Kate West

Dr Kate West serves as Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Oxford Brookes University's School of Law and Social Sciences. Previously, she taught at the University of Oxford and the University of Reading. Her academic credentials include a research council-funded DPhil and MSc with Distinction from Oxford, and an LLB with First Class honors from Edinburgh.

Her educational background features:

• DPhil (PhD) from University of Oxford (research council-funded)
• MSc with Distinction from University of Oxford (Routledge Prize recipient)
• LLB (First Class Honors) from University of Edinburgh (McClintock Prize recipient)

Dr West's research centers on visual culture and biological theories of crime, particularly examining Cesare Lombroso's criminal anthropology through postcolonial and feminist lenses. Her doctoral work investigated the role of Western-European visual art and colonial ethnological drawings in shaping Lombroso's theories. She has conducted research at the Museum of Criminal Anthropology in Turin and the Museum of Natural History in Le Havre, while also translating Italian and French primary sources after training in academic Italian at Oxford. She is currently finalizing her first book, 'The Death of Painting?' (under contract with McGill-Queens University Press), which challenges the notion that photography was Lombroso's primary visual medium, and developing a second book exploring the human body's role in criminal anthropology as 'colonial territories of criminality.'

Her publications reveal a consistent scholarly trajectory examining how visual representation has shaped criminological thought, particularly through postcolonial and material perspectives. West's work bridges criminology, art history, legal theory, and postcolonial studies, demonstrating the cultural dimensions of supposedly scientific criminal anthropology.

Her notable achievements include:

• Routledge Prize for best degree performance during MSc studies
• McClintock Prize for academic excellence during undergraduate studies
• Shortlisting for Channel 5's New Faces' New Voices project (2021)

Dr West maintains an active public scholarly presence, having presented at academic forums worldwide and been invited to discuss the ethics of exhibiting criminal portraiture at London's National Portrait Gallery. Her research has received media coverage including BBC Radio 3. As an openly autistic academic, she delivered Oxford University's Annual Disability Lecture to a full 1000-person audience in 2020 and has contributed to national disability discourse through interviews with media including The New Statesman. She is represented by Lexington Literary for commercial writing ventures.

Her academic work connects with broader scholarly networks through her involvement with History of Art and Visual Culture and History of Crime research groups.