We are delighted to share the news that Clare Hall Alumna and Life Member Maria Ttofi has been appointed Professor of Psychological Criminology at the University of Cambridge. Warmest congratulations to Maria on this wonderful achievement!

Professor Ttofi’s research explores how crime and violence develop over the course of people’s lives, and what helps people overcome difficult childhood experiences. Much of her work has focused on school bullying, its lasting effects on mental health and offending, and how prevention programmes can make a difference. More recently, she has turned her attention to violence against women and other vulnerable groups.

Her work has earned several awards, including Cambridge’s Nigel Walker Prize and the European Association of Psychology and Law’s Young Scholar Award. In 2021, her research on bullying prevention programmes, co-authored with Hannah Gaffney and David P. Farrington, received the Journal of School Psychology Best Paper Award.

Collaboration is an important part of Professor Ttofi’s work. She has brought together researchers from major long-term studies around the world to better understand the connections between adversity, mental health and crime. She has also co-directed the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development and is co-editor of Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health.

Before coming to Cambridge, Professor Ttofi worked for the Ministry of Education, Sport and Youth in Cyprus. She has since held fellowships at Wolfson College and visiting scholar positions at Goldsmiths and Oxford.

We wish Professor Ttofi every success in her new role and look forward to hearing more about her research.