Dr Anna Di Ronco
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Email
a.dironco@essex.ac.uk -
Location
Colchester Campus
Profile
Biography
I am Honorary Senior Lecturer at the Department of Sociology and Criminology. I worked at the Department of Sociology and Criminology as Lecturer (2016-2019) and then Senior Lecturer (2019-2024) for eight years. During this time, I was also Deputy Director (2019-2021) and then Director (2021-2024) of the Centre for Criminology. My research critically addresses policies and policing practices that exclude and penalise deemed uncivil people from the urban space. My work in this area mostly draws on critical and cultural criminology, but is also interdisciplinary as it engages with such disciplines as sociology, human geography, urban and socio-legal studies. My recent book, published in 2023 by Bristol University Press, focuses on the policing of eco-justice movements during the pandemic while also addressing activists' visual and performative practices of resistance at the same time. Other areas of research include: social media protest; the criminalisation of activism; social and environmental harm; and crime prevention. I have published my research extensively. Co-edited books include 'Criminological Connections, Directions, Horizons: Essays in Honour of Nigel South' (Routledge, 2025), 'Criminalisation of Dissent in Times of Crisis' (Palgrave, 2024), 'Harm and Disorder in the Urban Space: Social Control, Sense and Sensibility' (Routledge, 2021) and 'Medical Misinformation and Social Harm in Non-Science Based Health Practices: A Multidisciplinary Perspective' (Routledge, 2020). I am co-author of 'Criminology: A Sociological Introduction' (4th ed.; Routledge, 2020), a best-selling criminology textbook written with colleagues of the Centre for Criminology. I currently serve as at-large Board member of the European Society of Criminology (ESC). I am Associate Editor for the European Journal of Criminology (EJC), and member of the Editorial Board of the British Journal of Criminology (BJC).
Qualifications
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Ph.D. in Criminology (Ghent University, Belgium)
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LM (University of Trento, Italy) University of Trento,
Appointments
糖心Vlog
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Personal Tutor, Sociology, 糖心Vlog (1/9/2017 - present)
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Event Co-ordinator, Sociology, 糖心Vlog (1/8/2018 - 16/8/2020)
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Deputy Director of the Centre for Criminology @UoECrim, Sociology, 糖心Vlog (1/9/2018 - present)
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Second Year Module Coordinator and Enrichment, Sociology, 糖心Vlog (5/10/2020 - present)
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Centre for Criminology Director, Sociology, 糖心Vlog (2/8/2021 - 31/7/2024)
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Assistant Lecturers Director, Sociology, 糖心Vlog (1/8/2022 - 15/1/2023)
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Graduate Director, Sociology, 糖心Vlog (1/8/2023 - 31/7/2024)
Research and professional activities
Research interests
Regulation and social control of uncivil behaviour
Criminalisation of sex work
Urban policing
Environmental movements/protest
Non-science-based health practices and their social harm
urban studies
social media protest
Penalisation of dissent
Criminalisation of activism
Current research
Local-level prostitution policies and practices and their effects on sex workers -- Project funded by The Sociological Review Foundation (拢5,149).
Harm and disorder in the urban space: social control, sense and sensibility
Environmental protest in activist practice and social visual media -- funded by the British Academy/Leverhulme Trust Small Research Grant 2018 (SRG18R1\181324).
Conferences and presentations
Contestation & resistance concerning eco- & health justice during the COVID pandemic: Two case studies in Italy and Colombia
Invited presentation, Invited talk, Criminology External Speaker Series, 15/5/2024
Reimagining security through redefining incivility, liveability and legitimate urban governance
Invited presentation, ECOLOGIES OF SECURITY Workshop, Centre for Criminology, 9/6/2023
Citt脿 e sex work: due esperienze locali di 鈥榞estione鈥� a confronto. (Invited speaker)
Invited presentation, Ripensare la sicurezza urbana e la prevenzione. Ricerca, politiche e pratiche nell鈥橢uropa contemporanea, Bologna, Italy, 5/12/2022
Studying eco-justice movements fighting against environmental harms
Invited presentation, Guest lecture within the module 'Sociology of violence', Milan, Italy, 26/11/2022
Flexing the muscles of power: policing urban eco-justice activism during the pandemic
EuroCrim 2022, Malaga, 21-24/09/2022, Annual Conference of the European Society of Criminology, 22/9/2022
Flexing the muscles of power: policing urban eco-justice activism during the pandemic
50th EG Annual Conference, Turin (Italy), 7-9/09/22, 50th Annual Conference of the European Group for the Study of Deviance and Social Control, 8/9/2022
Contestation and resistance concerning eco-justice and health justice in Italy and Colombia: Two case studies
AnthroCrime 2022 鈥� Anthropology of Crime and Security Conference, 18/5/2022
The preventive turn in crime control: myth or reality? Sex-work-related crime prevention in two European cities
Invited presentation, Guest lecture, University of Bologna, 22/4/2022
Flexing the muscles of power: policing urban eco-justice activism during the pandemic (Invited speaker)
Invited presentation, La criminalizzazione del dissenso politico e della protesta: casi e temi emergent, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy, 22/4/2022
The preventive turn in crime control: myth or reality? Sex-work-related crime prevention in two European cities (Invited talk)
Invited presentation, Invited talk, Grupo de Estudios sobre la Historia de la Prisión y las Instituciones Punitivas, 6/4/2022
Flexing the muscles of power: policing urban environmental activism during the pandemic (Invited talk)
Invited presentation, I Sesión Seminario Internacional de Criminología y Política Criminal, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain, 4/4/2022
Constructing sex work as a 鈥榩roblem鈥� in European cities and punitive responses to it
Invited presentation, Guest lecture, University of the Basque Country, 28/3/2022
鈥淲e always have a big stick in reserve鈥�: Punitive approaches to disorder and crime in European cities
Invited presentation, Guest Lecture, University of Trento, Trento, Italy, 8/3/2022
When dissent is criminalised: Environmental movements speaking up against megaprojects
Virtual workshop on 'Environmental restorative justice: A new justice framework for preventing and addressing environmental harms', Oñati Institute for the Sociology of Law, 4/6/2021
Regulating migrants in the city: the case of sex work
Invited presentation, Guest Lecture within the Course on 鈥淚nternational and European Migration Policies and Law鈥�, University of Sassari, 31/5/2021
"Doing social media research'. Representing environmental harm & resistance on Twitter: The case of the TAP pipeline in Italy
Invited presentation, Guest lecture in the course "Qualitative methods in criminology", Ghent University, Guest lecture in the course "Qualitative methods in criminology", Ghent, Belgium, 27/4/2021
Dal centro alla periferia: politiche e pratiche di regolazione del sex work (Invited speaker)
Invited presentation, Invited speaker. Convegno "Periferia/periferie: teorie, prospettive, contesti" 14 aprile 2021., Pisa, Italy, 14/4/2021
The changing remit and reach of crime prevention and their implications for people鈥檚 rights
Invited presentation, 73rd Dies Natalis Conference - SIB Groningen, 26/11/2020
Technosocial green resistance: the uses of digital communication technology in activist practice
Annual Conference of the European Society of Criminology (online), 10/9/2020
Invited talk at the University of Trento (Italy)
Trento, Italy, 18/10/2019
Medical misinformation and social harm in non-science-based health practices
EUROCRIM 2019, Ghent 18-21 September 2019, Ghent, Belgium, 20/9/2019
Representations of environmental protest online and offline
EUROCRIM 2019, 18-21 September 2019, Ghent, Belgium, 19/9/2019
Representations of environmental protest online and offline
RESISTING STATE-CORPORATE HARMS IN TIMES OF REPRESSION TOWARDS A THEORY OF INSURRECTION, Barcelona 4-6 September 2019, Barcelona, Spain, 6/9/2019
Law in action: local-level and collaborative governance of prostitution in two European cities
The International Workshop 鈥楾he Police and Sex Work: then and now鈥� (Berlin, 13-14 August 2019), Berlin, Germany, 14/8/2019
Invited talk
- Workshop on Migration, Trafficking, sex Work and the Law, Pagù (UNICAMP), Campinas, Brazil, 1-5 July 2019, Campinas, Brazil, 2/7/2019
Law in action: local-level and collaborative governance of prostitution in two European cities
Annual Meeting on Law and Society (Washington DC, May 30 - June 2, 2019), Washington D.C., United States, 31/5/2019
Invited talk at The Research Group Crime and Society (CRiS) (VUB), 28th February 2019
Brussels, Belgium, 28/2/2019
'Law in action: Local-level and collaborative governance of prostitution in two European cities 鈥� Antwerp (Belgium) and Catania (Italy)
Invited talk at the Centre of Expertise Gender, Diversity and Intersectionality (RHEA) (VUB), 25th February2019, Brussels, Belgium, 25/2/2019
The Representation of environmental protest online and offline: The case of the TAP pipeline
Invited presentation, Invited talk at the Centre for Environment and Society (CES), 7/11/2018
Activism against medicine on social media: untangling the #novax protest on Twitter
18th Annual Conference of the European Society of Criminology, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 31/8/2018
Representing environmental harm and resistance on Twitter: The case of the TAP pipeline in Italy
Global Issues, Cultural Perspectives, Utrecht, Netherlands, 29/6/2018
Invited talk at the University of Sassari (Italy)
Invited presentation, research seminar, Sassari, Italy, 16/5/2018
Invited talk at BGU
Invited presentation, Research seminars, Beersheba, Israel, 20/12/2017
Representing environmental harm and resistance on Twitter: The case of the TAP pipeline in Italy
Annual Conference of the European Society of Criminology, Cardiff, United Kingdom, 18/9/2017
Invited talk at John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY)
Invited presentation, 11/9/2017
Teaching and supervision
Current supervision
Previous supervision
Degree subject: Criminology
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 31/5/2024
Degree subject: Criminology
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 29/5/2024
Degree subject: Criminology
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 21/6/2022
Publications
Journal articles (22)
Di Ronco, A., (2025). The Effects of Criminalisation on Activists: The Case of the NoTAP Environmental Movement. Critical Criminology
Di Ronco, A., (2024). Book Review: The Infrastructures of Security: Technologies of Risk Management in Johannesburg by Martin J. Murray. Theoretical Criminology. 28 (1), 127-129
Per拧ak, N. and Di Ronco, A., (2024). . Criminology and Criminal Justice
Di Ronco, A., (2024). . Crime, Media, Culture
Caruso, P., Travaini, G., Di Ronco, A., Cermenati, N., Ratti, E., Bud貌, MDN., Suman, AB., Casali, M., Ambrosi, A. and Natali, L., (2024). Environmental restorative justice in italy: a pilot study of lawyers鈥� perceptions. Rassegna Italiana di Criminologia. 18 (3), 188-197
Selmini, R. and Di Ronco, A., (2023). . Crime and Justice. 52 (1), 197-231
Bombardi, L., Di Ronco, A. and Pali, B., (2022). . Criminological Encounters. 5 (1), 9-17
Di Ronco, A. and Allen-Robertson, J., (2021). . Crime, Media, Culture. 0 (3), 375-399
Di Ronco, A., (2021). . Criminological Encounters. 4 (1), 200-205
Di Ronco, A., Erika, G. and Vincenzo Luca, LR., (2021). . Tracce Urbane - Rivista Transdisciplinare di Studi Urbani. 9, 145-177
Di Ronco, A., (2020). . European Journal of Criminology. 19 (5), 1078-1096
Di Ronco, A., Allen-Robertson, J. and South, N., (2019). . Crime, Media, Culture. 15 (1), 143-168
Di Ronco, A. and Lavorgna, A., (2018). . Trends in Organized Crime. 21 (1), 1-23
Di Ronco, A., (2018). . International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice. 52, 10-22
Persak, N. and Di Ronco, A., (2018). . Crime, Law and Social Change. 69 (3), 329-347
Lavorgna, A. and Di Ronco, A., (2018). . European Journal of Criminology. 15 (4), 421-441
Di Ronco, A., (2017). . InDret. 2017 (4)
Di Ronco, A., (2016). . Criminology and Criminal Justice. 16 (5), 585-601
Di Ronco, A., (2016). . Crime, Law and Social Change. 66 (1), 59-81
Di Ronco, A., (2016). . Crime Prevention and Community Safety. 18 (2), 141-160
Di Ronco, A. and Lavorgna, A., (2015). . Trends in Organized Crime. 18 (3), 176-195
Di Ronco, A. and Per拧ak, N., (2014). . International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice. 42 (4), 340-365
Books (6)
Di Ronco, A., Carrabine, E., South, N., Lea, J., Ruggiero, V., Coomber, R., Tzanetakis, M., White, R., Wyatt, T., Sollund, R., van Uhm, D., Crook, M., Short, D., Natali, L., Brisman, A. and McClanahan, B., (2025). Criminological Connections, Directions, Horizons Essays in Honour of Nigel South. Routledge. 9781032513003
Di Ronco, A. and Selmini, R., (2024). . Palgrave MacMillan. 3031753755. 9783031753756
Di Ronco, A., (2023). . Bristol University Press. 1529228751. 9781529228755
Persak, N. and Di Ronco, A., (2021). . Routledge. 9780367552664
Carrabine, E., Cox, P., Cox, A., Crowhurst, I., Di Ronco, A., Fussey, P., Sergi, A., South, N., Thiel, D. and Turton, J., (2020). . Routledge
Lavorgna, A. and Di Ronco, A., (2019). . Routledge. 1138388661. 9781138388666
Book chapters (15)
Di Ronco, A. and Natali, L., (2024). Conveying environmental harms through music. In: Criminological Connections, Directions, Horizons. Routledge. 182- 197
Di Ronco, A. and Selmini, R., (2024). . In: Criminalisation of Dissent in Times of Crisis. Editors: Di Ronco, A. and Selmini, R., . Palgrave. 1- 14. 9783031753756
Di Ronco, A. and Cavalcanti Pessoa, R., (2024). Tightening the grip of control: eco-justice activists鈥� experiences of repression during the pandemic. In: Criminalisation of Dissent in Times of Crisis. Editors: Di Ronco, A. and Selmini, R., . Palgrave MacMillan. 161- 182. 3031753755. 9783031753756
Natali, L. and Di Ronco, A., (2024). Competing narrations around visual representations of environmental conflicts and protests. In: Visual Methods for Sensitive Images: Ethics and Reflexivity in Criminology On/Offline. Editors: Harder, S. and Anderdal Bakken, S., . Palgrave Macmillan. 193- 210. 978-3-031-75371-8
Carrabine, E. and Di Ronco, A., (2024). Introduction. In: Criminological Connections, Directions, Horizons. Routledge. 1- 7
Di Ronco, A. and Chiaramonte, X., (2022). Harm to knowledge: Criminalising environmental movements speaking up against megaprojects. In: The Palgrave Handbook of Environmental Restorative Justice. Editors: Pali, B., Forsyth, M. and Tepper, F., . Springer International Publishing. 421- 447. 9783031042225
Persak, N. and Di Ronco, A., (2021). . In: Harm and Disorder in the Urban Space: Social Control, Sense and Sensibility. Editors: Persak, N. and Di Ronco, A., . Routledge. 1- 12. 9780367552664
Di Ronco, A., (2021). . In: Harm and Disorder in the Urban Space: Social Control, Sense and Sensibility. Editors: Persak, N. and Di Ronco, A., . Routledge. 142- 164. 9780367552664
Di Ronco, A. and Persak, N., (2021). . In: Harm and Disorder in the Urban Space: Social Control, Sense and Sensibility. Editors: Persak, N. and Di Ronco, A., . Routledge. 187- 195. 9780367552664
Di Ronco, A. and Persak, N., (2021). . In: Harm and Disorder in the Urban Space: Social Control, Sense and Sensibility. Editors: Persak, N. and Di Ronco, A., . Routledge. 101- 120. 9780367552664
Di Ronco, A. and Allen-Robertson, J., (2019). . In: Medical Misinformation and Social Harm in Non-Science Based Health Practices A Multidisciplinary Perspective. Editors: Lavorgna, A. and Di Ronco, A., . Routledge. 9781138388666
Di Ronco, A. and Sergi, A., (2019). . In: Constructing and Organising Crime in Europe. Editors: van Duyne, P., Serdyuk, A., Antonopoulos, G., Harvey, J. and von Lampe, K., . Eleven International Publishing. 149- 178. 978-94-6236-955-9
Di Ronco, A. and Lavorgna, A., (2019). . In: Constructing and Organising Crime in Europe. Editors: van Duyne, P., Serdyuk, A., Antonopoulos, G., Harvey, J. and von Lampe, K., . Eleven Publishing. 19- 48. 978-94-6236-955-9
Lavorgna, A. and Di Ronco, A., (2017). . In: The many faces of crime for profit and ways of tackling it. Editors: van Duyne, PC., Harvey, J., Antonopoulos, GA. and von Lampe, K., . Wolf Legal Publishers. 9789462404366
Di Ronco, A., (2016). . In: Regulation and Social Control of Incivilities. Editors: Persak, N., . Routledge. 108- 124. 9781138951549
Conferences (1)
Di Ronco, A. and Allen-Robertson, J., (2018).
Reports and Papers (1)
Di Ronco, A., (2020).
Grants and funding
2020
ContraST: Roundtable on governing sex work and 锟絟uman trafficking锟� in European cities
糖心Vlog
2018
Law in action: local-level and collaborative governance of prostitution in two European cities
The Sociological Review
The representation of environmental protest Online and Offline
British Academy
