Dr Clare Wiper

Assistant Professor

Department: Social Sciences

Clare is an Assistant Professor in Criminology at Northumbria University. Her research examines various forms of gender-based violence, 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 the programme lead for the MA Criminology and Criminal Justice and module leader for a number of Criminology modules at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, including Identity and Diversity in Criminology, Intimate Partner Violence, and Social Exclusion and Victimisation in a Global Context. She is also a co-lead of the university’s Gender Violence and Abuse IDRT, and Chair of the BSC North East Regional Group. Outside of academia, Clare's work often extends into the community and into policy arenas at national and international levels. For instance, 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 gender-based violence – especially projects about economic abuse, post-separation abuse, tech-facilitated abuse, misogyny and incel culture, and the political-economic causes and consequences of gender-based violence. 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
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
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
Violence Against Women and Girls: Feminist Activism and Resistance, Wiper, C., Lewis, R. 2020, Victimology, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan
Online/Offline Continuities: Exploring Misogyny and Hate in Online Abuse of Feminists, Rowe, M., Lewis, R., Wiper, C. 10 May 2019, Online Othering: Exploring Digital Violence and Discrimination on the Web, London, Palgrave Macmillan
Misogyny Online: Extending the boundaries of Hate Crime, Rowe, M., Lewis, R., Wiper, C. Oct 2018, In: Journal of Gender-Based Violence
Online abuse of feminists as an emerging form of violence against women and girls, Lewis, R., Rowe, M., Wiper, C. Oct 2017, In: British Journal of Criminology

PGR Supervision

Emily Taylor Police officers’ perceptions, experiences, and attitudes towards policing image-based sexual abuse. Start Date: 19/10/2022
Emlyn Foxen Economic abuse, welfare policies, and social reproduction: Comparing framings and lessons from the U.K., U.S., and Australia. Start Date: 01/10/2024
Magenta Southern Implications of the cost-of-living crisis for women experiencing domestic violence and abuse in the UK. Start Date: 01/10/2024

Qualifications

Criminology PhD June 01 2018
Criminology PhD June 01 2012
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy FHEA

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