Role
Dr Irene Zempi (She/Her) is an Associate Professor in Criminology in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice (CCJ) at Nottingham Trent University. Irene is the Department's representative for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, and sits on the School's EDI committee. Irene led the Departmental Athena SWAN Bronze submission, which was successful (with no revisions to the application) in May 2025. Irene is the Lead of the NTU Hate Crime Research Group: https://www.ntu.ac.uk/research/groups-and-centres/groups/hate-crime-research-group
Career overview
Dr Irene Zempi (She/Her) is an Associate Professor in Criminology in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Nottingham Trent University.
Irene joined Nottingham Trent University as a Lecturer in Criminology in September 2015. Prior to this position, Irene worked as a Teaching Fellow in the Department of Criminology, University of Leicester for five years. She has a Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (Nottingham Trent University), PhD in Criminology (University of Leicester), MSc in Criminology (University of Leicester) and BSc in Sociology (Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences).
Irene is the Lead of the NTU Hate Crime Research Group, and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She is the external examiner for the course: BSc (Hons) Criminology and Psychology, Bournemouth University whilst previously, she was the external examiner for the criminology courses at University of Bedfordshire and DMU. Also, Irene sits on the editorial board of the Journal Ethnic and Racial Studies whilst previously, she was a member of the editorial board of Sociological Research Online Journal.
Irene has provided written and oral evidence to parliamentary committees, and has been invited by the Law Commission to provide advice for the review of Hate Crime Legislation in England and Wales. In 2022, Irene was appointed the Independent Chair of the Ethics Committee, Nottinghamshire Police.
Research areas
- Hate crime
- Intersectionality
- Victimisation
- Policing
- Ethnography
External activity
- Member of British Society of Criminology Hate Crime Network (Steering Committee)
- Member of editorial board, Ethnic and Racial Studies Journal
- Independent Chair of the Ethics Committee, Nottinghamshire Police
Publications
Peer-reviewed journal articles
Zempi, I. (2025) Occupational Burnout amongst Youth Justice Officers in England Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health 1–27. DOI: 10.1080/15555240.2025.2493193
Awan, I. and Zempi, I. (2025) “Muslims are leaving football, they think ‘what is the point?”: A qualitative study on Islamophobia in grassroots football in England and Wales Journal of Sport and Social Issues 0(0). DOI: 10.1177/01937235251333438
Zempi, I. and Tripli, A. (2022) Listening to Muslim Students’ Voices on the Prevent Duty in British Universities: A Qualitative Study Education, Citizenship and Social Justice DOI: 10.1177/17461979221077990
Knight, V. and Zempi, I. (2020) Embracing the emotional turn: Responding to researcher emotion in qualitative research Emotions and Society DOI: 10.1332/263169020X15925529968217
Zempi, I. (2019) Veiled Muslim women’s responses to experiences of gendered Islamophobia in the UK International Review of Victimology 26 (1): 96–111 DOI: 10.1177/0269758019872902
Zempi, I. (2019) Veiled Muslim women's views on law banning the wearing of the niqab (face veil) in public Ethnic and Racial Studies 42 (15): 2585-2602 DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2019.1588985
Awan, I. and Zempi, I. (2018) ‘YOU ALL LOOK THE SAME’: Non-Muslim Men who Suffer Islamophobic Hate Crime in the post-Brexit era European Journal of Criminology 1–18 DOI: 10.1177/1477370818812735
Zempi, I. (2018) “Looking back, I wouldn't join up again”: The Lived Experiences of Police Officers as Victims of Bias and Prejudice Perpetrated by Fellow Staff within an English Police Force Police Practice and Research: An International Journal 21 (1): 33-48 DOI: 10.1080/15614263.2018.1525381
Mason-Bish, H. and Zempi, I. (2018) Misogyny, Racism and Islamophobia: Street Harassment at the Intersections Feminist Criminology 1-20 DOI: 10.1177/1557085118772088
Mawby, R. C. and Zempi, I. (2018) ‘Every time it happens, you question continuing as an officer’: The Experiences of Police Officers as Victims of Hate Crime Policing: An International Journal 41 (5) DOI: 10.1108/PIJPSM-12-2016-0176
Zempi, I. and Awan, I. (2017) Doing ‘Dangerous’ Autoethnography on Islamophobic Victimisation Ethnography 18 (3): 367-386 DOI: 10.1177/1466138117697996
Zempi, I. (2017) Doing autoethnography: Researching victimisation through wearing the Muslim veil in public Methodological Innovations 10 (1): 1-10 DOI: 10.1177/2059799117720617
Zempi, I. (2016) Negotiating constructions of insider and outsider status in research with veiled Muslim women victims of Islamophobic hate crime Sociological Research Online 21 (4): 8 DOI: 10.5153/sro.4080
Zempi, I. (2016) “It's a part of me, I feel naked without it”: choice, agency and identity for Muslim women who wear the niqab Ethnic and Racial Studies 39 (10): 1738-1754 DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2016.1159710
Awan, I. and Zempi, I. (2016) The Affinity between Online and Offline anti-Muslim Hate Crime: Dynamics and Impacts Aggression and Violent Behaviour 27: 1-8 DOI: 10.1016/j.avb.2016.02.001
Awan, I. and Zempi, I. (2015) ‘I will Blow your face off: Virtual and Physical World Anti-Muslim Hate Crime British Journal of Criminology 57 (2) 362–380 DOI: 10.1093/bjc/azv122
Zempi, I. and Chakraborti, N. (2015) “They Make Us Feel Like We’re a Virus”: The Impact of Islamophobic Victimisation upon Veiled Muslim Women International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy 4 (3): 44-56 DOI: 10.5204/ijcjsd.v4i3.236
Chakraborti, N. and Zempi, I. (2013) Criminalising Oppression or Reinforcing Oppression? The Implications of Veil Ban Laws for Muslim Women in the West Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly 64 (1): 63-74 DOI: 10.53386/nilq.v64i1.334
Chakraborti, N. and Zempi, I. (2012) The Veil under Attack: Gendered Dimensions of Islamophobic Victimisation International Review of Victimology 18 (3): 269-284 DOI: 10.1177/0269758012446983
Books
Garland, J., Zempi, I. and Smith, J. (eds.) (2025) Hate Crime Perpetrators: New Perspectives from Theory, Research and Practice, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
Amina Easat-Daas and Zempi, I. (eds.) (2024) Palgrave Handbook of Gendered Islamophobia, London: Springer International Publishing
Awan, I. and Zempi, I. (eds.) (2023) Hate Crime in Football, Bristol: Policy Press
Zempi, I. and Smith, J. (eds.) (2021) Misogyny as Hate Crime, London: Routledge
Awan, I. and Zempi, I. (2019) Student Textbook of Islamophobia, London: Routledge
Zempi, I. and Awan, I. (eds.) (2019) Routledge International Handbook of Islamophobia, London: Routledge
Zempi, I. and Awan, I. (2016) Islamophobia: Lived Experiences of Online and Offline Victimisation, Bristol: Policy Press
Zempi, I. and Chakraborti, N. (2014) Islamophobia, Victimisation and the Veil, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
Reports
Zempi, I., Trickett, L., John, R. M. and Tangen, M. (2024) Evaluation Report: Dimensions’ Workshop on “Tackling Learning Disability and Autism Hate Crime” for Policing Students and Police Employees, Nottingham: Nottingham Trent University
Zempi, I., Hamilton, P., Krulisova, K. and Trickett, L. (2021) Evaluation of “Citizens at the Heart: A Citizen Centred Approach to Tackling Hate Crime” Project - Executive Summary, Nottingham: Nottingham Trent University
Zempi, I., Hamilton, P., Krulisova, K. and Trickett, L. (2021) Evaluation of “Citizens at the Heart: A Citizen Centred Approach to Tackling Hate Crime” Project - Report, Nottingham: Nottingham Trent University
Zempi, I., Lewis, B., Din, R. and Foster, C. (2021) Tackling Religion-Based Hate Crime on Campus: Faith Ambassadors Project, Nottingham: Nottingham Trent University
Awan, I. and Zempi, I. (2021) How the ‘Beautiful Game’ turned to Hate: Why Islamophobia has creeped into Grassroots Football, Birmingham: Birmingham City University and Nottingham Trent University
Zempi, I. (2020) Nottinghamshire Police: Experiences of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) police officers as victims of hate crimes/incidents (externally) and of bias and prejudice (internally), Nottingham: Nottingham Trent University
Mawby, R. and Zempi, I. (2016) ‘Every time it happens, you question continuing as an officer’: The experiences of police workers as victims of hate crime, Leicester: University of Leicester
Awan, I. and Zempi, I. (2015) We fear for our lives: online and offline experiences of anti-Muslim hate crime, London: Tell MAMA
Blogs
Zempi, I., Trickett, L., John, R. M. and Tangen, M. (2024) “Evaluation of Dimensions’ Disability Hate Crime training demonstrates improvement in police confidence and understanding” Policing Insight. Available at: https://policinginsight.com/feature/opinion/evaluation-of-dimensions-disability-hate-crime-training-shows-improvement-in-police-confidence-and-understanding/
Awan, I. and Zempi, I. (2024) Let's Kick Misogyny out of Football. BCU. Available at: https://www.bcu.ac.uk/social-sciences/blog/professor-imran-awan-and-dr-irene-zempi-lets-kick-misogyny-out-of-football#edit-a63d8f6b-c2e2-ee11-85fb-002248c63101
Zempi, I., Burch, L., Wilkin, D., and Nevay, L. (2023) Toolkit and charter are the latest steps in tackling disability hate crime. Available at: https://policinginsight.com/features/opinion/toolkit-and-charter-are-the-latest-steps-in-tackling-disability-hate-crime/
Zempi, I., Burch, L., Wilkin, D., and Nevay, L. (2022) Disability Hate Crime: A ‘hidden’ harm. British Society of Criminology. Available at: https://thebscblog.wordpress.com/2022/10/05/disability-hate-crime-a-hidden-harm/
Zempi, I. and Easat-Daas, A. (2022) The hijab is not a symbol of gender oppression – but those who choose to wear it risk Islamophobia. The Conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/the-hijab-is-not-a-symbol-of-gender-oppression-but-those-who-choose-to-wear-it-risk-islamophobia-178454
Garland, J., Smith, J., Walters, M. and Zempi, I. (2021) A Response to the Law Commission’s Hate Crime Law Final Report. INHS. Available at: https://internationalhatestudies.com/a-response-to-the-law-commissions-hate-crime-law-final-report/
Zempi, I. (2021) Connecting academia and policy. NTU. Available at: www.ntu.ac.uk/about-us/news/news-articles/2021/06/connecting-academia-and-policy
Zempi, I. (2018) “Every day it chips away at you”: Police officers as victims of prejudice, bias and hate within the police. Policing Insight. Available at: https://policinginsight.com/features/analysis/every-day-it-chips-away-at-you-police-officers-as-victims-of-prejudice-bias-and-hate-within-the-police/
Zempi, I. (2017) Calling for a debate on recording violence against police officers as a hate crime. INHS. Available at: https://internationalhatestudies.com/calling-for-a-debate-on-recording-violence-against-police-officers-as-a-hate-crime/
Awan, I. and Zempi, I. (2017) “You all look the same”: non-Muslim men targeted in Islamophobic hate crime because of their appearance. The Conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/you-all-look-the-same-non-muslim-men-targeted-in-islamophobic-hate-crime-because-of-their-appearance-85565
Zempi, I. (2017) “I wouldn't join the force again”: British Police Officers’ experiences of bias, prejudice and hate. Discover Society. Available at: https://archive.discoversociety.org/2017/04/05/i-wouldnt-joint-the-force-again-british-police-officers-experiences-of-bias-prejudice-and-hate/
Zempi, I. (2017) “I didn’t join the force for this”: Police officers as victims of hate crime. Policing Insight. Available at: https://policinginsight.com/features/analysis/i-didnt-join-force-police-officers-victims-hate-crime/
Awan, I. and Zempi, I. (2016) “What does Islamophobia feel like?” We dressed visibly as Muslims for a month to find out. The Conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/what-does-islamophobia-feel-like-we-dressed-visibly-as-muslims-for-a-month-to-find-out-66786
Press
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NEWS
Disability hate crime training found to boost police confidence and understanding
9 October 2024A new study by Nottingham Trent University (NTU) reveals that providing training for policing students and police employees on tackling learning disability and autism hate crime significantly improves their confidence and understanding, ultimately equipping them to better support victims.
ntu.ac.uk/about-us/news/news-articles/2024/10/disability-hate-crime-training-found-to-boost-police-confidence