Dr Ahalya Bala

BA (Hons); MA; PGCE; PGDip; PhD; FHEA

Lecturer in Criminology

School of Law and Social Sciences

Role

Ahalya joined the School of Law and Social Sciences at Oxford Brookes University (OBU) in 2020, where she is currently a Lecturer in Criminology, the Undergraduate Subject Coordinator for Criminology and Co-Convener of the Crime and Criminal Justice Research Group. Ahalya is a member of the University's Race Equality Steering Group, the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Network Steering Group and the Spring Hill Steering Group and she also provides research services with the Institute of Public Care at OBU. Prior to joining OBU, Ahalya undertook research and teaching roles with Higher and Further Education institutions in the UK and with organisations based in the Tamil diaspora and Sri Lanka.

Ahalya researches/teaches/writes on:

  • Social Movements
  • Diaspora Politics
  • State Crime
  • Terrorism / Counterterrorism
  • Ethnography

Teaching and supervision

Courses

Modules taught

  • Researching Crime: Methods, Approaches, Ethics
  • Crimes of the State and Resistance
  • Globalisation and Crime
  • Criminology Dissertation
  • Creating Criminology

Supervision

Ahalya welcomes PhD applications in the following areas: diaspora politics, social movement studies, [counter]terrorism and state crime.

Research

Professional information

Memberships of professional bodies

  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) since 2023
  • Member of the British Society of Criminology

Conferences

  • Fighting for Justice: Families, Communities and Solidarity Networks Against State Harms and Violence
  • American Sociological Association
  • International Cultural Criminology
  • Common Study Programme in Critical Criminology