ECR collective response: the future of criminology and the unsustainability of the status quo for ECRs

We were delighted to be asked to respond to Richard Spark’s paper. We are encouraged by the themes and issues highlighted, and feel passionately about many of the areas of future research identified in the piece. Indeed, many of the areas of scholarship (such as research with the Global South, practices and experiences of crime and punishment, violence in all its forms, crime and technology, socio-legal research, and political discourses around crime) are areas with which we – as a collective group of early career researchers (ECRs) – are currently engaged, often in collaboration with other ECRs within and outwith the United Kingdom. We commend both Prof. Sparks and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) for this important and timely reflection on the direction and possible futures of criminology.