Dr Ashley Lowerson

Dr Ashley Lowerson is an Assistant Professor in Law at Northumbria University. She is active in the teaching and research of public order, policing and the regulation of football spectators. Ashley is regularly invited to speak at specialist conferences on the regulation of football spectators across the United Kingdom and works closely with the UK’s footballing authorities and governing body.

Ashley graduated from the University of Sunderland with her LLB (Hons) in 2010 and then with her LLM in Human Rights in 2011. Ashley joined the University of Sunderland in 2013 as a Postgraduate Academic Assistant, becoming a Senior Lecturer in 2017 after obtaining her Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education and Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy. Ashley was awarded her PhD in the ‘Legal Regulation of Football Spectatorship in England and Wales’ from Manchester Metropolitan University in 2021 and is currently undertaking her Level 4 NVQ in Spectator Safety Management.

Ashley is currently a Safety and Security Observer for the Premier League, a consultant to the English Football League, a member of the Football Association’s England Supporters’ Appeal Panel, a member of the Football Supporters Association’s Academic Group and the Sports Ground Safety Authority’s Academic Forum, as well as working at Sunderland AFC as part of the Safety & Security’s Senior Management Team.

Ashley was commissioned in 2022 to write the first Supporter Sanctioning Guidance and Online Behaviour Guidance for 72 English Football League Clubs. During this period, Ashley was also commissioned by Sunderland AFC to undertake research into the behaviour of supporters, including the auditing of the safety and security operation at the Stadium of Light. Ashley has now been commissioned by the Premier League to undertake research concerning the sanctioning of supporters in respect of their 20 clubs. Furthermore, Ashley has also been commissioned as an independent reviewer of the groundbreaking trial being led by the Women’s Professional League Limited that seeks to understand whether giving fans the choice to drink alcohol in the bowl adds to the fan experience.