Professor Alex Stevens

I research and teach on the overlap between drugs, crime and public health. I am particularly interested in how policies in these areas are made, and how we can improve them through research and collaboration with policy makers, practitioners and directly affected communities. This is the focus of my 2024 book on Drug Policy Constellations (Bristol University Press). Outside the University of Sheffield, I am a trustee of Harm Reduction International and the Criminal Justice Alliance. I was previously a member of the UK Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, and President of the International Society for the Study of Drug Policy. I supervise dissertations and theses on drug policy, harm reduction, policy making, policing, and other issues related to illicit drugs. I also lead evaluations for government departments and other clients, with a focus on realist evaluation using both qualitative and quantitative methods. I am developing the international study of policy constellations, using methods including social network analysis and qualitative comparative analysis. Before joining the University of Sheffield, I worked for 26 years at the University of Kent, where I was appointed Professor of Criminal Justice in 2010.