About

Eve Penford is a criminologist and psychologist specialising in forensic and prison research. Her work explores trauma, identity and compassion among people in prison, particularly those with personality difficulties.

She works regularly in high-security settings to understand prison residents' lived experience and prison climate, and her work informs rehabilitation practice. Eve also leads a national quantitative study on reporting of sexual crime against minors in the UK.

Research interests

Eve Penford's research interests focus on the dynamics between trauma, personality disorder, and compassion, in the context of violent and sexual crime.

She uses statistical and qualitative methods to examine how these factors influence behaviour, lived experience, and systemic context.

Her work is grounded in ethical awareness and empathy, with a commitment to advancing contemporary statistical practices in the field of criminology. She is particularly interested in methodological rigour, and integrating quantitative and qualitative evidence with psychological insight to support more transparent and responsible research.

Membership of professional bodies

• British Psychological Society - Graduate member
• British Society of Criminology

Qualifications

Undergraduate qualifications

• Bachelor of Behavioural Studies, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia - Double major in Advanced Psychology and Criminology

Postgraduate qualifications

• Graduate Diploma Psychology (Advanced), Monash University, Australia
• Masters in Forensic Psychology, Nottingham Trent University, UK

Recent conferences

British Society of Criminology Midlands Regional Group Symposium: Politics, Harm and Justice (Nottingham, UK; 2025) 

• Poster presentation: "Prevalence of Reported Sexual Crime Against Minors in the UK"
  24th Annual Conference of the European Society of Criminology (Bucharest, Romania; 2024) 
• Poster presentation: Evaluating the Thinking Skills Programme (TSP): A Qualitative Study
• Poster presentation: Mixed Methods Evaluation of a Service to Rehabilitate Individuals in the Community After Sexual Convictions

Prato 2023 – Stronger Trajectories, Safer Communities: Improving welfare, mental health and legal responses to crime (Prato, Italy; 2023) 

• Conference Presentation: Safer Living Centre: a case study for reintegration of people with sexual convictions.

Prato 2019 – Working with violence in adults and youth: Effective clinical, welfare and legal strategies (Prato, Italy; 2019)

• Conference Presentation: Everyday sadism, subclinical psychopathy and empathy: implications for antisociality

Recent publications

Posters

• Penford, E. 2025. Prevalence of Reported Sexual Crime Against Minors in the UK. British Society of Criminology Midlands Regional Group Symposium: Politics, harm and justice.
• Blagden, N., Penford, E. and Delliere-Moor, P. 2024. Mixed Methods Evaluation of a Service to Rehabilitate Individuals in the Community After Sexual Convictions. 24th Annual Conference of the European Society of Criminology.
• Blagden, N., Vinter, L., Penford, E., Mason, J. and Delliere-Moor, P. 2024. Evaluating the Thinking Skills Programme (TSP): A Qualitative Study. 24th Annual Conference of the European Society of Criminology.
• Blagden, N. and Penford, E. 2023. Safer Living Centre: a case study for reintegration of people with sexual convictions. Prato 2023 – Stronger Trajectories, Safer Communities: Improving welfare, mental health and legal responses to crime.

Journal articles

• Teague, K., Blagden, N. and Penford, E. 2025. “I’ve made more steps forward here than I have anywhere else”: a mixed methods exploration of a service to rehabilitate individuals with sexual convictions. Journal of Criminal Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCP-10-2024-0100
• Blagden, N. and Penford, E. 2025. Re-configuring fatherhood: evaluating the impact of a prison-based fathering intervention. Journal of Child and Family Studies. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-025-03053-8 
• Blagden, N. and Penford, E. 2025. Exploring the therapeutic and rehabilitative climate of three prisons for men with sexual convictions. Psychiatry, Psychology and Law. https://doi.org/10.1080/13218719.2025.2454574 
• Blagden, N. and Penford, E. 2023. Safer Living Centre: a case study for reintegration of people with sexual convictions. Prato 2023 – Stronger Trajectories, Safer Communities: Improving welfare, mental health and legal responses to crime.

Government reports

• Blagden, N., Vinter, L.P., Penford, E., Mason, J. and Delliere-Moor, P. 2025. A multi-site qualitative evaluation of the accredited Thinking Skills Programme (TSP). Ministry of Justice, UK.