Dr Zoe Alker
Lecturer in Historical Social Data ScienceResearch Overview
I joined the History department in Lancaster University in 2022, where I research and teach the history of crime, justice and punishment from the eighteenth to twentieth century. My research has involved co-creating large-scale historical datasets (Digital Panopticon [AHRC], Convict Tattoos [British Academy/ JISC], Skin and Bone [British Academy/ Leverhulme]) that benefit from the application of various data science techniques (linked data, data mining, and data visualisation) to the history of law, crime and justice in the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries. I’m currently developing a project with Dr Richard Ward (Exeter) examining deaths in prison custody, 1760-1925, and I'm writing a monograph on the history of femicide, violence and misogyny in Victorian England.
PhD Supervision Interests
Historical and social data science Digital Humanities Crime and Criminal Justice History Gender History
Skin and Bone: Interdisciplinary analysis of accidents, injury, and violence in industrialising London, 1760-1901
31/08/2022 → 01/12/2023
Research
British Academy/ JISC Data Mining Convict Tattoos
01/08/2018 → 31/08/2019
Research
DATA SCIENCE/ DATA ACTIVISM: THE TECHNOLOGIES OF EVERYDAY BORDERING, PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
Routledge (Publisher)
Editorial activity