Dr Clare Wiper

Assistant Professor

School: Humanities and Social Sciences

Clare is an Assistant Professor in Criminology at Northumbria University. Her research examines various forms of gender-based violence (GBV) including economic abuse, tech-facilitated violence and coercive control. Clare’s current research projects focus on (1) designing out economic abuse in the UK banking industry (EPSRC/UKFIN+) and (2) women’s experiences of coerced debt in the context of domestic abuse (British Academy). Previous projects have examined online misogyny and abuse; trauma-informed lawyering in the context of civil claims for sexual violence; and women's experiences of subterranean public space. Clare’s work adopts qualitative, ethnographic and participatory design methodologies, is committed to intersectional analysis, and typically draws upon a feminist political economy theoretical framework.

Clare is programme lead for the MA Criminology and Criminal Justice programme, and co-leads the University’s Gendered Violence and Abuse IDRT. She also chairs the British Society of Criminology's North-East Regional Group and is Coordinating Editor of Feminist Legal Studies. Outside of academia, Clare's work often extends into the community and into policy arenas at national and international levels. She has worked as a steering group member of North East Women's Network; has helped inform Police and Crime Commissioners’ strategies around violence against women; and has lobbied the UN CEDAW Committee about rising levels of violence against women in the UK.

Clare welcomes enquiries from prospective students who wish to undertake a PhD about any topic relating to GBV – especially projects about economic abuse, post-separation abuse, tech-facilitated abuse, misogyny and incel culture, and the political-economic causes and consequences of GBV. Clare is the NINEDTP Pathway Lead for Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work and can support students with their applications.

Email Clare

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

Clare's current research projects include:

Designing out economic abuse in the UK banking industry - this project is funded by EPSRC/UKFIN+ and takes a proactive stand against economic abuse by identifying and proposing ways of radically reconfiguring the banking features that abusers use to their advantage, and envisioning new functionality that can prevent abusive behaviour. In close collaboration with banking professionals and under the design leadership of victim-survivors, the project will produce a key set of recommendations for designing out economic abuse from banking products.

The role of coerced debt in domestic abuse contexts in Britain - this project is funded by the British Academy and uses semi-structured interviews with victim-survivors of coerced debt and other relevant stakeholders to examine: (1) the occurrence of coerced debt in the context of domestic abuse; (2) survivors’ experiences of coerced debt and the consequences it has for their lives; (3) the links between coerced debt and other forms of domestic abuse; and (4) legal and financial responses to coerced debt in Britain. A feminist political economy framework guides this study, drawing attention to issues of structural gender inequality, economic insecurity, neoliberal reform, austerity and debt.

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Written Evidence submitted by Dr Clare Wiper and Dr Belen Barros Pena: Financial Inclusion Strategy (FIS0025), Wiper, C., Barros Pena, B. 3 Feb 2026
Written Evidence Submitted by Dr Punita Chowbey and Dr Clare Wiper: Financial Inclusion Strategy (FIS0060), Chowbey, P., Wiper, C. 3 Feb 2026
Debt Talk: Economic Abuse and Our Communities, Ray, R., Wiper, C., Ganney, H., Ali, S. 12 Dec 2025
Designing Out Economic Abuse in the UK Banking Industry: A Call To Action, Wiper, C., Barros Pena, B., Royal , K. 11 Nov 2025
The Role of Banks in Addressing and Preventing Coerced Debt in the Context of Intimate Partner Abuse, Wiper, C., Glinski, J. 22 Aug 2025, In: British Journal of Criminology
Trauma-informed lawyering in the context of civil claims for sexual violence, Godden-Rasul, N., Wiper, C. 1 Jun 2024, In: Journal of Law and Society
Trauma-informed Lawyering In the Context of Civil Claims for Sexual Violence: Law Research Briefing, Godden-Rasul, N., Wiper, C. 24 Jan 2024
Economic Abuse Evidence Form: Early Impact Evaluation, Wiper, C. 22 May 2023
Sensory criminology, social identities and public space: encounters with pedestrian underpasses in Newcastle upon Tyne, Cook, I., Wiper, C., Smith, M. 15 Dec 2023, In: Criminological Encounters
Online textual abuse of feminists, with Michael Rowe and Clare Wiper, Hall, M., Hearn, J., Lewis, R., Rowe, M., Wiper, C. 26 Oct 2022, Digital Gender-Sexual Violations, London, United Kingdom, Routledge

PGR Supervision

Hannah Gellman Does social work involvement with children not taken into care actually help them? A mixed-methods study leveraging linked administrative data Start Date: 01/10/2025 End Date: 01/10/2025
Emily Taylor Police Officers’ and Stakeholders’ Understandings of and Responses to Image-Based Sexual Abuse Against Adult Victims Start Date: 19/10/2022
Emily Taylor Conceptualising and responding to image-based sexual abuse experienced by adult victims: Police officer and stakeholder perspectives Start Date: 19/10/2022 End Date: 17/10/2025
Emlyn Foxen Interrogating the Relationship Between Economic Abuse, Care Work, and Social Policy in North East England: A Regional Case Study Start Date: 01/10/2024
Magenta Southern The economics of domestic violence and abuse: How does structural and interpersonal economic abuse affect women’s experiences of abuse and their space for action? Start Date: 01/10/2024
Emlyn Foxen Interrogating the Relationship Between Economic Abuse, Care Work, and Social Policy in North East England: A Regional Case Study Start Date: 01/10/2024 End Date: 17/10/2025
Magenta Southern The economics of domestic violence and abuse: How does structural and interpersonal economic abuse affect women’s experiences of abuse and their space for action? Start Date: 01/10/2024 End Date: 17/10/2025