Alison Young

Deputy Director

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Biography

Alison Young is the Francine V. McNiff Professor of Criminology in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne. She is an Adjunct Professor in the School of Law, Griffith University. She has also been a visiting professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo, New York University, Hong Kong University, Keio University, Tokyo, Birkbeck College, London, Westminster University, and the Law School at City, University of London. She has held a visiting research fellowship at the Humanities Research Centre at the Australian National University, and was awarded the Karl Loewenstein Fellow in Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought at Amherst College in the United States.

Alison has researched many aspects of the governance of urban public space, including graffiti and street art, homelessness and political dissent. Her publications include Street Art World (2016, Reaktion), Street Art, Public City (2014, Routledge, awarded the Penny Pether Prize for best book by the Australasian Association in Law, Culture and the Humanities), The Scene of Violence (2010, Routledge), Street/Studio (2010, Thames & Hudson) and Judging the Image (2005, Routledge), along with numerous articles on the intersection of law, crime, public or private space. She is currently conducting research on ride-sharing and public safety (with Bianca Fileborn and Elena Cama), the atmospherics of criminal justice institutions, and a three-year ARC-funded Discovery Project on Justice in the Street: Responses to Public Homelessness and Public Dissent.

In 2016, Alison founded the Urban Environments Research Network, bringing together artists, academics, architects and activists interested in cities, public spaces, culture, and law. She has provided policy advice on graffiti and street art to the Cities of Knox, Onkaparinga, Yarra and Melbourne; on sexual offences to the Victorian Law Reform Commission; and on public homelessness to Justice Connect, Housing Vic in the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Cities of Melbourne and Yarra.

View Alison's Find An Expert profile.

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