Tahir Abass

Dr Tahir Abass is a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Criminology, University of Oxford. His research examines the intersections of punishment, inequality, and belonging, with a particular focus on racialised and Muslim communities in Britain. His fellowship project is the first study in England and Wales to foreground the voices of Muslim children affected by parental imprisonment, situating their experiences within wider debates on citizenship, identity, and justice.

He completed his PhD in Law at the University of Leeds in 2023, where his thesis on the impact of imprisonment on Pakistani families in the UK was recognised for research excellence. This work is under contract with Routledge as his first monograph (expected 2026). His second book, developed during the fellowship, extends these concerns by exploring how the carceral state shapes the lives of young British Muslims and by connecting these experiences to international debates on race, punishment, and inequality.

Dr Abass has taught widely across criminology and criminal justice programmes at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He has also been active in Widening Participation initiatives to broaden access to higher education. Beyond academia, he contributes to advisory work with the Howard League for Penal Reform and collaborates with third-sector organisations supporting racially minoritised families and people leaving prison.