Dr Asher Flynn is an Associate Professor of Criminology at Monash University. Her research utilises a socio-legal framework to understand, critique and transform legal policy and practice, with a particular focus on gendered and technology-facilitated violence, including serious social and legal problems like image-based abuse and AI-facilitated abuse. Informed by national and international context, Asher's research is particularly interested in how people access and negotiate justice in a world increasingly dominated by social media, artificial intelligence and digital technology.

Asher has published widely and is lead researcher on several projects in the fields of AI-facilitated abuse, deepfakes, gendered violence and image-based sexual abuse. She is the recipient of a number of prestigious national and international research fellowships including at the University of Durham, the University of Manchester and the University of Warwick. She has advised the United Nations, Facebook and the Australian Office of the eSafety Commissioner on policy and prevention of technology-facilitated violence and abuse, and has received several awards for her research.

Asher is the Lead Chief Investigator on a Australia's National Research Organisation for Women's Safety Project, Technology-Facilitated Abuse: Extent, Nature and Responses in the Australian Community (with Associate Professor Anastasia Powell). This national project seeks to establish reliable prevalance rates for the adult victimisation and perpetration of key forms of technology-facilitated abuse, including online sexual harassment, stalking, partner violence and image-based abuse. Asher is also Lead Chief Investigator on an Australian Criminology Research Council Grant, Preventing Image-Based Cybercrime in Australia: The Role of Bystanders (Dr Adrian Scott and Elena Cama), which is the first Australian study to gather empirical data about Australians' understandings of image-based abuse, image-based abuse laws and the role of bystanders in responding to this growing social and legal problem. Asher also leads the Deepfakes: Preventing and Disrupting AI-Facilitated Abuse Project funded by the Data Futures Institute (with Dr Campbell Wilson and Professor Jonathan Clough). This project aims to identify ways to disrupt and prevent deepfake technologies, and analyse existing laws, regulations and protocols responding to AI-facilitated abuse.

Asher is a Chief Investigator on an Australian Research Council Discovery Project, Revenge Pornography: The Prevalence and Nature of Non-consensual Imagery and the Implications for Law Reform (with Associate Professor Nicola Henry, Associate Professor Anastasia Powell, Professor Clare McGlynn, Professor Erika Rackley and Professor Nicola Gavey). This is the first project to conduct a comprehensive qualitative and quantitative analysis of image-based abuse across Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. She is also Chief Investigator on the Overlooked or Just Ignored? Victims and Plea Negotiations project led by Emeritus Professor Arie Freiberg. The aim of this study is to address the absence in knowledge of victims’ perspectives of plea negotiation and potential reforms to the process, by eliciting, distilling and articulating victims’ views. 

Asher recently completed the Responding to Revenge Pornography: The Scope, Nature and Impact of Australian Criminal Laws project (with Associate Professor Nicola Henry and Associate Professor Anastasia Powell), funded by the Australian Criminology Research Council and the Negotiated Guilty Pleas: An Empirical Analysis project, also funded by the Australian Criminology Research Council with Emeritus Professor Arie Freiberg.

In 2018, Asher was awarded the Monash University Vice-Chancellor’s Research Impact Award for her research on image-based abuse. This is the first time the award had ever been received by a researcher from the Faculty of Arts. Asher also received the Dean’s Award for Research Impact in 2018, and the 2018 Capstone Editing Award for Academic Women. In 2018, Asher was nominated for a Vice-Chancellor’s Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning, after winning the Faculty of Arts Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning in 2017, for her sustained and innovative contributions to teaching and supporting students in Criminology, and for fostering a sense of ownership, independence and engagement in student learning. Asher also received a commendation from the Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology in 2018 for teaching excellence. In 2013, Asher was awarded the Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology New Scholar Prize for the best early career academic paper written in a criminology-related area, and in 2014, she was awarded the Faculty of Arts Dean's Award for Excellence in Research by Early Career Researchers and an Emerging Research Fellowship in the Faculty of Arts (Monash University).

You can follow Asher on Twitter here: @AsherFlynn

Current research projects:

• (2020-2022) Technology-Facilitated Abuse: Extent, Nature and Responses in the Australian Community (with Associate Professor Anastasia Powell). This project is funded by Australia's National Research Organisation for Women's Safety Project.
• (2020-2021) Deepfakes: Preventing and Disrupting AI-Facilitated Abuse (with Dr Campbell Wilson and Prof Jonathan Clough).This project is funded by the Data Futures Institute.
• (2019-2021) Preventing Image-Based Cybercrime in Australia: The Role of Bystanders (with Dr Adrian Scott and Elena Cama). This project is funded by the Criminology Research Council (CRG02/19-20).
• (2019-2020) Overlooked or Just Ignored? Victims and Plea Negotiations (with Emeritus Professor Arie Freiberg). This project is funded by Monash University and the Victorian Department of Justice.
• (2017-2020) Revenge Pornography: The prevalence and nature of non-consensual imagery and the implications for law reform (with Associate Professor Nicola Henry, Associate Professor Anastasia Powell, Dr Adrian Scott, Professor Clare McGlynn, Professor Erika Rackley and Professor Nicola Gavey). This project is funded by the Australian Research Council (DP170101433).

Recently completed projects:

• (2019-2020) Institute for Research on Image-Based Abuse (with Dr Sarah Whitney). This project is funded by a Monash University and Pennsylvania State University Research Grant.
• (2015-2017) Responding to Revenge Pornography: The scope, nature and impact of Australian Criminal Laws (with Associate Professor Nicola Henry and Associate Professor Anastasia Powell). This project was funded by the Criminology Research Council (CRG08/15-16).
• (2014-2016) Negotiated Guilty Pleas: An Empirical Analysis (with Emeritus Professor Arie Freiberg). This project was funded by the Criminology Research Council (CRG 51/13-14).

Research & Education Awards

• Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Research Impact (Social and Economic), Monash University (2018)
• Capstone Editing Award for Academic Women (2018)
• Faculty of Arts Deans Award for Research Impact, Monash University (2018)
• Commendation for Teaching Excellence, Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology (2018)
• Nomination for Vice-Chancellor's Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning (2018)
• Research Fellow in Law, University of Durham (UK) (2018)
• Faculty of Arts Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning (2017)
• Research Fellow in Law, Centre for Criminal Justice, School of Law, Warwick University (UK) (2014-2017)
• Lifetime Research Fellow in Social Sciences, Mannix College, Monash University (2014-ongoing)
• Faculty of Arts Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research by Early Career Researchers, Monash University (2014)
• Emerging Research Fellow, Faculty of Arts, Monash University (2014)
• Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology New Scholar Award (2013)
• Research Fellow in Arts, Mannix College, Monash University (2013)
• Research Fellow in Law, University of Manchester (UK) (2013)
• Visiting Fellow, Centre for Criminal Justice, University of Warwick (UK) (2013)

PhD & Masters by Research Supervision Areas

• Technology-facilitated violence and abuse (including online harrassment)
• AI-facilitated abuse (including "deepfakes")
• Image-based abuse ("revenge pornography")
• Digital crime
• Gendered violence
• Rape and sexual violence
• Access to Justice
• Plea Negotiations
• Legal Aid
• Victims' Rights
• Law Reform
• Prosecutorial discretion

Current Supervisions

• Doctorate by research: 'Out of the Silence: The Flight of Saudi Women'

Candidate: Khulud Alhamazani

Supervisors: Associate Professor Jane Southcott (Main), Associate Professor Asher Flynn (Associate) and Dr Kristin Reimer (Associate).

• Doctorate by research: 'Family Violence in the Age of Technology'

Candidate: Andi Brown

Supervisors: Dr Lennon Chang (Main) and Associate Professor Asher Flynn (Associate).

• Doctorate by research: 'Consent to Bodily Harm'

Candidate: Nadia David

Supervisors: Associate Professor Asher Flynn (main), Professor Liz Campbell (Associate) and Professor Bronwyn Naylor (Associate).

• Doctorate by research: 'The Role of Minority Groups' Agency in Post-Conflict Peace Building Societies'

Candidate: Richard Fosu

Supervisors: Dr Eleanor Gordon (main) and Associate Professor Asher Flynn (Associate).

• Doctorate by research: 'Rapes That Are Not Crimes: Feminist Debates, Average Guys and Why Novels Don’t Deal With Them'

Candidate: Giulia Mastrantoni

Supervisors: Associate Professor Asher Flynn (main), Dr John Hawke (Associate) and Professor Sue Kossew (Associate).

• Doctorate by research: 'Australian School Leaver and First-Year University Students' Understandings of Consent'.

Candidate: Katherine Schofield

Supervisors: Associate Professor Asher Flynn (Main), Dr Faith Gordon (Associate) and Associate Professor James Roffee (Associate, External)

• Doctorate by research: 'Sharing Experiences of Violence as Prevention Strategy'

Candidate: Lisa Whieldon

Supervisors: Associate Professor Asher Flynn (main) and Professor Jacqui True (Associate).

Completed Supervisions

• Doctorate by research: '"A man's home is his castle and mine is a cage": Pathways to remedy and access to justice for economic partner abuse in Victoria' (2020)

Dr Madeleine Ulbrick

Supervisors: Associate Professor Asher Flynn (Main) & Professor Jude McCulloch (Associate).

• Doctorate by Research: ‘Cognitive and Pyschological Factors present in Australian Violent Offenders’ (2019)

Dr Laura Anderson

Supervisors: Dr Jennifer Pilgrim (Main), Associate Professor Asher Flynn (Associate) Professor Olaf Drummer (Associate).

• Doctorate by Research: '"Yes Means Yes": Narratives of Consent in Victorian Rape Trials' (2019)

Dr Rachel Burgin

Supervisors: Associate Professor Asher Flynn (Main) and Professor Jude McCulloch (Associate)

• Doctorate by Research: 'Justice Reinvestment: Reimagining Criminal Justice Policy' (2018)

Dr Kate Burns

Supervisors: Associate Professor Asher Flynn (Main) and Dr Claire Spivakovsky (Associate).

• Doctorate by Research: 'Accessing Victims' Rights within the Adversarial Process: The Viability of Legal Representation for Victims in the Prosecution Process' (2017)

Dr Mary Iliadis

Supervisors: Associate Professor Asher Flynn (Main) and Professor Jude McCulloch (Associate).

• Doctorate by research: 'Exploring Community Perceptions of Victoria Police: A Case Study of the Monash Local Government Area, Melbourne' (2017)

Dr Allegra Schermuly

Supervisors: Associate Professor Helen Forbes-Mewett (Main) and Associate Professor Asher Flynn (Associate).

• Doctorate by research: 'An Examination of Post-release treatment programs and support services for released prisoners with Alcohol Use Disorders in Victoria' (2016)

Dr Christina Kirtley

Supervisors: Associate Professor Asher Flynn (Main) and Professor Sharon Pickering (Associate).

• Technology-facilitated violence and abuse (including online harrassment)
• AI-facilitated abuse (including "deepfakes")
• Image-based abuse ("revenge pornography")
• Digital crime
• Gendered violence
• Rape and sexual violence
• Access to Justice
• Legal Aid
• Victims' Rights
• Law Reform
• Plea negotiations
• Prosecutorial discretion

ATS2465/3465: Human Rights in the Criminal Justice Sphere - This intensively delivered unit is part of our Criminology in Prato program.

Asher’s research initiates and develops collaborations with expertise from industry and diverse disciplines, to deliver outcomes with relevance and impact. Her research involves in-depth consultation with those directly affected by, and those working within, the law, thus the findings translate into applied research that facilitates policy change and impact.

Asher contributes in advisory roles to a range of peak legal and government bodies in Australia, and her work is regularly cited in government reports and inquiries. Asher's research has also led to changes in law reform, including most recently, her work on image-based sexual abuse with Associate Professors Nicola Henry and Anastasia Powell, which shaped the introduction of the Crimes Amendment (Revenge Porn) Bill (ACT) and the Crimes Amendment (Intimate Images) Bill (NSW). Asher and Associate Professor Henry were invited to NSW Parliament by NSW Attorney General Mark Speakman to observe the reading of the bill and to attend and speak at a function at Parliament House in honour of those who had contributed to the development of this important legislative change. Asher has been invited to make submissions to numerous government enquiries and has presented evidence at various government committee hearings.

Asher also assisted the Victorian State Office of Public Prosecutions in implementing and developing policies for the Evidence Act 2009 (Vic) and Criminal Procedure Act 2009 (Vic), which constituted the largest legal reforms to the criminal justice system in 50 years. Her industry impact was recognised in a 2015 Victorian Sentencing Advisory Council report, Guilty Pleas in the Higher Courts: Rates, Timing and Discounts which acknowledged her work and expertise on plea negotiations.

Outside academia, Asher’s research informs public debate through an ongoing, sustained engagement with the media, across television; radio (including The Conversation Hour with Jon Faine; The Radio National Breakfast Show; The Law Report), newspapers, opinion pieces (The Age) and The Conversation.

Asher was elected the Victorian Representative on the Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology Executive Committee in 2017.