Associate Professor Anna Eriksson is an international leader in comparative penology and criminal justice reform. She is the author of Contrasts in Punishment: Explaining Anglophone Excess and Nordic Exceptionalism, Oxford: Routledge, 2013 (with John Pratt), and has continued to research and publish on Nordic prison policy and practice, the latest being a book chapter in an edited collection by Andrew Scott and Rod Campbell, the Nordic Edge (2021, Melbourne University Press), about the relevance of Nordic prison practice for Australia: https://www.mup.com.au/books/the-nordic-edge-paperback-softback

In 2012, she was awarded a prestigious DECRA Fellowship from the Australian Research Council, where she conducted
extensive empirical research that explored how ‘othering’ of prisoners as individuals, and of prisons as institutions were achieved in Australia and Norway. The research included 14 prisons and 240 interviews with staff and prisoners across the two countries. This has led to several publications around prison policy and practice in Australia and Norway, and the findings were the foundation for a further ARC Discovery grant (2021-2024) together with Professor Dominque Moran, Birmingham University, titled Social Infrastructure in a Society of Captives. Anna is also working with Professor Rose Ricciardelli on a major longitudinal project on prison staff in Canada.

A/Prof Eriksson is also a leader researcher on people with acquired brain injuries and other neurodisabilities in the criminal justice system in Australia. In collaboration with A/Prof Gaye Lansdell and Dr Bernadette Saunders, she has undertaken a number of funded research projects on the topic, published a range of reports and articles, as well as edited a book that includes international perspectives on neurodisability and the criminal justice system, which considers comparative and therapeutic responses (https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/neurodisability-and-the-criminal-justice-system-9781789907629.html)

Anna was interviewed by Jane Richards from the New Books Network about the book, and you can listen to the podcast here: https://newbooksnetwork.com/neurodisability-and-the-criminal-justice-system

A developing area of research focuses on justice involved veterans, and the transition between these two total institutions. Together with Professor Rose Ricciardelli (Canada), Professor Dominique Moran (UK) and Dr Jennifer Turner (UK/Germany), Anna is working on a project funded by a 2020 SSHRC Insight Development Grant, on ex-military personnel as prison staff in Canada. This builds on ground-breaking work conducted by Moran and Turner on this topic in the UK, and this area of inquiry will be extended to Australia. Anna is research associate of the Open Door research network, focused on veteran transition integration, and veterans who become involved in the criminal justice system, as prisoners or as staff (https://www.opendoorveteran.com/)

Anna is also really interested in the intersection between arts and criminal justice and the potential transformative power of the arts. She was a consulting criminologist on an innovative theatre project called The Chat, which involved former prisoners in a theatre production about the parole system. Led by arts director James R Brennan, it resulted in an award winning play (http://jrbrennan.com/the-chat/), as well as an edited book that discussed the process and outcome (https://www.kin.productions/books/to-meet-yourself/). She is an avid supporter of The Torch, an organisation that supports Indigenous offenders and ex-offenders in Victoria through the production of incredible art (https://thetorch.org.au/)

She has also undertaken research topics ranging from restorative justice and paramilitaries in Northern Ireland; children of prisoners in Australia; and the infringement system and its impact on disadvantaged populations in Victoria, Australia.

She has published eight books and edited collections, and a large number of articles and book chapters, and her work combines empirical research with interdisciplinary theoretical scholarship that has real-world relevance. She has been involved with and led major national and international cross disciplinary collaborative research and brings unique expertise to this project around prison practice and policy, and their relationship with social, political, and cultural variables in different national and international contexts.

A/Professor Eriksson is currently leading the Criminology program at Monash University as Convenor, following on from her role as Director of the Bachelor of Criminology, a prominent criminology degree in Australia.