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Nicola is an early-career researcher. She completed her PhD titled 'Constructing and maintaining a 'non-criminal' identity: a psychosocial narrative inquiry into the lives of people with convictions.' in 2023 at Keele University. Prior to this, Nicola worked for the Charity Leaders-Unlocked as a Project Co-ordinater for the Staffordshire Youth Commission, and later the Cheshire Youth Commission. This enabled her to gain experience in active research within the local area funded by the retrospective Police and Crime Commissioners.

In 2026 Nicola was awarded funding from the Randal Charitable Foundation to launch a new initative aimed at supporting employers to rethink their approach to hiring people with criminal records . You can read about it here A summer of second chances

Nicola is Chair of the Criminal Record Research and Reform Network. A collaborative network bringing together charities, organisations, academics, and people with lived experiences of criminal justice matters, the CRRRN is working to address and reduce the exclusion of people resulting from ther interaction(s) with the criminal justice system. 

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4922-5994

Collett, N.A. (2026) Mastery of life on the periphery? A critical discussion of contemporary lived experience work for people with criminal records. Probation Journal. First published online May 11, 2026 

Collett, N.A. (2026) Space, place, and Narrative Methodology: The Generative Potential of Interview Locations. Sociological Research Online. First pubished online March 25, 2026 

Collett, N.A. (2025) Living with the fear of disclosure: exploring post-hire experiences of people with criminal records in England and Wales. International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice. Vol. 83 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlcj.2025.100799 

Collett, N.A. (2024) 'Clearing the Record: Life Beyond Crime with Dr. Nicola Collett' All Things Youth Justice Podcast. Clearing the Record Life Beyond Crime with Dr Nicola Collett

Collett, N.A. and Williams, J. (2022) 'Criminal Records and Life Chances' Research Seminar. Ð԰ɵç̨ Prisons and Probation Research Hub - 'Hope' Series. Available: 

Collett, N.A. (2022) Accounting for the gendered nature of ‘collateral consequences’ of a criminal record. In: Eds. Masson, I. and Booth, N. The Routledge Handbook of Women's Experiences of Criminal Justice. 1st Ed. pp. 475-486

Knight, V., Baldwin, L., Little, R., Collett, N. (2022) Prison and Probation Research Hub: Consultation of Prison Strategy White Paper.

Nicola's PhD research explores the experiences of adult men and women, now aged twenty-five and over, living in the UK with a criminal record attained in 'youth'. Nicola adopted a narrative approach to her research. You can find her PhD thesis here 

Nicola has experience teaching a range of sociology and criminology modules at levels 4, 5 and 6. She has experience supervising postgraduate dissertations and PhDs. 

Fellowship of HEA

Criminology PhD

Criminology and Criminal Justice

MA BA Geography with Criminology, Keele University. MA Criminology and Criminal Justice, Keele University.

European Society of Criminology Working Group on Collateral Consequences of Criminal Records

Member of the Prison and Probation Research Hub 

Prison and Probation Research Hub Digital Event December 2022. Paper titled: 'Criminal Records and Life Chances: How to facilitate "hope" for people with convictions?'

British Society of Criminology 2024 Presentation title: ''Constructing and maintaining a 'non-criminal' identity: a psychosocial narrative inquiry into the lives of people with convictions.'

Eurocrim 2023 Presentation title: 'The harmful effects of criminal record disclosure interactions'

Eurocrim2022 Presentation title: 'Traversing Disclosure Landscapes'

Eurocrim2019 Presentation title: 'Understanding The Influence Of An Early Life Criminal Record On Adult Life Courses; Preliminary Findings And Reflections'