Miss Shauna McCusker

I joined CCCU as a Senior Lecturer in Forensic Investigation in 2006, progressing to Programme Director, Director of Criminal Justice and I am now the Director of Criminology, Sociology and Forensic Investigation.  In this role, I provide strategic leadership for these three disciplines and I am responsible for the strategic and operational development of the section and subjects as a whole, including overseeing staff wellbeing, the student experience, equity and inclusion, quality and standards and learning, teaching and assessment.  I am member of the School management and leadership team and represent the school on the Faculty Learning, Teaching and Assessment Committee and Faculty Board and I represent the Faculty on the university level Equity and Inclusion Committee.   

I also provide leadership and support for the talented group of academics that are housed in the section and consider myself partly responsible for their progress, satisfaction and wellbeing and I have a particularly known for nurturing talent and providing equity of experience and opportunity.  Although my discipline is Forensic Science, I particularly specialise in the psychology of forensic investigation and key aspects of that, including competency, bias, impact of trauma and professional integrity and I am responsible for teaching our students about these areas of their forensic practice.    

Outside of the university, I have been a forensic practitioner but I am now a trained counsellor and psychotherapist who works specifically with survivors of rape, sexual abuse, domestic abuse, political conflict, war and trauma more generally.  This practitioner work provides me with a rich understanding of these topics which informs my teaching on Violence Against Women and Girls.  It also evolved form extensive training on trauma informed methods, which I teach to students, staff, researchers and externals in the field. My formal qualifications are BMedSc Biomedical Science (Queen’s University, Belfast), MMedSc Medical Laboratory Science (Queen’s University, Belfast), MSc Forensic Science (University of Strathclyde) and MA Lifelong Education (CCCU).  

I have more than 20 years experience of working in academic roles in higher education and I am dedicated to the student experience, the staff experience and overcoming barriers to educational success, particularly within disadvantaged and marginalised groups.

I started my career teaching Forensic Biology and Forensic Chemistry and over time became interested in psychology of education and the psychology of criminals and victims / survivors.  In particular, I have developed significant expertise in violence against women and girls and the impact of bias and trauma on Forensic Investigations as a therapeutic counsellor and trainee psychotherapist working with survivors of domestic abuse, rape, sexual abuse and war and political conflict and I use this practice to inform my teaching.  

I currently teach:  

Introducing Crime, Offences and Justice: Provides first year students with an understanding of common and serious criminal offences and how these are categorised, investigated and prosecuted in the criminal justice system in the UK, using arrange of innovative and thought-provoking methods designed to challenge one’s own beliefs and assumptions about self, people, society and crime.

Expert and Professional Witnesses: Provide final year students with an in-depth knowledge and practical experience of attending court both as a professional witness and a expert witness and a higher level knowledge of the psychodynamics of court interactions.  exploring concepts such as competency, professional boundaries, expertise, bias, trauma and professional integrity.  

KMMS Humans as Crime Scenes Modules: These modules provide medical students with an opportunity to explore the impact of crimes they may encounter as a physician, such as physical assault, sexual assault, domestic abuse, honour-based violence in order to raise awareness and resilience to these topics and ensure awareness of signs, symptoms and sources of support.  I also deliver sessions on VAWG across a range of modules and teaching and project supervision for the Kent and Medway Medical School and I am a qualified coach and therefore embed coaching methods and models into the courses for personal and professional development.

I have significant expertise in trauma informed teaching, practice and research and deliver practitioner based sessions on this and training for researchers on a range of courses across the university and for external practitioners in partner organisations.  

Primarily my research has been based on widening participation, encouraging disadvantaged groups to attend university and barriers to higher education and educational success.  The roles I have held and my own research interests are based on learning, teaching and assessment and therefore the work I carry out involves a significant amount of pegagogic research, with the most recent project involving an exploration of the factors that impact the combined honours students, following a satisfaction gap in NSS scores.  

I also carry out substantive research based on Violence against women and girls and I am a core researcher on the following projects:

Home Office funded evaluation of a Domestic Abuse and Stalking Perpetrator Intervention Programme introduced under the Kent and Medway Domestic Abuse Strategy, with funding from the Home Office to develop innovative intervention programmes to reduce the risk posed by domestic abuse perpetrators and improve safety and protection for victims.

Home Office funded Safer Streets research project focused on the experiences and impact of VAWG on Canterbury based students, practitioners and Night Time economy workers, as part of the Home Office Safer Streets Initiative to tackle violence against women and girls: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/safer-streets-fund-continues-to-make-streets-safer

In a forensic capacity, I have sat on the Council for Forensic Science Society, provided consultancy for external providers and provided training on trauma in a range of forums.  I was also a special constable in the City of London Police and served as a specialist special, working in the scientific support unit.  I have been a trustee for East Kent Rape Crisis Centre for one year and a trustee for the Counselling Plus Community in Hastings for several years.  

In these roles, I oversee the organisation and the staff alongside a group of trustees and keep abreast of legislative and operational developments in VAWG and local and government initiatives in the field.  I also provide support on vicarious trauma and compassion fatigue in these roles.  I have been a therapeutic counsellor for Community Counselling Service Canterbury since 2017 and the Rising Sun Domestic Abuse Charity in Canterbury since 2020, where I specialise in supporting survivors of domestic abuse, rape and sexual assault / abuse, trauma, war and political unrest and clients with trauma related conditions such as BPD, PTSD and DID.  

I also provide training in understanding and managing the psychological impacts of dealing with traumatic events to a range of professionals and organisations and students and staff at the university.  I am also a member of the Wellbeing Workstream in the Forensic capability Network that aims to “understand the specific challenges faced by forensic practitioners and ensure that they have access to the support, resources and tools required to secure their long-term health and wellbeing”.  In this forum, I champion the importance of prevention over support following traumatisation.