Sam Richardson-Martin

Sam is studying for her PhD in Criminology at the University of Nottingham. Having completed her undergraduate degree in Criminology and Sociology at the same university she has returned to continue her work with the sex working community. Her research focuses on developing new practice and regulation around street-based sex work placing sex worker voices and expertise at the centre by utilizing citizen participatory approaches. It sets out to explore if collaborative governance can offer a future in sex work policymaking to achieve acceptable working conditions, rights and protect vulnerable groups, while recognising sex workers’ ability to lead structural reform. This project will produce the first co-designed model for regulating sex work in England and Wales.

Sam was born to teenage parents and grew up on a council estate on the border of Hertfordshire, Essex and North-East London. She was the first person in her family to attend university, the first to achieve her masters degree, and now the first to pursue a PhD. She has worked for a charity supporting sex workers in Nottingham for the last 4 years, and has most recently been the external research partner on a British Academy Innovation Fellowship developing a reporting system for serious violent crime against sex workers.