email: sirc@cf.ac.uk

Sarah Simons

Sarah Simons is a Kenyan mid-career professional who started from an academic background in Education, Gender, Environment and Development Studies. She previously worked in the public and private sectors in Eastern Africa and is currently a trained Crime Investigator, Researcher, Analyst and Lecturer specializing in Crime Victim Support and Witness Protection. She completed a PhD at the Seafarers International Research Centre (SIRC), Cardiff University as a SIRC-Nippon Foundation PhD Fellow. She is also a trained Crime Victim and Witness Support volunteer with the UK National Victim Support & Witness Service. Her thesis entitled Analysis of Maritime Piracy in Eastern Africa between 2000 and 2011 and its Impact on Seafarers’ Welfare' focuses on shipping crew in the international fleet as a professional group and (potential)victims of Maritime Piracy. Her other research interests include pioneering African Endogenous Victimology, human rights advocacy for vulnerable groups, the empowerment of women and girls, women, pease and security in Africa, forensic criminology, forensic psychology and forensic psychiatry.

 

She is a member of the executive committee of the World Society of Victimology and Chairperson All-Africa Criminal Justice Society. For over twenty-five years she has worked on Victim Support interventions in criminal justice systems in seventeen countries on four continents. In her current work, she adopts a humanistic Victimology approach for focusing on strengthening victim assistance strategic and operational capabilities in Africa - often in volatile, resource-constrained and 'high-risk' contexts.

 

Sample of publications:

  • Maritime Piracy Victimisation of Seafarers and their families. A chapter contribution in Contemporary Developments in Victimology: An International Perspective a festschrift in honour of Professor Dr. Marc Groenhuijsen, former President World Society of Victimology.Springer (for release in early 2020).
  • The Media: Minimizing Re-Victimisation through Duty of Care for Victims and Responsible Journalism https://doi.org/10.2298/TEM1703377S
  • Using Vignettes to Elicit Sensitive Testimony: Researching Piracy in East Africa: SAGE Research Methods https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/978144627305014533918
  • Situation Analysis of Human Trafficking in Eastern Africa in Global Report on Trafficking in Persons https://www.unodc.org/documents/Global_Re port_on_TIP.pdf
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