Dr Natasha Mulvihill
PhD, MSc, MA, PGCE, BSc(Hons)
Expertise
See https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/persons/natasha-mulvihill
Current positions
Associate Professor in Criminology
School for Policy Studies
Contact
Press and media
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Research interests
At the moment, I am working on four areas:
1. Professional and powerful perpetrators of sexual violence and abuse, and institutional harm:
- The relationship between authority and coercion and specifically how 'high status/high public trust' professionals perpetrate sexual violence and abuse, and how professional tribunals and panels respond.
- In November 2022, I was awarded a European Research Council Starting Grant to further this work on professional perpetrators. This project runs from November 2023 to October 2028. Updates will follow here: Powerful Perpetrators – ERC/UKRI project led by Dr Natasha Mulvihill, University of Bristol, UK.
- Through 2023-2024, I conducted research with Dr Fay Sweeting (Bournemouth) on police perpetrated domestic and sexual abuse. See related media coverage. Fay and I are currently curating a special issue on police perpetrators for the International Journal of Police Science and Management (due for publication October 2025).
- In 2022, I published a paper on doctor abuse, recognising the potential for sexual coercion and complicity within and between professional cultures.
2. Sex industry
- Co-author of 2019 Home Office commissioned report on prostitution and sex work and recent book (2022). See related media coverage in The Independent and The Guardian.
- Academic adviser to the National Police Chiefs Council Sex Work Working Group since 2019, contributing to national policing guidance.
- Teach a final year undergraduate Criminology unit looking at the sex industry called 'Sex, Power and Consumption'.
3. Faith and abuse
- Secured Zutshi-Smith funding with Dr Nadia Agtaie to hold an international symposium in September 2024 on the religious arbitration of marriages involving domestic abuse. In October 2024, we published a report on the symposium proceedings. We are guest editing a thematic issue for the Journal of Law and Religion (due for publication mid-2026).
- The symposium follows earlier ESRC-funded work (2015-2018) on justice responses to GBV, including religious arbitration.
- Through 2021 and into 2022, I worked on an Oak Foundation funded team project looking at faith and coercive control. This included cases of religious leaders (a) as complicit in abuse and/or (b) as abusive intimate partners.
4. Coercive control
- Currently leading with Dr Mary Wakeham (Bristol) a UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) funded project (2025-2027) looking at animal abuse, domestic abuse and homicide.
- Currently writing up research into non-consensual 'rough sex' (outputs 2025/2026) and presented early findings at the annual IASR conference in July 2024.
- Published with Dr Katie Winkle (Uppsala) on robots, coercive control, domestic and sexual abuse - see our paper accepted for ACM HRI 2024.
- Published with Dr Jo Large (Bristol) on online dating harms and social media - see our paper in Social Media+Society (July 2025) and related media coverage.
- Contributed to volumes on (i) coercive control and (ii) sex work in popular song.
I am Chief External Examiner for the BSc Criminology (including Criminology and Sociology) programme at the University of Brighton (appointed until 2027).
I am External Examiner for the MSc Investigative Forensic Psychology at Bournemouth University (appointed until 2029).
Prospective PhD applications on the above topics are welcome.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
DEFRA project - Animal abuse, Domestic abuse & Homicide
Principal Investigator
Description
Policy context
"The Government has committed to halving violence against women and girls (VAWG) by 50% over the next decade. This target forms part of the ‘Taking Back Our Streets Mission’…Managing organisational unit
School for Policy StudiesDates
21/07/2025 to 27/07/2027
Religious Arbitration of Marriages Involving Domestic Abuse
Principal Investigator
Description
To follow.Managing organisational unit
School for Policy StudiesDates
01/05/2024 to 30/04/2025
ERC Starting Grant: Sex, power and professionals: the nature, extent and administrative justice responses to sexual misconduct and abuse perpetrated by professionals
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School for Policy StudiesDates
01/11/2023 to 31/10/2028
GW4 R WELL (Researcher Wellbeing Evidence and Learning Lab)
Role
Co-Investigator
Description
Funded by the GW4 Alliance, GW4 R WELL aims to build a network of academic and professional service staff across GW4, to share multi-disciplinary experience, knowledge, research, policy and good…Managing organisational unit
School for Policy StudiesDates
02/10/2023 to 04/01/2024
'Rough Sex'
Principal Investigator
Description
This research project explores experiences of non-consensual 'rough sex'. This refers to aggressive, violent and/or humiliating behaviours which occur during intimate interactions and which are unprompted, unexpected and unwanted.…Managing organisational unit
School for Policy StudiesDates
01/03/2022 to 31/12/2024
Thesis supervisions
Publications
Selected publications
01/07/2024Sexual and violent police perpetrators: the institutional response to reporting victims
Policing and Society
Professional authority and sexual coercion
Social Science and Medicine
UK victim-survivor experiences of intimate partner spiritual abuse and religious coercive control and implications for practice
Criminology and Criminal Justice
Recent publications
12/08/2025Recognising the ‘abuse of power’ in professional sexual misconduct
Journal of Criminological Research, Policy and Practice
The New Experts of Online Dating
Social Media + Society
“There is nowhere that you can go, that I can’t find you”
International Journal of Police Science and Management
Special Issue Introduction: Police Perpetrators of Sexual and Violent Abuse
International Journal of Police Science and Management