About me
Betsy Barkas is a Research Fellow (Economic and Social Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship scheme 2026-7). She obtained her PhD at the University of Glasgow in 2025, which explored public and media contestations over deaths in custody through a focus on family justice campaigns. She is part of a project based at the University of Glasgow (Nothing to See Here? 2021- ), which monitors Scotland’s deaths in state custody and their investigation. She was previously a lecturer in Criminology at the University of Glasgow and has worked on a range of other research projects across crime and justice, media, and Science and Technology Studies.
She has a background in third sector policy, campaigning and communications roles at UK charities and campaigning organisations.
- Deaths in custody
- Media reporting of crime and justice
- Social movements and activism responding to state harms