Alainah Rook
BA Criminology and Sociology, University of Kent
Third year undergraduate
IMB @ London HMP
I am currently conducting research critically assessing Norway's penal 'exceptionalism' for my third year dissertation. I am also a member of the IMB at a London HM Prison.
Second year grade: First Class
Highest second year grades: 88% [exam], 85% [essay], 78% [exam], 76% [exam], 72% [essay]
Future: MA/MSc/MPhil and PhD
A Level: A*A*BC
A Level subjects: Psychology, Sociology, Religious Studies and Philosophy
A Level achievements: 100% and 99% grades achieved in exams, 9 out of 16 module grades were the highest in my year, A* in an A-Level which was 'fast-tracked' (completed in one year as opposed to two)
GCSE: 12 A*-C grades
Voluntary extra modules (university):
This involved me requesting, by e-mail, to attend all lectures and seminars. Modules were taken in the interest of expanding my own knowledge, and the increased ability to make connections between fields which I believe is extremely important - if not critical - within the social sciences. And also to satisfy my own curiosity!
- Autumn term (2013/14): Cognitive Neural Networks [Third year/Masters level course in MSc Cognitive Neuroscience]
- Autumn term (2014/15): Macroeconomics [Second year BSc Economics]
- Autumn term (2014/15): Monetary economics [Third year BSc Economics]
- Spring term (2016/17): Philosophy and Mathematics [Third year BSc Philosophy]
Voluntary work:
- (2012-2013): Offender Behaviour Programme in a HM Prison for 11 months. (See below - 'teaching experience')
- (2013): Project worker: local homelessness charity
Publication(s): Click dates for links
- (2014): I was asked to write a small piece on Mark Carney's revision of the Bank of England's forward guidance policy. The piece was published in the London Evening Standard on Wednesday 12th March.
- (2015): The London correspondent for the Turkish online newspaper (ABC Gazetesi) asked for my permission to publish, and for my comments on, my blog post on the 'Europe is Kaput!' event in London, which had received hundreds of retweets including from Wikileaks' official Twitter page, and Yanis Varoufakis. It was published on the 23rd November.
- (2016): A blog post I had written for this site was accepted as an article for The Mighty on April 23rd
- (2016): I was selected to be a founding member of the Crimiknowledge blog as a student writer, where I will contribute pieces
Media:
- (2015): BBC Radio Kent - breakfast show, live -- Re: the junior doctor's contract and the planned industrial action
- (2015): ITV Meridian News (filmed interview) on the same subject, both on December 1st. I was contacted by both stations.
Teaching and work experience:
- (2012-2013): Facilitating classes on an Offender Behavioural Programme (OBP) in Her Majesty's Prison Service (HMPS) for 11 months. This involved 'teaching' classes of fifteen adult, male, medium to high-risk 'inmates'.
- (2011): I tutored a fellow student during my A Levels who progressed from an E to C grade in the subject I was fast-tracking.
- (2016 - present): I was appointment as a member of the IMB at a local HMP/YOI in August 2016.
Conferences/talks:
- 4th November (2015): The Howard League for Penal Reforms' Annual General Meeting - MP Michael Gove as guest speaker
Held by: The Howard League for Penal Reform at The Kings Fund, London - 21st May (2014): 'Policing, Prisons and Probation: Current and Future Agendas'
Held by: People's Parliament at the House of Commons, London - 7th November (2012): 'Against Rehabilitation: For Reparative Justice' - Pat Carlen
Held by: The Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (CCJS), London - 18th - 19th September (2012): 'An International Synopsis on Prison Ethnography - Resisting the Eclipse'
Held by: International Centre for Comparative Criminological Research (ICCCR), The Open University, Milton Keynes
Primary research interest:
- Prison studies: Penal law, the sociology of imprisonment, violence, the treatment and rehabilitation of offenders, recidivism (and measurements of) desistance, incarceration/ rehabilitation models, the effects of privatization and the political-economy of the prison-industrial complex (globally) and Scandinavian penal 'exceptionalism'.
Fervently interested in the following:
- Economics (and economic sociology)
- Mathematics', physics', philosophy's, cognitive neuroscience's and psychology's contribution towards a theory of 'consciousness'
- Philosophy (political philosophy, philosophy of mind, metaphysics, ethics, ontology -- Hegel, Hobbes, Marx, Socrates, Plato)
- Forensic psychology (particularly in relation to the 'treatment' of offenders)
- Cognitive neuroscience/ Neuropsychology (neuroplasticity, neuroanatomy and relations to cognitive neuroscience in memory, learning and cognition)
- Cosmology and theoretical physics (M theory; superstring theory; supersymmetry; multiverse theory) including black holes, Einstein's theory of relativity and special relativity, Newton's theory of gravity, Helioseismology, solar winds and the effects of coronal mass ejections etc)
- Cultural anthropology
- Social systems research (Parsons, Luhmann and Habermas in particular) and the fields relation to social interactionism. I am very interested in developing my understanding of this field when I have the time.
- I'm very interested in art and photography. Particularly projects which relate to the social sciences. For example: Chris Arnade's work photographing and describing the conditions felt by those who are have drug and alcohol addictions, are involved in prostitution etc, in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens. Or, the photography project started by Brandon Stanton called "Humans of New York". In the same manner that many feel the TV series 'The Wire' was able to capture the essence of social life in Maryland, I feel these photography projects are able to step outside the normative parameteres of academic focus. Adding detail and scope to the research due to qualities captured which are somewhat intangible when only written.
Extra:
- I also like to fiddle with furniture, paint and draw. I swim with my local club, play badminton at my university and cycle in the spring + summer.