Dr Rebecca Foster

Research Fellow

Faculty of Social Sciences Colin Bell Building, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA

Contact details

Email rebecca.foster@stir.ac.uk
Telephone+44 (0)1786 467687

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About me

I am based in the Salvation Army Centre for Addiction Services and Research, part of the Faculty of Social Sciences. I am the Research Fellow for an NIHR funded study - ‘Supporting Harm Reduction through Peer Support’ (SHARPS) and for an NHS Fife funded study on prescription opioid overdose risk.

Prior to joining the Centre, I worked as a social researcher in the Scottish Government in the crime research team, where I was responsible for leading on and assisting with research projects covering a range of policy areas. I completed my PhD in Criminology at the University in Glasgow (part of the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research) - my PhD explored the experiences of imprisonment for families of prisoners.

I hold an LLB (Hons) (First Class) and an MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice, both from the University of Edinburgh.

Research

My wide-ranging research interests include:

Lived experiences of imprisonment, particularly for families affected by imprisonment. Interested especially in families’ experiences of visiting prison, and the spaces they encounter and interact with when visiting, as well as how imprisonment fits with/into their lives.

Lived experiences (and resilience) of marginalised individuals and groups, and representations of these experiences, individuals, and groups.

Lived experiences of individuals who experience problematic substance use, and homelessness and precarious housing.

Particular methodological interests: qualitative interviews; ethnography and ethnographic approaches; creative research methods; co-production and peer involvement in research.

Outputs

Article

Supporting Harm Reduction through Peer Support (SHARPS): testing the feasibility and acceptability of a peer-delivered, relational intervention for people with problem substance use who are homeless, to improve health outcomes, quality of life and social functioning and reduce harms: study protocol

Parkes T, Matheson C, Carver H, Budd J, Liddell D, Wallace J, Pauly B, Fotopoulou M, Burley A, Anderson I, MacLennan G & Foster R (2019) Supporting Harm Reduction through Peer Support (SHARPS): testing the feasibility and acceptability of a peer-delivered, relational intervention for people with problem substance use who are homeless, to improve health outcomes, quality of life and social functioning and reduce harms: study protocol. Pilot and Feasibility Studies, 5 (1), Art. No.: 64. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40814-019-0447-0

Book Chapter

Families' Experiences in a Prison Visitors' Centre

Foster R (2019) Families' Experiences in a Prison Visitors' Centre. In: Hutton M & Moran D (eds.) The Palgrave Handbook of Prison and the Family. 1 ed. Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology. Springer International Publishing, pp. 251-272. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12744-2

Article

'Doing the wait': an exploration into the waiting experiences of prisoners' families

Foster R (2019) 'Doing the wait': an exploration into the waiting experiences of prisoners' families. Time and Society, 28 (2), pp. 459-477. https://doi.org/10.1177/0961463X16633235

Research Report

What works? Collaborative Police and Health Interventions for Mental Health Distress

McGeough E & Foster R (2018) What works? Collaborative Police and Health Interventions for Mental Health Distress. Scottish Government. Social Research series. Edinburgh. https://www.gov.scot/publications/works-collaborative-police-health-interventions-mental-health-distress/

Book Chapter

Exploring 'betwixt and between' in a prison visitors' centre and beyond

Foster R (2017) Exploring 'betwixt and between' in a prison visitors' centre and beyond. In: Moran D & Schliehe AK (eds.) Carceral spatialities: dialogues between geography and criminology. Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 169-199.

Research Report

Charges reported under the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012 in 2016-17, Scottish Government Social Research

Foster R & Myant K (2017) Charges reported under the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012 in 2016-17, Scottish Government Social Research. Scottish Government. Social Research series. Edinburgh. https://www.gov.scot/publications/charges-reported-under-offensive-behaviour-football-threatening-communications-scotland-act/

Research Report

Religiously Aggravated Offending in Scotland 2016-17, Scottish Government Social Research

Foster R & Myant K (2017) Religiously Aggravated Offending in Scotland 2016-17, Scottish Government Social Research. Scottish Government. Edinburgh.

Website Content

The research perspective on tackling knife crime in Scotland

Foster R (2014) The research perspective on tackling knife crime in Scotland. No Knives, Better Lives [Blog Post] 02.05.2014. http://noknivesbetterlives.com/practitioners/discussion/the-research-perspective

Research Report

Knife Crime Interventions: 'What works?'

Foster R (2014) Knife Crime Interventions: 'What works?'. Scottish Government. Glasgow: Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research.

University of Stirling

Dr Rebecca Foster

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