of Directors of U-Casadh. Furthermore, she is currently working with a group of the leading prison education researchers throughout Europe to secure funding under Horizon2020. 

Research

She recently completed a doctoral thesis entitled ‘Prison Education, Social Capital and Desistance: An exploration of prisoners’ experiences in Ireland’, examined by Dr. Kevin Warner and Prof. Fergus McNeill. This research examined prison education in Ireland and found connections between prison education and desistance from criminal offending. Furthermore the research also measure social capital levels of prisoners for the first time and showed that prisoners were aware of a distinct ‘ecology’ within the prison, its own type of society with rules and norms which gave rise to a type of ‘prison-based social capital’. 

In 2014 she was invited to deliver the Liam Minihan Memorial Lecture in Dublin, an annual lecture organised by the IPEA focusing on Prison Education related research on foot of her research. She delivered her first keynote at the King's College London, Center for Education in the Criminal Justice System Conference in July 2015.

 

Her main research interests are prison education, desistance, the sociology of the prison, prison-based social capital, legal rights of prisoners and legal rights awareness among prisoners. 

Research Interests:

Criminology

Penology

Prison education

Desistance

Reintegration

Social capital and Prison-based social capital

Prison Law

Criminal Law

Legal rights awareness among minority groups

Teaching

Dr. Geraldine Cleere lecturers in Law and Criminology at Waterford Institute of Technology, Ireland. In particular, she teaches Prison Law, Criminal Law, Criminology, Human Rights Law, Child Protection Law, Research Methodology, among other subjects. 

She is also currently supervising two Ph.D. students. Having won a prestigious WIT Ph.D. Scholarship to recruit a scholar to carry out research into 'Prisoners Awareness of their Legal Rights in Ireland' in the 2014 call and is now supervising a student carrying out this research, in addition to another student exploring the impact of social enterprise participation on the reintegration experiences of ex-prisoners. 

She is currently part of the development team for the Higher Certificate in Custodial Care being developed in conjunction with the Irish Prison Service to train prison officer recruits with an expected start date of 2016.

Professional

Membership of Professional Bodies:

Co-founding member of ACJRD Working Group on Education

Co-founding member of ACJRD Working Group on Rehabilitation

Co-founding member of the Prison Education Network (Europe)

Member of European Society of Criminology’s Working Group on Prison Life and the Effects of Imprisonment

Member of Irish Penal Reform Trust

Member of Irish Prison Education Association

Member of the European Prison Education Association (Europe)

Member of the Correctional Education Association (United States)

Member of the Association for Criminal Justice Research and Development (Ireland)

Member of a European-wide research group developing collaborative research into prison education across Europe.

Positions Held

Board Membership and Directorships:

• Chairperson of Research and member of Board of Directors at U-Casadh Ireland. This is an organisation that works with ex-offenders post-release to ensure successful reintegration and assigning in building sustainable future prospects for those involved. This organisation was the recipient of the prestigious SEI Award for Social Impact in 2015.
• Director of Research at U-Casadh Ireland