Amina El-Warari

Amina El-Warari BSc (Hons), MSc, PGCert, AFHEA, GMBPsS

Lecturer in Psychology

Amina is a Lecturer in Psychology who has been with the University of Greenwich since 2019.

Amina has utilised her social cognition and clinical psychology background to serve vulnerable, high-risk populations in desisting from offending, recovering from complex trauma, and reintegrating within the community.

She has worked for the American Civil Liberties Union Southern California Jails project on various policy reforms and grassroots community activism to improve conditions for inmates and ex-offenders with complex mental health needs. In addition, she has worked with multiple refugee organisations to develop assessments and mentoring schemes for at-risk youth. In her most recent role, Amina was responsible for risk assessment, case management, and intervention development in a forensic step-down unit serving female offenders with psychotic disorders.

Amina teaches across several areas of criminology and forensic psychology, including, but not limited to, the psychology of hate crime, the psychology of terrorism, forensic mental health, and offender reintegration and desistance. Amina is passionately committed to changing perspectives on crime and criminality and dismantling practices/policies that prevent the economic and social mobility of those at risk for offending/reoffending.

Posts held previously:

  • 2019-2022, Senior Case Manager, Ludlow Street Healthcare
  • 2015-2019, Graduate Teaching Assistant Psychology, Bath Spa University
  • 2015-2018, Research and Intervention Development, Bristol Refugee Rights
  • 2013-2015, Behavioural Therapist, STAR of California
  • 2011-2012, Research and Community Educator, Paiwand Afghan Association
  • 2009-2011, Policy Research Assistant, ACLU-Southern California Jails Project

Psychology

Responsibilities within the university
  • Module Lead - Social Forensic Psychology Level 6
  • Module Lead - Desistance and Reintegration Level 7
  • Supervisor - Research Project MSc. Forensic Psychology (various)
  • Supervisor - Research Project BSc. Psychology (various; forensic-focused)

Recognition
  • Associate Fellow Higher Education Academy (AFHEA)
  • Graduate Member of the British Psychological Society (GMBPsS)

Research / Scholarly interests
  • Social cognition of racially biased policing
  • Social psychology of radicalisation and extremist offending
  • Offender Desistance and Reintegration: Identity and Belonging
  • Restorative Justice and Historically Marginalised Communities
  • Institutional racism, mental health, and future offending outcomes
  • Complex trauma and recovery trajectories in female offenders

Amina’s upcoming research seeks the utility of a VR-Mental Health Training Tool for reducing stigma and police use of force against individuals with psychosis.