Key details
Dr Rachele Girardi
Lecturer in Criminology
Rachele obtained a PhD in Law from the University of Greenwich in 2025. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences from the VUB in Brussels, and a Master’s degree in Criminology and Criminal Psychology from the University of Greenwich.
During her PhD at the University of Greenwich, Rachele worked as a PGR Teaching Assistant, teaching criminology modules for undergraduate and postgraduate students. She is also a Lecturer for the module ‘The Psychology of Crime and Justice in the UK’ at the Institute for Study Abroad (IFSA) in London.
Responsibilities within the university
Module Co-Leader for Women Power Crime and Justice (Level 6), and Social and Forensic Investigative Psychology (Level 6). Module Tutor for Foundations of Criminology (Level 4)
Awards
“PGR Research Award 2025”, awarded by the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Greenwich, 2025
“Blu Tirohl Prize”, awarded by the Journal of Gender Studies, Taylor & Francis Group, 2022
“Best Postgraduate Criminology Dissertation”, awarded by the School of Law and Criminology, University of Greenwich, 2021
“Best Postgraduate Gender and Sexuality Related Dissertation”, awarded by the School of Law and Criminology, University of Greenwich, 2021
Research / Scholarly interests
Rachele's research interests sit at the intersection of feminist and queer criminology, carceral geography and prison abolition. She is particularly interested in exploring how normative notions of gender and sexuality inform criminal justice processes and affect the criminalisation and victimisation of marginalised community. Her work on female prison spaces is informed by the abolitionist tradition, feminist and queer criminological research, and the use of creative methods to explore lived experience of the criminal justice system.
Her PhD project, "Locked Behind Gendered Bars: exploring the heteronormative regulation of female prison spaces in England", investigates women’s prisons by focusing on how space influences strategies of gendered control. The theoretical framework employed bridges the fields of Queer Criminology and Carceral Geography to understand the relationship between imprisoned bodies and carceral spaces through the use of creative methods. The project highlights the marginalising consequences of existing strategies of gendered control in prison, embedding the analysis in abolitionist thinking and imagination, and pointing towards the expressions of everyday resistance and transformation that can contest the broader prison system.
Media activity
Pint of Science (2025). Why should we care about prison spaces? Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Npifog2Wvmc
Girardi, R. (2023) An interview with Rachele Girardi. Journal of Gender Studies, 32(1), 3-5. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2023.2154961
Recent publications
Girardi, R. (2024). The ubiquity of gender and the hiddenness of agency: looking inside women’s prisons in England. Gender, Place & Culture, 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2024.2404890
Girardi, R. (2022). ‘It’s easy to mistrust police when they keep on killing us’: A queer exploration of police violence and LGBTQ+ Victimization. Journal of Gender Studies, 31(7), 852-862. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2021.1979481
Presentations
"Queer Resistance in the Prison Heterotopia", London Conference of Critical Thought, Birkbeck University, London.
"Locked behind gendered bars: mapping emotions and the regulation of gender in female prison spaces", American Society of Criminology Conference 2024, San Francisco.
“Locked behind gendered bars: mapping emotions and the regulation of gender in female prison spaces”, Feminist and Queer Spatialities Conference 2024, UCD, Dublin, speaker and organiser of the session “Exploring the Prison Space: Queer and Feminist Perspectives”.
"Locked behind gendered bars: mapping emotions and the regulation of gender in female prison spaces", British Society of Criminology Conference 2024, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, speaker and receiver of the BSC Postgraduate Bursary.
"Locked behind gendered bars: exploring the heteronormative regulation of female prison spaces", Queer Frontiers Conference 2023, Bristol.
"Locked behind gendered bars: exploring the heteronormative regulation of female prison spaces", European Society of Criminology Conference 2023, Florence.
"Locked behind gendered bars: exploring the heteronormative regulation of female prison spaces", SPACE International Conference 2023, London.
"’It’s easy to mistrust police when they keep on killing us’: A queer exploration of police violence and LGBTQ+ Victimization", European Society of Criminology Conference 2022, Malaga.