Dr Nicholas Gibbs

Lecturer

Department: Social Sciences

Dr Nick Gibbs is a Lecturer in Criminology at Northumbria University. Having gained undergraduate and post-graduate degrees in Criminology at Birmingham City University, Nick completed his PhD in 2021 at Northumbria. This project focussed on the use and supply of image and performance enhancing drugs (IPEDs). Nick developed this thesis into a solo-authored monograph, 'The Muscle Trade', which was published by Bristol University Press in November 2023.

Broadly, his work can be situated within the schools of ultra-realism and deviant leisure, and encompasses the intersecting topics of IPEDs, illicit markets, masculinity, harm reduction, and gym culture. Looking forward, Nick is developing his research to explore critical sports criminology more broadly and widening the lens of his current focus.

Though rooted in the discipline of Criminology, Nick previously worked at Leeds Trinity University as a University Teacher in Policing. Teaching on the West Yorkshire, Durham, and Northumbria Police Constable Degree Apprenticeships means that Nick is a well-rounded educator who now works across the subjects of Criminology, Sociology, and Policing.

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Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
The IPEDs assemblage: Tracing the entanglements of biomedicine, technology, enhancement and anti-doping policies in sport and society, Piatkowski, T., Turnock, L., Gibbs, N., Duff, C. 1 Jan 2026, In: Health (United Kingdom)
Consuming 'God Juice': Using 'ethnopharmacological-connoisseurship' to situate trenbolone use and knowledge among image and performance enhancing drug communities, Piatkowski, T., Gibbs, N., Neumann, D., Dunn, M. 1 Jan 2025, In: Drug and Alcohol Review
‘Light at the end of the tunnel’: the Viva and beyond, Gibbs, N. 18 Jun 2025, Embracing the Unknown, Bristol, Policy Press
‘The general concept is a safer use approach’: how image and performance enhancing drug coaches negotiate safety through community care, Piatkowski, T., Cox, L., Gibbs, N., Turnock, L., Dunn, M. 3 Sep 2025, In: Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy
The school of hard knocks: Systemic violence and the motivation to harm in boys' youth academy football, Gibbs, N., Briggs, D. 25 Aug 2025, In: Frontiers in Sociology
Tracing the Impact of Media, Cultural Narratives, and Social Perceptions on Australia's Anabolic-Androgenic Steroid Communities, Piatkowski, T., Barratt, M., Coomber, R., Gibbs, N., Neumann, D., Dunn, M. 1 Dec 2025, In: Contemporary Drug Problems
Beyond the law: Exploring the impact of criminalising anabolic–androgenic steroid use on help-seeking and health outcomes in Australia, Piatkowski, T., Gibbs, N., Dunn, M. 1 Mar 2024, In: Journal of Criminology
Down the greasy slope: The fatal contradictions of anti-doping, Gibbs, N., Piatkowski, T., Turnock, L. 27 Nov 2024, In: Sport, Ethics and Philosophy
Emerging anabolic androgenic steroid markets; the prominence of social media, Cox, L., Gibbs, N., Turnock, L. 3 Mar 2024, In: Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy
“I Feel Like I’m Walking the Line; One Side It’s Manageable, the Other Side It’s F**king prison”: exploring the Dual Nature of User-Manufacturers of Image and Performance Enhancing Drugs, Piatkowski, T., Gibbs, N., Dunn, M. 2 Jul 2024, In: Deviant Behavior