Victoria Taylor

Dr Vicky Taylor (she/her) is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Manchester. She completed her DPhil at Oxford's Centre for Criminology in 2025. Her research focuses on the criminalisation of asylum seeking and state response to irregular migration. She was supervised by Professor Mary Bosworth and supported by the Economic and Social Research Council, and Balliol College's Dervorguilla Scholarship.

Her DPhil research formed part of a public research report, authored by Vicky and published by Border Criminologies, entitled "No Such Thing as Justice Here: the criminalisation of people arriving to the UK on 'small boats'". This research was launched at Garden Court Chambers, and was covered in the Guardian, the Independent, and the House of Lords (see also here). The research was also referenced in a Communication to the UK Government from the UN Special Rapporteur on Migrants Rights. She also contributed to a second report - 'I Told Them The Truth' - published in May 2025.

Vicky holds a BA in Geography from the University of Cambridge (Double First), and an MSc in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies from the University of Oxford (Distinction). Alongside her DPhil, she was a participant in the collaborative Legal Aid Clinic at HMP Huntercombe, and Associate Director of Border Criminologies.

Prior to starting her DPhil, she worked as a Senior Researcher in the UK Civil Service (Fast Stream) across the policy areas of asylum, irregular migration and resettlement. 

Vicky also previously directed Screen Share UK, an organisation dedicated to tackling the digital divide experienced by refugees and asylum seekers in the UK. She has also worked as a research consultant for UK based asylum and legal NGOs, including the British Red Cross and Humans for Rights Network.