Christopher is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology. His work focuses on sports criminology, offender rehabilitation and desistance. His research explores how criminalised people, predominantly young adults, move away from offending behaviour, and the roles that sports based interventions, both in prison and in community settings, and criminal justice services can play in supporting long-term change.
Christopher joined the School in April 2017. Prior to this, he worked in the Department of Law and Criminology at Sheffield Hallam University. He obtained a PhD from the School of Law at the University of Manchester in 2016 on the impact of the privatisation of the probation service on the desistance processes of young adult offenders.
Alongside his research, Christopher has a passion for developing research informed and innovative teaching practices, utilising a range of immersive technologies and cutting-edge teaching and assessment methods in order to provide students with an impactful and enjoyable learning experience. His drive for teaching innovation has seen him win multiple local and national teaching awards in recognition of this work. In 2021 he was recognised with 3 university teaching awards; a teaching best practice commendation, a research informed teaching award and an excellence in teaching award (for which he was nominated by his students). In 2022 he won a Vice Chancellors Award for Innovation in Education and, in a first for the department, he was also awarded the British Society of Criminology’s “National Award for Teaching Excellence in Criminology and Criminal Justice”. His has also discussed his work on the British Society of Criminology’s “Talking Teaching with Criminologists” podcast, which can be found
Christopher is a senior fellow of Advance HE, member of the European Society of Criminology working group on community sanctions and measures. He is also a member of the Ministry of Justice’s Effective Practice Sports Panel.
Christopher’s research explores how young adults move away from crime and build positive futures, with a particular focus on the role that sport and physical activity can play in supporting these transitions. Working across criminology, youth studies, and sport, he investigates how individuals navigate the social, personal, and structural challenges that shape the journey from offending towards crime-free lives.
A central theme of his work is understanding how sports-based interventions can support rehabilitation and social inclusion for criminalised people. He has conducted pioneering research on initiatives delivered in prisons and community settings, examining how sport can help people develop skills, confidence, education, and positive identities. This research has contributed to growing evidence about the role of sport in reducing reoffending and supporting successful rehabilitation. His work has informed policy and practice, and he regularly collaborates with criminal justice organisations, sports bodies, and third-sector partners.
In 2025, Christopher published his first monograph, Youth Desistance in Transition: Navigating Change in Late Adolescence in Routledge’s esteemed International Series on Desistance and Rehabilitation. Drawing on an in-depth ethnographic study of young men on probation in England, the book examines how young people negotiate the complex transitions of late adolescence while attempting to move away from crime. It offers new insights into the challenges and opportunities involved in creating a crime-free life during a period of significant social and policy change.
Christopher’s research is supported by a portfolio of externally funded projects. He has led projects funded by the Ministry of Justice and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), including research on football-based literacy programmes and youth transitions, as well as multiple studies examining the impact of sport and physical education in prisons. Through these partnerships, his research aims to generate practical knowledge that improves opportunities, wellbeing, and rehabilitation outcomes for people with convictions.
Christopher teaches across the BSc Criminology and the MSc Criminology programmes. His teaching focuses predominantly around his areas of expertise in sports criminology, offender rehabilitation and criminal justice interventions. He also supervises undergraduate and postgraduate taught dissertation students.
Completed PhD students
- Dr Anna Farello "Transdisciplinary Entanglement: A new top-down, bottom-up paradigm in the sport and refugee movement” (Awarded, 2022)
- Dr Justin Brett “Plotting the trajectory of youth justice in the 19th and 20th centuries by the making of legislation: a process in five acts” (Awarded, 2022)
Current PhD students
- Lara Carter - A realist evaluation of the value of Physical Education delivered in prisons across England and Wales in promoting mental health and reducing violence.
- Harriet Holden- Exploring how sports-based interventions can help support the early desistance transitions of formerly incarcerated people
- Katy Partington - Intersecting Identities in Prison: Race, Masculinity, and Class in Sports-Based Interventions
Chloe Gainford - Constructing a Needs-Based Model for Prison Officer Wellbeing Management
- Kay, C. (2025) Youth Desistance in Transition: Navigating change in late adolescence, Routledge.
- Murray C, Coyle B, Morgan H, Kay, C. et al (2024) International consensus statement on the design, delivery and evaluation of sport-based interventions aimed at promoting social, psychological and physical well-being in prison BMJ Open;14:e075792. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-075792
- Kay, C. and Case, S. (2023) Crime, Justice and Covid19, Policy Press
- Kay, C. (2022). Rethinking social capital in the desistance process: The ‘Artful Dodger’ complex. European Journal of Criminology, 19(5), 1243-1259.
- Kay, C., Mason, C., & Hartley, T. (2022). Co-producing Desistance opportunities with women in prison: reflections of a sports coach developer. Journal of Prisoners on Prisons, 31(1), 40-64.