Simon Kerss

Following 20 years in practice, Simon is an expert in agency responses to gender-based violence, domestic abuse and sexual violence. He has been teaching on these issues at Anglia Ruskin University since 2013.

Background

Simon joins ARU after two decades in practice, where he worked in Children’s Services, and more recently as the strategic lead for multi-agency responses to domestic abuse and sexual violence in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

Research interests

• Gender-based violence
• Domestic abuse
• Sexual violence
• Policy and practice

Simon is primarily interested in understanding the contradictions arising in domestic abuse/child protection/family law practice from the evolution of systems operating within a Bourdelian hierarchical structure. By exploring the etiology, ecology and current practice of these systems, Simon has argued that there are significant negative implications for those accessing relevant services.

This work is necessary to avoid further contradictions in planning, policy and practice arising as shifts in national and local priorities, strategic / operational leadership and governance and the resourcing of frontline services (including the development of Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hubs) suggest a bleak future for established specialist domestic abuse services.

Teaching

Current modules taught:

• Crime, News, and Criminology (Level 4)
• Cultures of War (Level 5)
• Criminology in Policy and Practice (Level 6)
• Sex, Sex Offending, and Society (Level 6)
• Violence in Context (Level 7)

Qualifications

• BA (Hons) History, Anglia Ruskin University
• MA American History, University of East Anglia
• Currently enrolled as PhD researcher with ARU

Recent presentations and conferences

NR8 Policing Innovation Forum, University of Manchester, 2016

European Conference on Domestic Violence, Queen’s University Belfast, 2015

Centre for Gender and Violence Research, University of Bristol, 2015

British Society of Criminology Annual Conference, University of Liverpool, 2014

Media experience

Simon has appeared on local and national radio and TV since 2007 to discuss issues relevant to his area of expertise. His work has also been published in the national press and practice-based media.

Specific examples include:

• BBC Look East (2017) – on refuge/housing accommodation for victims of domestic abuse
• Policing Insights (2017) – on differentiating domestic abuse in practice
• The Guardian (2012) – on a 'Positive Deviance' approach to tackling domestic abuse
• BBC Radio Cambridgeshire (2007-present) – on local responses to domestic abuse
• BBC Radio 4 Women’s Hour (2009) – on working in a predominately female sector