Dr Avril Brandon

    Law

    Lecturer/Assistant Professor

    New House
    304
    (01) 4747208

    Biography

    Dr Avril Brandon joined the Department of Law as an Assistant Professor/Lecturer in Criminology in September 2019. Her research explores ethnic prejudice in the criminal justice system and the experience of minority ethnic and non-national groups within the system. 

    She received her PhD from UCD School of Psychology, completing research entitled: ‘Investigating the role of ethnic prejudice in the Irish criminal justice system.’. Within this interdisciplinary project, she carried out quantitative analysis on sentencing data provided by the Irish Prison Service to ascertain whether sentencing differences were visible between Irish and non-Irish nationals (Brandon & O’Connell, 2018); she examined whether punitive attitudes differed based on offender and victim ethnicity; and she conducted qualitative research, interviewing members of the Irish Travelling Community and An Garda Síochána to explore the nature of their relationship. Throughout this project, she engaged with a number of key stakeholders, including Pavee Point Traveller and Roma Centre, An Garda Síochána, the Irish Prison Service and the Irish Probation Service. She was awarded a Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship from the Irish Research Council for this research.

    Following completion of her doctoral research, Dr Brandon has begun to examine the prison-release experience of members of the Irish Travelling community. This project has been designed in collaboration with Professor Denis Bracken (University of Manitoba).

    She welcomes     research proposals in these areas from prospective PhD candidates.

    Research Interests

    Her research focuses on ethnic prejudice within the criminal justice system, and the experiences of minority ethnic and non-national groups engaged with the system. 

    Research Projects

      Project Role Funding Body / Program Description Start Date End Date Award (€)
    Exploring the Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Prison Staff PI MU Internal Funding Schemes / 29-SEP-21 4908
    Access to Rights & Justice for Migrants and Ethnic Minority People in the Penal System Co-PI Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission / 02-MAR-21 27-APR-22 9979
    Examining the prison release experience of the Irish Travelling community in Ireland. Co-PI / 7230
    Examining the Impact of Covid-19 Prison Lockdowns on Minority Ethnic and Foreign National Prisoners Co-PI / 19-OCT-20 19-OCT-21
    Investigating the Role of Ethnic Prejudice in the Irish Criminal Justice System Doctoral Researcher Irish Research Council (IRC) / 13-JAN-14 04-SEP-19 24000
    Exploring the experience of open prisons in Ireland. Co-PI /
    Examining the impact of CyberSafeIreland online safety talks in primary schools. PI / 01-APR-19 30-SEP-20 4500
    Exploring the impact of student mobility and extracurricular engagement on academic performance and graduate employability. PI / 04-NOV-18 29-NOV-19 36000

    Books

      Year Publication
    2022 Minority Ethnic Prisoners and the COVID-19 Lockdown Issues, Impacts and Implications.
    Avril Brandon & Gavin Dingwall (2022) Minority Ethnic Prisoners and the COVID-19 Lockdown Issues, Impacts and Implications. Bristol, UK: Bristol University Press. [Details]

    Book Chapters

      Year Publication
    2021 'Exploring the Impact of Student Mobility and Extracurricular Engagement on Academic Performance and Graduate Outcomes'
    Brandon, A., Hetherington, C. & Redmond, B. (2021) 'Exploring the Impact of Student Mobility and Extracurricular Engagement on Academic Performance and Graduate Outcomes' In: Broucker, B., Pritchard, R.M.O., Melin, G & Milsom, C (eds). Sustaining the Future of Higher Education. The Netherlands: Brill. [DOI] [Details]

    Peer Reviewed Journals

      Year Publication
    2018 'Same crime: Different punishment? investigating sentencing disparities between irish and non-irish nationals in the irish criminal justice system'
    Brandon A.;O'Connell M. (2018) 'Same crime: Different punishment? investigating sentencing disparities between irish and non-irish nationals in the irish criminal justice system'. British Journal of Criminology, 58 (5):1127-1146 [DOI] [full-text] [Details]

    Conference Contributions

      Year Publication
    2021 Crime and Harm: Challenges of social and global justice?.
    Avril Brandon & Gavin Dingwall (2021) Crime and Harm: Challenges of social and global justice?. [Oral Presentation], Lockdown: The Impact of Covid-19 on Minority Ethnic Prisoners, The Open University , 07-JUL-21 - 09-JUL-21 [Details]
    2021 COVID-19 and the ‘Crisis’ in Criminal Justice.
    Avril Brandon & Gavin Dingwall (2021) COVID-19 and the ‘Crisis’ in Criminal Justice. [Oral Presentation], Contextualising the Impact of the Covid-19 Lockdown on Ethnic Minority Prisoners, University of the West of England - UWE Bristol , 21-JUL-21 [Details]

    Published Reports

      Year Publication
    2022 Sometimes I'm missing the words: The rights, needs and experiences of foreign national and minority ethnic groups in the Irish penal system.
    Doyle, David; Brandon, Avril; Garrihy, Joe; Adanan, Amina; Bracken, Denis (2022) Sometimes I'm missing the words: The rights, needs and experiences of foreign national and minority ethnic groups in the Irish penal system. Irish Penal Reform Trust, Dublin. [Details]
    2021 Training Brief for the Irish Prison Service and Irish Probation Service.
    Adanan, Amina, Brandon, Avril Margaret. & Bracken, Denis (2021) Training Brief for the Irish Prison Service and Irish Probation Service. Irish Penal Reform Trust, Dublin. [Details]
    2020 Exploring the Impact of Student Mobility and Extracurricular Engagement on Academic Performance and Graduate Outcomes.
    Brandon, Avril Margaret, Redmond, Bairbre & Hetherington, Caroline (2020) Exploring the Impact of Student Mobility and Extracurricular Engagement on Academic Performance and Graduate Outcomes. Universitas 21, University of Birmingham. [Details]

    Report

      Year Publication
    2021 Non-custodial sanctions and measures in the Member States of the European Union: Republic of Ireland.
    Brandon, Avril Margaret & Kennefick, Louise (2021) Non-custodial sanctions and measures in the Member States of the European Union: Republic of Ireland. Report [Details]

    Honours and Awards

      Year Title Awarding Body
    2019 FitzPatrick Foundation Funding Award FitzPatrick Foundation
    2021 Team Teaching Award Office of the Dean of Teaching and Learning
    2021 MUSSI Small Grant Scheme Maynooth University Social Science Institute
    2016 Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship Irish Research Council

    Professional Associations

      Association Function From / To
    European Society of Criminology Full Member /
    Psychology Society of Ireland Graduate Member /

    Committees

      Committee Function From / To
    International Committee Member /
    Research Committee Member /

    Education

      Year Institution Qualification Subject
    2018 University College Dublin PhD Psychology
    2011 University College Dublin BA (Hons) Geography; Spanish
    2013 University College Dublin Higher Diploma Psychology

    Teaching Interests

    Dr Brandon has designed and delivers the modules, LW297: Ethnicity, Crime & Punishment (undergraduate) and  LW696: Research Methods in Criminology (postgraduate). Full details available through Course Finder.

    She also co-delivers the modules, LW166 Exploring Criminology and LW165 Introduction to Criminal Justice.


    External Collaborators

      Name Role / Description Country
    Professor Gavin Dingwall, De Montfort University ENGLAND