- Wang, R., Cleland, C.L., Weir, R., McManus, S., Martire, A., Grekousis, G. … Hunter, R.F. (2024). Rethinking the association between green space and crime using spatial quantile regression modelling: Do vegetation type, crime type, and crime rates matter? Urban Forestry & Urban Greening pp. 128523–128523. doi:10.1016/j.ufug.2024.128523.
- Weir, R. (2024). Differentiating risk: The association between relationship type and risk of repeat victimization of domestic abuse. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, 18. doi:10.1093/police/paae024.
- Lundrigan, S., Weir, R., Newton, A., Agudelo, K. and Dhami, M. (2024). Patterns and Predictors of Stranger Rape Locations. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 30(1), pp. 181–209. doi:10.1007/s10610-022-09535-5.
- Bland, M., Weir, R., Adisa, O., Allen, K., Ferreira, J. and Maitra, D.R. (2022). Describing Patterns of Known Domestic Abuse Among Different Ethnic Groups. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.917543.
- Weir, R. (2019). Using geographically weighted regression to explore neighborhood‐level predictors of domestic abuse in the UK. Transactions in GIS, 23(6), pp. 1232–1250. doi:10.1111/tgis.12570.
- GILL, A.K., COX, P. and WEIR, R. (2018). Shaping Priority Services for UK Victims of Honour‐Based Violence/Abuse, Forced Marriage, and Female Genital Mutilation. The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice, 57(4), pp. 576–595. doi:10.1111/hojo.12287.
Contact details
Address
Northampton Square
London EC1V 0HB
United Kingdom
Personal links
About
Overview
Dr Ruth Weir is a Deputy Director and Senior Research Fellow in the Violence and Society Centre, where she co-leads the policing thread, coordinates the neighbourhood working group and leads work on adolescent domestic abuse for the UKPRP-funded consortium on Violence, Health and Society (VISION).
Her research is interdisciplinary, drawing on her expertise in Geography and Criminology. She specialises in using spatial statistics, quantitative methods and community asset mapping.
Ruth recently collaborated with two senior police officers and another academic to write a book, ‘Policing Domestic Abuse: Risk, Policy and Practice’. The book is dedicated to improving the practice of policing domestic and aims to help inform those in policing about the dynamics of how domestic abuse occurs, how best to respond to and investigate it, and in the longer term prevent it.
In collaboration with the Assistant Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police she has formed the Adolescent Domestic Abuse Working Group, which has brought together key stakeholders from the Police, Home Office, Domestic Abuse Commissioners Office and specialist domestic abuse services together to explore whether the definition of domestic abuse, as set out in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, should be lowered to include 13–16-year-olds in teenage relationships.
Ruth completed her PhD at the University of Essex, which was funded by the ESRC and Essex County Council. Her research used quantitative methods and Geographic Information Systems to identify predictors of domestic abuse at the individual, relationship and neighbourhood level. At the University of Essex Ruth also worked as a Research Fellow on the HEFCE funded Catalyst Project and as a Lecturer in Sociology and Criminology.
She is a steering group member of the Domestic Abuse Research Network (DARNet), is on the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) advisory board for the College of Policing and has worked on a number of research projects funded by UKRI ESRC, Comic Relief and the Home Office. She is also an Associate Editor for The Journal of Sexual Aggression. Prior to working in academia Ruth held several research, intelligence and policy positions in local government and for the Home Office.
Qualifications
- Fellow of Higher Education Authority (FHEA), Advance HE, United Kingdom, Mar 2021
- PhD Criminology, University of Essex, United Kingdom, Oct 2013 – Feb 2020
- Diploma in Management, Oxford Brookes University, Apr 2005
- MSc Geographical Information Science, University College London, United Kingdom, Oct 2002 – Jan 2005
- BSc Geography, University College London, United Kingdom, Oct 1998 – Jun 2021
Employment
- Lecturer in Sociology and Criminology, University of Essex, Jul 2019 – Mar 2022
- Research Fellow, University of Essex, Sep 2018 – Jun 2019
- Assistant Lecturer, University of Essex, Oct 2014 – Aug 2018
- Research Officer, Essex County Council, Apr 2008 – Sep 2013
- Regional Intelligence Officer, East of England Trading Standards Association, Aug 2006 – Mar 2008
- Research Officer, Home Office, Aug 2004 – Jul 2006
- Research and Information Officer, Suffolk County Council, Jul 2001 – Jul 2004
Visiting appointments
- Visiting Fellow, University of Essex, Apr 2022 – present
- Senior Visting Fellow, University of Suffolk, Jun 2021 – present
Awards
- University of Essex (2019) Celebrating Impact Award
Finalist - University of Essex (2018) Three Minute Thesis Competition
Commended - University of Essex (2017) Faculty of Social Science Celebrating Excellence Award
Research
Research interests
Gender based violence and abuse
Geographical Information Systems
Evaluation
Quantitative Methods
Recent Grants
2021 - Home Office Perpetrator Fund (x2)
2020 - Comic Relief
2019 - Colchester Borough Homes
2019 - Data Analytics Innovation Voucher
Research students
Morgan Owen Cranshaw
Attendance: Oct 2021 – present, full-time
Thesis title: Neighbourhood, Transport, and Allostatic Load: How does inequality of access to public space get under the skin?
Role: 2nd Supervisor
Taylor Skevington
Attendance: Oct 2021 – present, full-time
Thesis title: An exploratory investigation on the application of Stalking Protection Orders across the criminal justice system in England and Wales
Role: 2nd Supervisor
Publications
Publications by category
Book
- Barrow-Grint, K., Sebire, J., Turton, J. and Weir, R. (2022). Policing Domestic Abuse: Risk, Policy and Practice. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-367-68415-0.
Chapters (2)
- Weir, R. (2022). Using Community Asset Mapping to understand neighbourhood level variation in the predictors of domestic abuse. In Bows, H. and Bianca, F. (Eds.), Geographies of Gender-Based Violence Bristol University Press.
- Day, A.S., Jenner, A. and Weir, R. (2018). Domestic Abuse: Predicting, Assessing and Responding to Risk in the Criminal Justice System and Beyond. Women and the Criminal Justice System (pp. 67–94). Springer International Publishing. ISBN 978-3-319-76773-4.
Journal articles (6)
Reports (9)
- Hadjimatheou, K., Quiroz-Flores, A., Weir, R. and Skevington, T. (2023). Understanding Domestic Abuse Perpetrators: using unsupervised machine learning to analyse a longitudinal dataset of domestic abuse incidents from Essex Police. A Home-Office funded project. 2022. University of Essex.
- Adisa, O., Bland, M., Weir, R., Allen, K. and Joana, F. (2021). Identifying predictors of harm within Black, Asian , and other racially minoritised communities. University of Suffolk.
- Adisa, O., Allen, K., Kumari, M., Weir, R. and Bond, E. (2020). Mapping the VAWG funding ecosystem in England and Wales. University of Suffolk.
- Reinhardt, G. and Weir, R. (2019). Safe and Well Evaluation Report. University of Essex.
- Weir, R. (2019). Colchester Borough Homes - Community plan analysis. https://www.essex.ac.uk/research-projects/catalyst.
- Cox, P., Cornish, C. and Weir, R. (2018). Young Colchester: Life Chances, Assets and Antisocial Behaviour..
- Gill, A.K., Cox, P., Weir, R. and Walklate, S. (2017). Honour Based Violence and Abuse, Forced Marriage and Female Genital Mutilation: Shaping Services for Priority Victims in Hertfordshire..
- Weir, R. and Crawley, J. (2014). Domestic Abuse Needs Assessment..
- Weir, R. and Bangs, M. (2007). The use of Geographic Information Systems by crime analysts in England and Wales. Home Office.
Thesis/dissertation
Professional activities
Editorial activity
- The Journal of Sexual Aggression, Associate Editor, Nov 2023 – present.
Media appearances (3)
- Heart/LBC News. Speaking about domestic abuse in lockdown.
- Victoria Derbyshire Show.
- Colchester Gazette.