ÌÇÐÄlogoÈë¿Ú

Skip to main content

Sarah Lamble

Positions held:
  • Professor of Criminology and Queer Theory, School of Social Sciences
Email
  • Overview

    Overview

    Biography

    Lamble first joined ÌÇÐÄlogoÈë¿Ú in 2009 as part of the School of Law, leading the development of criminology and the establishment of the Department of Criminology in 2016.ÌýCriminology has since joined the School of Social Sciences, within theÌýFaculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.

    Prior to ÌÇÐÄlogoÈë¿Ú,ÌýLamble taught politics, law and gender studies at the University of Trent (Canada) and at Kent Law School UK.ÌýThey have previously worked as an advocate for prisoners and have been involved in anti-violence and anti-poverty community work in Canada and the UK.

    Lamble has served as an editorial board member for the journal Trustee for the and was previously a Visiting Scholar at the Beatrice Bain Research Group, University of California, Berkeley. From 2012 - 2024 Lamble co-edited Routledge'sÌýSocial Justice Book Series.

    Currently, Lamble isÌýan International Advisory Editor for , a member of the Advisory Circle for , andÌýpart of the steering group for theÌý (BiGS) and the ÌÇÐÄlogoÈë¿Ú Institute of Humanities (µþ±õ±á).Ìý

    Lamble is co-founder of the , a collective that coordinates a letter-writing programme for LGBTQ+ prisoners in Britain andÌýhas organisedÌýwith .


    Highlights

    • Leverhulme Research Fellowship: Beyond sex versus gender: Rethinking the 'gender wars' in Britain. Awarded 2023-2025.

    • Forthcoming book: Ìý(Haymarket Books)

    • Governing Sex and Intimacy in British Prisons Research Project. Supported by ÌÇÐÄlogoÈë¿Ú College Innovation Fund.Ìý

    • Legal Intervenor (2021) High Court Judicial Review on transgender prisoner policy in England & Wales:Ìý (Rev 1) [2021] EWHC 1746 (Admin) (02 July 2021) .

    Web profiles

    Administrative responsibilities

    • Programme Director, MA/MSc Gender & Sexuality Studies
    • UBEL Gender & Sexuality Pathway Lead

    Professional memberships

    • Member,

    • Member,

    • Member,

    • Member,

    • Member,

    • Member,

    ORCID

  • Research

    Research

    Research interests

    • Gender, Sexuality & Criminal Justice
    • Queer, Feminist, and Critical Race Theory
    • Prisons, Punishment and Abolition
    • Alternative & Transformative Justice
    • Transgender Prison Policy

    Research overview

    MyÌýresearch interests lie at the intersections of gender, sexuality and criminal justice; queer theory, law and social movements; cultures of violence, control and punishment; and transformative and alternative forms of justice.Ìý

    Taking a theoretically informed, yet empirically grounded approach to these topics,ÌýI consider both the conceptual and material dimensions of social, political, and epistemological change. At the heart of my research are questions about power, social change, and political possibility.

    Current projects include:

    1) AÌýresearch project around transgender prisoner policy in the UK and the role of carceral logics in the debates around the Gender Recognition Act.Ìý

    2) AÌýjoint research project involving colleagues at ÌÇÐÄlogoÈë¿Ú and Goldsmiths on the everyday governance of sex and intimacy in British prisons.

    3) Collaborations with scholars and community groups thatÌýexplore abolitionist and transformative justice responses toÌýgendered, racialised, and sexualised violence.

    Other research interests include:

    • law and political theory
    • governance and social regulation
    • policing, punishment and criminalisation
    • state violence and institutional racism
    • welfare, poverty and homelessness
    • alternative justice and community responses to social harm
    • critical disability studies

    Research Centres and Institutes

    • Steering Group Member,
    • Member,
    • Steering Group Member,

    Research clusters and groups

    • Member,
    • Member,
    • Member,

    Research projects

    Beyond sex versus gender: Rethinking the 'gender wars' in Britain.

    Abstract

    Gender politics in Britain are currently dominated by the so-called ‘gender wars’, including conflicts over trans rights versus women’s rights, and the meaning and significance of ‘sex’ versus ‘gender’. This project examines how these debates, though routinely framed as disputes about identity, are better understood as competing claims around safety, danger, victimisation and threat. By investigating the safety politics that underpin the contemporary gender wars in Britain, this project offers a new framework for overcoming the seeming impasse of the debates and addressing their wider legal, policy and public governance implications.

    Governing sex and intimacy in British prisons

    Abstract

    This pilot project will investigate the everyday governance of sex, desire and intimacy in British prisons and its impact on prisoner safety and well-being. While it is well established that sex occurs in prison, little research to date has considered the ways in which the formal and informal regulation of sexual desire and intimacy contribute to the wider institutional dynamics of prisons or impact on the health, well-being and safety of prisoners.

    This pilot study will interview ex-prisoners to explore their accounts of the regulation of sex, desire and intimacy in daily prison life. The pilot seeks to establish whether there is grounds to conduct further research in this area and identify suitable research methods for further research.

  • Supervision and teaching

    Supervision and teaching

    Supervision

    Supervisions within ÌÇÐÄlogoÈë¿Ú:
    5

    I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students who are interested in undertaking research in any of my areas of research interest.

    Doctoral alumni since 2013-14

    • LISA WINTERSTEIGER
      Nature of supervision:
      Principal Supervisor,
      Awarded:
      2020
    • KEIRAN WILSON
      Nature of supervision:
      Joint Principal Supervisor,
      Title of thesis:
      Carceral Power in UK Mental Healthcare: A Mad, Queer, Abolitionist Examination of LGBTQ+ Experiences with the Mental Health Act (1983)
      Description:

      This thesis offers a critical criminological interrogation into the carceral logic that organises the UK’s mental healthcare system. Drawing on an interdisciplinary methodological approach, the research adopts a Mad, queer, abolitionist orientation, operationalised through a novel bricolage framework that integrates discursive and phenomenological approaches to knowledge production. The pluralist methodology of bricolage enables a simultaneous focus on the lived experiences of queer people and on the broader discursive conditions that render those experiences intelligible. Queer experiences thus function as a lens through which this thesis attempts to make visible the carceral logics embedded in the UK’s contemporary approach to mental healthcare. Using episodic narrative interviews carried out with queer people who have been detained under the Mental Health Act (1983), this analysis excavates the power dynamics of carceral logic across three interrelated sites: the legal apparatus of the Act, the carceral layers that form within the space of the psychiatric ward, and the production of psy subjects. This thesis demonstrates how gender, sexuality, and madness are (co-) constructed and disciplined through the carceral logic of the mental healthcare system, revealing how deeply connected the concept of care is with coercive and punitive mechanisms. By queering both the methodological and epistemological foundations of psy research, this thesis contributes to a growing body of critical work seeking to unsettle the persistent conflation of care with control and to disrupt modes of knowledge production about queer mental healthcare experiences.

      Awarded:
      2026
    • MOLLY ACKHURST
      Nature of supervision:
      Joint Principal Supervisor,
      Title of thesis:
      Reckoning with the Stuckness: A Critical Exploration into the Affective Dimensions of Feminist Politics Around Justice After Sexual Violence
      Awarded:
      2024
    • LIZZIE HUGHES
      Nature of supervision:
      Joint Principal Supervisor,
      Title of thesis:
      Sensing Surveillance: Critically examining the informal governance of bodies in the women’s toilets
      Awarded:
      2025
    • GEMMA LOUSLEY
      Nature of supervision:
      Joint Principal Supervisor,
      Awarded:
      2021

    Teaching

    My approach to teaching is based on a belief that education has the potential to be individually, socially and politically transformative. For me, this means working with students to create learning spaces that are inclusive, supportive and accessible. I aim to foster learning strategies that encourage critical thinking, curiosity and creativity and to support students in developing the skills and tools needed to grapple with contemporary social problems and injustices.


    Teaching modules

    • Gender and Sexuality Studies Dissertation
    • Gender, Sexuality and Criminal Justice
    • Theorising Gender and Sexuality
    • What is Justice?
  • Publications

    Publications

    Article

    • Lamble, Sarah (2026) . Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 51 (3), pp. 595-620. ISSN 0097-9740.
    • Ojeda, T. and Pape, M. and Grijseels, D.M. and Llaveria Caselles, E. and Bekker, S. and Blanc, J.-S. and Bons, D. and Demers, G. and Gonsalves, T. and Lamble, Sarah and Pearce, R. and Vähäpassi, V. (2026) . International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics ISSN 1937-4585.
    • Lamble, Sarah (2024) . Journal of Lesbian Studies ISSN 1089-4160.
    • McElhone, Megan and Kemp, T. and Lamble, Sarah and Moore, J.M. (2023) . The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice ISSN 2059-1101.
    • Lamble, Sarah (2023) . i-news
    • Lamble, Sarah and McElhone, Megan (2023) . Institute of Race Relations News
    • Lamble, Sarah (2023) . feminists@law 12 (1), pp. 1-8. ISSN 2046-9551.
    • Lamble, Sarah (2023) . Sexualities ISSN 1363-4607.
    • Lamble, Sarah (2022) . New Internationalist (536), pp. 28-30.
    • Lamble, Sarah (2022) . The Architectural Review pp. 46-47.
    • Lamble, Sarah (2022) . World Prison Brief
    • Sarah, Lamble and Nim, R. (2021) . Huck Magazine
    • Lamble, Sarah (2020) . Law, Culture and the Humanities 16 (2), pp. 213-225. ISSN 1743-8721.
    • Lamble, Sarah and Serisier, Tanya and Dymock, A. and Carr, N. and Downes, J. and Boukli, A. (2020) . Criminology & Criminal Justice 20 (5), pp. 504-509. ISSN 1748-8958.
    • Lamble, Sarah (2019) . Critical Legal Thinking
    • Fraser, Jennifer and Lamble, Sarah (2015) . Journal of Feminist Scholarship 7, pp. 61-77. ISSN 2158-6179.
    • Lamble, Sarah (2014) . Criminal Justice Matters 97 (1), pp. 14-15. ISSN 0962-7251.
    • Lamble, Sarah (2013) . South Atlantic Quarterly 112 (3), pp. 577-585. ISSN 0038-2876.
    • Lamble, Sarah (2013) . Law and Critique 24 (3), pp. 229-253. ISSN 0957-8536.
    • Lamble, Sarah (2012) . ECAN Bulletin (16), pp. 7-12.
    • Douglas, S. and Jivraj, S. and Lamble, Sarah (2011) . Feminist Legal Studies 19 (2), pp. 107-118. ISSN 0966-3622.
    • Tauqir, T. and Petzen, J. and Haritaworn, J. and Ekine, S. and Bracke, S. and Lamble, Sarah and Jivraj, S. and Douglas, S. (2011) . Feminist Legal Studies 19 (2), pp. 169-191. ISSN 0966-3622.
    • Lamble, Sarah (2009) . Social & Legal Studies 18 (1), pp. 111-130. ISSN 0964-6639.
    • Lamble, Sarah and Barker, N. (2009) . Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law 31 (3), pp. 321-332. ISSN 0964-9069.
    • Lamble, Sarah (2008) . Sexuality Research and Social Policy: Journal of NSRC 5 (1), pp. 24-42. ISSN 1553-6610.
    • Lamble, Sarah and Freeman, L. (2004) . Canadian Dimension 38 (6), pp. 44-46. ISSN 0008-3402.
    • Lamble, Sarah (2001) . Feminist Voices/voix Feminists 12, pp. 46-58.

    Book

    • Lamble, Sarah (2026) . Chicago, U.S.: Haymarket Books. ISBN 9798888906484. (In Press)

    Book section

    • Lamble, Sarah (2025) . In: Browne, K. and Kazyak, E. (eds.) Polarising Sexualities & Genders: Divisions, Differences and LGBTQIA+ Equalities,. London, UK: Bloomsbury. ISBN 9781350449855. (In Press)
    • Lamble, Sarah (2021) . In: Valverde, M. and Clarke, K.M. and Darian Smith, E. and Kotiswaran, P. (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Law and Society. Routledge. ISBN 9780367234249.
    • Lamble, Sarah (2021) . In: Duff, K. (ed.) Abolishing the Police. Dog Section Press. ISBN 9781916036574.
    • Lamble, Sarah (2016) . In: Fritsch, K. and O'Connor, C. and Thompson, A.K. (eds.) Keywords for Radicals: The Contested Vocabulary of Late-Capitalist Struggle. Chico, U.S.: AK Press. pp. 103-110. ISBN 9781849352420.
    • Lamble, Sarah (2014) . In: Haritaworn, J. and Kuntsman, A. and Posocco, Silvia (eds.) Queer Necropolitics. Social Justice. Oxford, UK: Routledge. pp. 151-171. ISBN 9780415644761.
    • Lamble, Sarah (2011) . In: Smith, N. and Stanley, E.A. (eds.) Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex. Oakland, U.S.: AK Press. pp. 235-266. ISBN 9781849350709.
    • Lamble, Sarah (2001) . In: Chang, J. and Daniels, S. and Leroux, D. and Or, B. and Tharmendran, E. and Tsumura, E. (eds.) Resist! A Grassroots Collection of Stories, Poetry and Analysis from the FTAA Protests in Québec City and Beyond. Halifax, Canada: Fernwood Publishing. pp. 179-185. ISBN 9781552660638.

    Editorial

    • Lamble, Sarah and Serisier, Tanya and Dymock, A. and Downes, J. and Boukli, A. (2020) . Criminology and Criminal Justice 20 (5), pp. 504-509. Sage. ISSN 1748-8958.

    Monograph

    • Lamble, Sarah (2003) . Peterborough, Canada: Ontario Public Interest Research Group and Peterborough Coalition Against Poverty.

    Other

    • Lamble, Sarah (2021) . Abolitionist Futures.
  • Business and community

    Business and community

    Media

    I am happy to receive enquiries from the media on the following topics:

    • Gender, sexuality and prisons
    • LGBT+ prison issues and transgender prisoner policy
    • Alternatives to prisons and police, including transformative justice and abolition

    Outreach

    Lamble S (2023) .Ìýi-news, 1 March.

    Read & Resist (2021)Ìý.

    Jibril, Halima (2022) Dazed Digital, 23 December. [Quoted in article]

    Abraham, Amelia (2019) . Dazed Digital, 6 November. [Quoted in article]