Dr Neema Trivedi-Bateman

PhD (University of Cambridge)

  • Lecturer in Criminology
  • Ethics Officer (Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy)
  • Member of the University Ethics Committee

Neema joined Loughborough from her previous Senior Lecturer role at Anglia Ruskin University in March 2022. Her PhD research, obtained from the University of Cambridge in 2015, examined the role of morality, empathy, shame, and guilt in violent crime decision-making. Neema created and is Principal Investigator of The Compass Project, for which she has developed an innovative morality strengthening programme, administered with youth work charities and schools, and suitable for use in any organisations that work with young people.

  • Fellow of the Higher Education Authority (HEA)
  • Winner of 2015 Nigel Walker Prize for an outstanding written contribution to Criminology (University of Cambridge)
  • Member of British Society of Criminology
  • Member of European Society of Criminology
  • Member of Darwin College Society
  • Member of Editorial Board for the Journal of Criminal Psychology and Frontiers in Psychology
  • Peer reviews academic journals for European Journal of Criminology, Criminal Justice and Behavior, Victims and Offenders, Deviant Behavior, and The Journal of Interpersonal Violence
  • Member of the British Academy Early Career Researcher Network

Neema is also an Affiliated Researcher at the Centre for Analytic Criminology (CAC) at the Institute of Criminology at The University of Cambridge, led by Dr Kyle Treiber.

Neema’s research expertise is in developmental psychology, including the causes and influencing factors behind a variety of behaviours. More specifically, she studies the development of moral rules and moral emotions, and how they might influence aggression or delinquency.

Neema created and is Principal Investigator of The Compass Project, for which she has developed an innovative morality strengthening programme, administered with youth work charities and schools, and suitable for use in any organisations that work with young people.

Neema’s research activities and outputs explore the role of morality in rule-breaking and rule-following in an applied and impactful manner. Sharing the findings of her work with academics and third sector organisations has allowed her to establish an international reputation as an expert in morality and crime, as demonstrated by the culmination of her innovative work in a copyrighted programme (Compass) for use in any organisations that work with young people.

It is Neema’s ambition to conduct rigorous intervention trials to scale up the Compass morality programme to help to support hundreds of young people in the UK and beyond.

In the past, Neema managed the 8th fieldwork wave and research team for the longitudinal Peterborough Adolescent and Young Adult Development Study (PADS+) at the Institute of Criminology (University of Cambridge).

Her PhD thesis, entitled 'The roles of empathy, shame, and guilt in violence decision-making' explored the role of moral emotions in the decision to engage in acts of crime, using a combination of longitudinal quantitative data and qualitative in-depth interview data about persistent offenders’ real-life violent events.

Neema contributes towards modules that cover variety of topics such as research ethics, crime prevention strategies and evaluation, violence, and youth crime causation and prevention.

Neema is available to supervise PhDs relating to all forms of violence, young people and adolescent development, moral and emotional factors that influence crime decision-making, and other topics within psychological criminology.

Current Doctoral Students

  • Gill Kirkman (October 2023 - current)
  • Eleanor Li (October 2023 - current)
  • Ellie Buxton (January 2023 - current)
  • Anna Wehren (October 2022 - current)
  • Internal Reviewer for Maira Tahseen (October 2022 - current)

Past (completed) Doctoral Students

  • Charlotte Herriott, ‘Is the jury out on sexual history? A mock juror study of sexual history evidence deliberations’
  • Dr Jo Durston, ‘Analysing image-based sexual abuse as a collective male behaviour’

Journal Articles

Forthcoming

  • Trivedi-Bateman, N., Markovska, A, Serdyuk, A (revisions under review). The relationship between personal morality, corruption, theft, and violence in a Ukrainian context. European Journal on Criminological Policy & Research

Book Chapters

  • Trivedi-Bateman, N., (accepted for publication 2024). The Compass Project: the potential use of morality-strengthening programmes to reduce youth antisocial behaviour and crime. Understanding children’s pathways away from offending: critical reflections on desistance and children from theory, research, and practice (National Association for Youth Justice). Eds: Bateman, T, Paterson-Young, C & Wigzell, A.

Forthcoming

  • Trivedi-Bateman, N (manuscript submitted, 2024). Neuroscientific and psychological approaches to understanding the role of morality in rule-breaking decision-making. Youth Deviance, Crime, and Justice:  The Neuro-Psycho-Criminological Perspective. Eds: Chan, O & Svingen, E.

Other Publications