Rate My Professor Alice Neikirk

Dr. Alice Neikirk is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Law and Justice at the University of Newcastle, Australia. She earned a PhD in Anthropology and a Master of Anthropology from the Australian National University. Prior to her current role, she was Assistant Professor at Fresno Pacific University's Center for Peace and Conflict Studies from 2019 to 2022. Neikirk's research focuses on the interactions between less privileged groups and powerful institutions, encompassing forced migration, restorative justice, refugees, humanitarian interventions, legal aid, and the history of policing. Her doctoral work examined the consequences of conflict and humanitarian governance on Bhutanese refugees in Nepal, resulting in the monograph The Elephant Has Two Sets of Teeth: Bhutanese Refugees and Humanitarian Governance, published by the University of Alberta Press. She co-authored an interdisciplinary book on transitional justice in 2018 with Palgrave Macmillan and has a second co-authored book on refugees in transitional justice under contract with Routledge. Neikirk has published peer-reviewed articles in top-tier journals, including the Journal of Refugee Studies, State Crime Journal, and Journal of Human Trafficking.

In 2024, Neikirk was awarded the prestigious HCSA Fellowship by the History Council of South Australia for her project Police Matrons (and their Advocates) in South Australia, utilizing the largest collection of police matron diaries in the country to highlight women's contributions to policing history. She co-founded the Newcastle Migration Research Network in 2022, which collaborates with academics, practitioners, students, and people with lived refugee experiences to develop solutions like legal literacy infographics for refugees. Her international collaborations include work with U.S. Tribal Partners on Native American restorative justice practices, published in SN Social Sciences, and multi-jurisdictional studies on the wellbeing of legal aid lawyers. With more than ten years of university teaching experience in Australia and the United States, Neikirk has delivered courses in criminology, including criminal justice systems, criminological theory, restorative justice, victimology, and corrections, as well as sociology, anthropology, and history. She peer-reviews for journals such as the International Journal of Transitional Justice, SN Social Sciences, and AlterNatives. Neikirk's contributions have advanced understandings of refugee camp placements, anti-trafficking programs, and the role of intangible cultural heritage in refugee protection.