Faye is a research associate in criminology in the Department of Sociology at Durham University and joined the GCCS in 2026. Her current research focuses on child criminal exploitation and police responses to vulnerable children and young people.
Prior to joining the GCCS, Faye conducted research examining police decision-making and safeguarding responses to children criminally exploited through county lines drug distribution networks. She is particularly interested in the structural conditions that shape children's vulnerability to extra-familial harm and in challenging the criminalisation of exploited children and young people.
Faye's previous research has examined police-community engagement and reassurance, trust and legitimacy in marginalised communities, occupational police cultures, neurodiversity within policing, and safeguarding practices for vulnerable people in police custody. She has experience of working collaboratively with police forces to support service improvement and she co-developed the University of Sunderland Appropriate Adult Scheme, the UK’s first university-led service to support vulnerable detainees in police custody.
Faye’s work draws primarily on qualitative and participatory approaches to understand the experiences of vulnerable and marginalised groups and to inform evidence-based policy and practice. She is currently working on the Risk Outside The Home (ROTH) child protection pathway project and is also a member of Durham University's Centre for Research into Criminal Justice, Social Harms and Inequalities.