Dr Hazel Sayer

Research Fellow

School: Humanities and Social Sciences

Hazel is a social psychologist specialising in tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG). She is currently undertaking a three-year postdoctoral fellowship at Northumbria University on the Women’s Online Wellbeing (WOW) project, funded by CHANSE/NORFACE. This European-wide project examines digitalised violence against women and LGBTQ+ people, addressing critical gaps in knowledge around its prevalence, victim characteristics, reporting practices, available support services, and the impact on victims’ wellbeing and recovery. Hazel also has a special focus on the ways in which digitalised violence against women in the political sphere can restrict democratic participation - creating barriers to engagement, fostering self-censorship, and ultimately silencing women in public life.

Find out more about the Women’s Online Wellbeing (WOW) project here: https://www.womensonlinewellbeing.co.uk/

Hazel has previously worked closely with several police forces and third-sector justice organisations. She was a research fellow on Home Office’s Operation Soteria Bluestone, a national programme aimed at transforming police responses to rape and sexual offences. She was also funded by the Office of the Police Chief Scientific Adviser (Science, Technology, Analysis and Research (STAR) grant as a co-investigator. On this project, Hazel co-developed a framework of best practice for the use of AI technologies in policing, with a particular focus on responding to high-harm perpetrators of domestic abuse https://doi.org/10.1177/0032258X251372357

Hazel additionally volunteers with Right to Equality as a research consultant on the Breaking Bias, Building Justice campaign, which seeks to shed light on the prevalence of victim-blaming experienced by survivors of abuse within family law proceedings. She also co-founded herEthical AI, a tech for good company that uses AI to help tackle VAWG. Hazel also contributed to the development of ViDA - an algorithm that detects victim-blaming language in documents such as court judgments, reports, case notes and policies as a decision support tool. You can find out more about ViDA here: https://www.herethical.ai/victim-blaming

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Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

My research interests are: Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), Gender-based violence, online violence, AI for good, ethical and transparent machine learning algorithms, online misinformation sharing, rape myths, policing and justice, domestic abuse, rape and sexual offences, women's equal participation in politics and public life.

Further Information

Publications

Sayer, H., Polajnar, T., & Spence, R. (2025). RUDI: An Evidence-Based Police-Centric Guide for Approaching the Ethical Development of Algorithmic Models in Policing. The Police Journal: Theory, Practice and Principles. https://doi.org/10.1177/0032258

Iliuta, A., Sayer, H., Horvath, M.A.H, Davies, K., & Khan, A. (in press 2025). The timely and effective completion of initial investigative actions in rape investigations. Journal of Criminal Psychology. .https://doi.org/10.1108/JCP-06-2025-0063

Sayer, H., Juanchich, M., Lamarche, V.M., & Whiley, L.A. (2025). Standing Up to Sexism: Does Challenging Sexist Comments Have Transformational Benefits in How Women Value Themselves and Other Women? Sex Roles. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-025-01594-2

Okoth, Z., Muthuri, J.N., Muchiri, R., Gachigi, P., Ntara, C., Mwanzia, M., & Sayer, H. (2025). Handbook on the Prevention of Gender-Based Violence in Higher Education Institutions in Kenya. DOI:10.6084/m9.figshare.28467461.v1

Juanchich, M., Oakley, C., Sayer, H. et al. (2024). Vaccination invitations sent by warm and competent medical professionals disclosing risks and benefits increase trust and booking intention and reduce inequalities between ethnic groups. Health Psychology. DOI: 10.1037/hea0001385.

Sayer, H., Hardiman, M., Heimer, R., & Spence, R. (2023). Promising practices. Operation Soteria Bluestone policy brief, Home Office, UK.

Davies, K., Fox, A., Sayer, H., & Horvath, M. A. H. (2023) Disruption Toolkit 8: Multiagency working. Official RASSO NOM product, Home Office, UK.

Juanchich, M., Sayer, H., Oakley, C., et al. (2022). Bridging the Vaccination Gap: Policy Opportunity report. British Academy. Available at: https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/publications/bridging-the-vaccination-gap-policy-opportunity/

Whiley, L. A., Sayer, H., & Juanchich, M. (2021). Motherhood and guilt in a pandemic: Negotiating the “new” normal with a feminist identity. Gender, Work & Organization, 28, 612-619. DOI: 10.1111/gwao.12613

Conferences and workshop contributions

Conference Chair, The Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Conference 2025: Building a Safer Future, Government Events, 25^th November 2025.

Conference Chair, Beyond Bureaucracy 2025: AI in the Criminal Justice System, herEthical AI and Middlesex University. 6^th February 2025.

Sayer, H., Polajnar, T., Spence, R. (2024). Identifying high harm in policing. Operation Soteria Bluestone National Learning Network Webinar

Sayer, H., Polajnar, T., Spence, R (2024). Responsible Machine Learning in Policing event (hosted and presented)

Juanchich, M., Sayer, H., & Oakley, C. (2022) Presented findings on improving trust and booking intention in vaccination invitations: Addressing vaccine misinformation and vaccine inequalities workshop. March 2022.

Juanchich, M., Sayer, H., & Oakley, C. (2022). Reducing the racial/ethnic gap in vaccination uptake. 4Nations Behavioural Science for Public Health, Health and Wellbeing workshop.

Sayer, H. (2021). Can challenging sexism mitigate negative outcomes for women? Society for Personality and Social Pyschology (SPSP) Convention

Qualifications