Associate Professor
Angela Higginson
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Justice
Biography
Associate Professor Angela Higginson is a quantitative criminologist in the School of Justice, Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice, QUT.One of her key research interests is in the use of systematic reviews and meta-analysis to inform evidence based public policy in policing and crime control. She is the author of more than 19 systematic reviews or evidence and gap maps, on topics including policing, radicalisation and terrorism, and youth gangs in low- and middle-income countries. Much of Angela’s research has examined the effectiveness (or potential for harm) of policing strategies.
Her current work focuses on the experiences of young marginalised and minoritized Australians, including experiences of youth hate crime victimisation, perceptions of policing, and offending behaviours, and includes the design, implementation, and analysis of the Australian Youth Safety Survey, a multi-wave online survey focusing on young Australians’ experiences of identity, diversity, and safety. This work was funded by an Australian Research Council DECRA fellowship (2018-2022).
Angela is co-Chair and Editor (Crime and Justice) of Campbell Systematic Reviews (Q1), an Editorial Board member of Journal of Experimental Criminology (Q1), an advisor on evidence synthesis to ANROWS – Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety, co-developer of the Global Policing Database, and the President of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology.
Research interests
- Hate crime
- Youth gangs
- Policing and crime control
- Systematic reviews and meta-analysis
Personal details
Positions
- Associate Professor
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Justice
Keywords
Hate Crime, Policing, Youth Gangs, Systematic Reviews, Quantitative Methodology, QUT Centre for Justice
Research field
Criminology
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy (University of Queensland)
Professional memberships and associations
- President, Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology (ANZSOC)
- Editor, Crime and Justice - Campbell Systematic Reviews (Q1, IF:3.2)
- Co-Chair - Campbell Collaboration Crime and Justice coordinating group
- Editorial Board Member - Journal of Experimental Criminology (Q1, IF:3.7)
- Member - Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology (ANZSOC)
- Member - American Society of Criminology (ASC), Division of Experimental Criminology, Division of Policing
- Member - Asian Criminology Society (ACS)
- Member - European Society of Criminology (ESC)
- Associate Member - Australia & New Zealand Society of Evidence Based Policing (ANZSEBP)
Publications
- Scott, J., Staines, Z., Higginson, A., Lauchs, M., Ryan, V. & Zhen, L. (2021). 'Walking in two worlds': A qualitative review of income management in Cape York. Australian Journal of Public Administration, 80(1), 46–63. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/202564
- Higginson, A., Benier, K., Shenderovich, Y., Bedford, L., Mazerolle, L. & Murray, J. (2018). Factors associated with youth gang membership in low and middle-income countries: a systematic review. Campbell Systematic Reviews, 14, 1–131. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/128097
- Scott, J., Higginson, A., Staines, Z., Zhen, L., Ryan, V. & Lauchs, M. (2018). Strategic review of Cape York Income Management - Final report. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/215561
- Mazerolle, L., Eggins, E., Higginson, A. & Stanko, B. (2017). Evidence-based policing as a disruptive innovation: the global policing database as a disruption tool. In L. Tompson & J. Knutsson (Eds.), Advances in evidence-based policing (Crime Science Series) (pp. 117–138). Routledge. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/114074
- Higginson, A., Eggins, E. & Mazerolle, L. (2017). Investigating serious violent crime: What works, what doesn't and for what crime types? [Report to the Criminology Research Advisory Council - Grant: CRG 43/13-14]. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/114073
- Benier, K., Wickes, R. & Higginson, A. (2016). Ethnic hate crime in Australia: Diversity and change in the neighbourhood context. British Journal of Criminology, 56(3), 479–496. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/98827
- Higginson, A. & Benier, K. (2015). Gangs in African, Asian, and Australian settings. In SH. Decker & DC. Pyrooz (Eds.), The handbook of gangs [Wiley Handbooks in Criminology and Criminal Justice] (pp. 538–557). John Wiley & Sons. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/95922
- Higginson, A., Benier, K., Shenderovich, Y., Bedford, L., Mazerolle, L. & Murray, J. (2015). Preventive interventions to reduce youth gang violence in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review. Campbell Systematic Reviews, 11(18), 1–177. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/95883
- Higginson, A., Mazerolle, L., Sydes, M., Davis, J. & Mengersen, K. (2015). Policing interventions for targeting interpersonal violence in developing countries: A systematic review, 3ie Grantee Final Review. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/95882
- Higginson, A. & Mazerolle, L. (2014). Legitimacy policing of places: the impact on crime and disorder. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 10(4), 429–457. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/97582
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Angela, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
Awards
- Type
- Editorial Role for an Academic Journal
- Reference year
- 2018
- Details
- Editor of the Campbell Collaboration Crime and Justice coordinating group, and member of the Campbell Collaboration Crime and Justice Steering Committee. The Campbell Collaboration is the peak body for the promotion and production of systematic reviews in the social sciences.
- Type
- Editorial Role for an Academic Journal
- Reference year
- 2019
- Details
- Member of the Editorial Board for the Journal of Experimental Criminology. The journal focuses on high quality experimental and quasi-experimental research in the development of evidence based crime and justice policy. The journal is currently ranked 3rd globally in the field of Criminology and Penology, with an of 3.912 for 2017
- Type
- Funding Award
- Reference year
- 2019
- Details
- "Effectiveness of multiagency interventions with police as a partner for preventing radicalisation to violence". Chief Investigators: Lorraine Mazerolle, Elizabeth Eggins, Adrian Cherney, Angela Higginson. $98,213 awarded by Public Safety Canada, via the Campbell Collaboration.
- Type
- Funding Award
- Reference year
- 2019
- Details
- "What impact do police programs that seek to increase community connectedness have on behaviour, attitudes and beliefs related to violent extremism?" Chief Investigators: Lorraine Mazerolle, Elizabeth Eggins, Adrian Cherney, Angela Higginson. $67,533 awarded by the Department of Homeland Security (USA) via the Campbell Collaboration.
- Type
- Funding Award
- Reference year
- 2019
- Details
- "What works to address child exploitation offending?" Chief Investigators: Lorraine Mazerolle, Elizabeth Eggins, Michelle Sydes, Rebecca Wallis, Kerryann Walsh, Angela Higginson, John Williams. $90,426 awarded by Australian Institute of Criminology.
- Type
- Funding Award
- Reference year
- 2018
- Details
- "Developments to the Global Policing Database". Chief Investigators: Elizabeth Eggins, Angela Higginson, Lorraine Mazerolle. $211,322 awarded by the College of Policing, UK.
- Type
- Keynote Speaker/Expert Panel Member/Invited Speaker for a Conference
- Reference year
- 2015
- Details
- Invited to launch the Global Policing Database at the Mayor's Office of Policing and Crime, London, to an international audience of police practitioners, policy-makers, and researchers. The Global Policing Database is an initiative to collate all experimental and quasi-experimental evaluations of policing interventions in an open-source web-based database. The GPD was funded by the UK College of Policing, via the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (UK).
- Type
- Keynote Speaker/Expert Panel Member/Invited Speaker for a Conference
- Reference year
- 2014
- Details
- As a result of my work conducting systematic reviews of the predictors of youth gang membership and preventive gang interventions in low- and middle-income countries, I was invited to give a seminar on the state of the evidence on gang violence prevention in Latin America to senior staff at the Inter-American Development Bank (Washington DC).
- Type
- Funding Award
- Reference year
- 2013
- Details
- "Youth gang violence in developing countries: A systematic review of the predictors of participation and the effectiveness of interventions to reduce involvement". Principal Investigators: Angela Higginson, Lorraine Mazerolle. USD$97,817 awarded by USAID via 3ie (International Initiative for Impact Evaluation)
Selected research projects
- Title
- Ethnically-motivated Youth Hate Crime in Australia
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- DE180100853
- Start year
- 2018
- Keywords
Projects listed above are funded by Australian Competitive Grants. Projects funded from other sources are not listed due to confidentiality agreements.
Supervision
Looking for a postgraduate research supervisor?
I am currently accepting research students for Honours, Masters and PhD study.
You can browse existing student topics offered by QUT or propose your own topic.
Current supervisions
- Exploring the Bystander Perspective: Scripting Bystander Intervention in Australian Hate Crimes
PhD, Mentoring Supervisor
Other supervisors: Dr Michael Chataway - Digital dating abuse among teenagers in the Global-South: victimisation experiences of Brasilians and Australians
PhD, Mentoring Supervisor
Other supervisors: Dr Laura Vitis
Completed supervisions (Doctorate)
- Policing vulnerability: An examination of police policy, training, and perceptions of practice regarding responding to persons with mental illness (2021)
- A comparative multilevel analysis of ecology of child physical abuse and neglect in Chinese and Australian communities in Brisbane (2019)
- Enhancing emergency fire service delivery response ¿ a geostrategic approach (2017)
- The Immigration-Crime Myth: Exploring the Impact of Immigration on Neighbourhood Violence (2017)
- Bias in Brisbane: Correlates and Consequences of Hate Crime Victimisation in the Neighbourhood (2016)