Dr Maya Flax

• Qualifications

  • LLB (Hons) - University College London
  • Bar Vocational Course - College of Law
  • Civil and Commerical Medical - London School of Mediation
  • MA Criminology - Middlesex University 
  • PhD - University of West London
  • FHEA - University of West London
  • SFHEA - University of West London

• Memberships

  British Society of Criminology

  Member of the Criminal Justice Alliance

I have worked as criminal defence barrister in London, where I represented and defended clients in criminal courts and prepared multi-handed jury trials. I then worked as a civil and commercial mediator, mediating in various disputes ranging from financial settlements to school admissions. I am in the process of publishing work on hate crime, which was the subject of my PhD and remains my primary research interest. I have a strong commitment to engaging with my students and in ensuring that the material taught is clear and understood by all.

• Research and publications

  Journal articles

  • Flax, M. (2024) ‘I feel like this was testing me, whether I could just stay quiet and get offended, or get destroyed’: Immediate reaction to religious hate crime incidents Submitted for publication
  • Flax, M., Millband, O (2024) ‘Doesn’t anyone care anymore?’ - Bystander Intervention to Hate Crimes International Review of Victimology. DOI: 10.1177/02697580241271465
  • Flax, M. and Shannon, K. (2024) Religious victims of hate crime: comparing the experiences of victimisation targeted against Muslims, Jews and Hindus. Criminology and Criminal Justice.
  • Grendele, W., Flax, M., Bapir-Tardy, S. (2023) ‘I'm dead in God's eyes, who's going to destroy me anyway’: A UK qualitative study on the coping mechanisms adopted by those shunned from the Jehovah’s Witnesses community. Manuscript in preparation.
  • Grendele, W., Flax, M., Bapir-Tardy, S. (2023) ‘You're Going to Go into Some Really Dark, Dark Places in Your Mind.' Loss and Disillusionment of Being Shunned From the Jehovah’s Witness Community and its Impact International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation, DOI: 10.54208/1000/0004/005
  • Grendele, W., Flax, M., Bapir-Tardy, S. (2023) Shunning from the Jehovah’s Witness Community; Is it Criminal? The Journal of Law and Religion https://doi.org/10.1017/jlr.2023.13
  • Grendele, W., Flax, M., Bapir-Tardy, S. (2023) Experiencing Religious Shunning: An insightful journey from being a member to leaving the Jehovah’s Witness community Pastoral Psychology. DOI: 10.1007/s11089-023-01074-y
  • Flax, M. (2021) ‘Antisemitism is just part of my day-to-day life’: Coping mechanisms adopted by Orthodox Jews in North London International Review of Victimology. DOI: 10.1177/02697580211006663
  • Flax, M. (2021) Understanding Perceptions of Contemporary Antisemitism among Orthodox Jews in London. Ethnic and Racial Studies.

  Book chapters

  • Flax, M. (2024) Gendered Dimensions of Antisemitism: Experiences of Jewish Women in Historical and Contemporary Contexts, in  Zempi, I., Smith, J and Trickett, L. (eds) Palgrave Handbook of Violence Against Women and Girls: Palgrave.  Manuscript in preparation. 

  Reports

  • Flax, M, Grendele, W. in collaboration with the Criminal Justice Alliance 'Tool Kit for Jurors' (2024).
  • Flax, M. (2023) Normalisation among Jews re-visited: Comparing hate crime incidents and responses among three religious minorities in the UK. Funded by the Anti-Defamation League.

  Other publications

  • Flax, M., (2023) 'Strategies for enhancing teaching excellence: Providing real-world examples and building rapport', New Vistas 9(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.36828/newvistas.227
  • Flax, M. (2020) 'Enhancing engagement levels using Kahoot'. Paper presented at UWL Festival of Learning and Teaching, 2 July, 2020.
  • Flax, M. (2017) ‘Do you qualify to be a victim of crime?’ New Vistas, Vol. 3 Issue 2, University of West London pp.23–27.

  Media experience

  • Feature in Sky Crime Documentary, What the Killer Did Next: Joy Morgan, 4 January 2023.
  • Feature in Sky Crime Documentary, What the Killer Did Next: Peter McMahon, 14 December 2022.

• Conferences

  • Flax, M. (2024) Exploration of intersectionality among hate crime victims and the barriers they encounter in reporting and recording their victimisation. Paper presentation at British Society of Criminology Conference 11 July 2024, Glasgow
  • Flax, M. (2023) Normalisation Re-visited among Jews: Comparing hate crime incidents and responses among three religious minorities in the UK. Paper presentation at Mid Term Conference, European Sociological Association, 7 September 2023, Portugal. 

• Research degree supervision

  Principal Supervisor

  Who is being punished? Realities and possibilities for mental health among female prison officers in the UK Civil Service (Viktorija Soboliovaite-Janoniene).

  Gendered Perspectives of Female Associates to Gang Affiliated Males (Vikky Chambers).

  Miscarriages of Justice by Jurors (Simon Edwards).

  Dressing for disorder: Examining the effect of enclothed cognition and uniform type on police officers’ self-perception (Victoria Hebborn), Awarded July 2024.

  Experiencing Disfellowshipping in the Jehovah’s Witnesses community: Explorative Research on Religious Exclusion. (Windy Grendele) Awarded June 2022.

  Second Supervisor

  Predicting Officer Perpetrated Domestic Abuse (Harriet Prettyjohn).