Nicola Wake

Professor Nicola Wake

Professor

School: Northumbria School of Law

Professor Nicola Wake is Vice President (elect) of the Society of Legal Scholars. Nicola has published widely on vulnerable offenders within the criminal justice system, has secured funding from prestigious providers, and is leading on two impact case studies. Nicola also led the Law Department in securing the Faculty of Business and Law Athena Swan Silver Award. Nicola is a research mentor to academic colleagues, and supervises several PhD students.

Nicola teaches across a number of modules, and is experienced in associate head departmental leadership, REF output and impact case study review, programme leadership, programme (re)validation processes, and external examining.

Campus Address

Room CCE1-314
City Campus East
Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
NE1 8ST

Email Nicola

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

Professor Wake's research interests include: criminal law and justice specifically domestic abuse victims who offend in response, and the secure estate.

Key Publications

Anglo-Australian approaches to defences in domestic abuse contexts: embracing social context evidence provisions, Wake, N., Crofts, T., Bettinson, V. 2 May 2026, In: Journal of International and Comparative Law
Public Understandings of Self-Defence Claims by Domestic Abuse Survivors, Bettinson, V., Wake, N., Crofts, T. 30 Mar 2026, In: Journal of Law and Society
Interdisciplinary methodological innovations for enhancing co-production with professionals and children in secure settings, Kleipoedszus, S., Andow, C., Arthur, R., Dunn, R., Wake, N. 21 Jul 2025, Co-production in Youth Justice, London, United Kingdom, Routledge
Public perceptions on self-defence in householder and domestic abuse victim-defendant contexts, Wake, N., Bettinson, V., Crofts, T. 1 Dec 2025, In: Legal Studies
PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS ON SELF-DEFENCE SUGGEST IT MUST BE MADE MORE ACCESSIBLE TO DOMESTIC ABUSE VICTIMS, Wake, N., Bettinson, V., Crofts, T. 2 Jul 2025
A new self-defence framework for domestic abuse survivors who use violent resistance in response, Bettinson, V., Wake, N. 1 Jan 2024, In: Modern Law Review
A One-sided Coin? Attributing Agency and Responsibility in Contexts of Coercive Control, Bettinson, V., Munro, V., Wake, N., Ahluwalia, P. 2 May 2024, Criminal Law Reform Now, London, Bloomsbury
Preparing a Public Perception Study inn the use of Violent Resistance as Self-Defence in Domestic Abuse Cases, Bettinson, V., Crofts, T., Wake, N. 17 Sep 2024, Research Handbook on Domestic Violence, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar
Reconceptualising Sexual Infidelity Provocation: New Anglo-Scottish Reform Proposals, Wake, N., Reed, A. Feb 2024, In: The Journal of Criminal Law
Re-designing Secure Children’s Homes Through a Child First Lens, Andow, C., Kleipoedszus,, S., Dunn, R., Wake, N., Arthur, R., Shafi, A., Gibson, D. 25 Oct 2024, In: Societies

PGR Supervision

Carole Burrell Does patient care improve when mental health professionals practice at the 'top of their licence'? (draft title) Start Date: 29/06/2022
Kathryn Nisbet A New Defence Framework for Victims of Domestic Abuse Who Kill Their Abusers: The New Age of Domestic Abuse, Coercive Control and Social Entrapment. Start Date: 01/10/2024

Qualifications