Professor

Kathryn

Hollingsworth

(she/her)

Kathryn joined the University of Sheffield as a Professor of Law and Criminal Justice in October 2024. Prior to that she was a Professor of Law at Newcastle University between 2010-2024 and before that she held academic posts at King's College London, Otago University in New Zealand, and Cardiff University. She has also been a visiting professor at Texas Tech University (USA), Melbourne University (Australia), Otago University (New Zealand) and the University of New South Wales (Australia).  

Kathryn's research focuses on children’s rights in the context of criminal justice, and she has a particular interest in children's access to justice in the courts, children's sentencing, and judicial communication. Her co-authored article published in the Modern Law Review with Helen Stalford ('This case is about you and your future': Towards Judgments for Children') was awarded the 2021 SLSA Article Prize and her work has been used to inform judicial guidance and training in England and Wales and overseas. In 2023 she was joint runner up for Newcastle University's impact award (policy and practice) for her work developing new guidance for judges sentencing children in the Crown Court. She was a trustee for Just for Kids Law from 2016-2019 and is currently a member of the Advisory Board of the Youth Justice Legal Centre and chair and a director of the Children Rights and Youth Justice CIC.

Kathryn is also a co-convenor of a large multi-sectoral research centre, the Centre for People's Justice, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (2025-2030): https://centreforpeoplesjustice.org/