Phoebe Myles

Woman in glasses and grey sweater

PhD Candidate in Criminology

Supervisors: Associate Professor Lynzi Armstrong and Dr Sara Salman

I completed my undergraduate studies in a very different field, with a BSc in Mathematics and Physiology, after which I worked as a data analyst in various industries in New Zealand and overseas in Germany. However, after several years of this work I wanted to seek a new direction that more closely aligned with my interests and values. While in Germany, encounters with policing motivated my interest in the criminal justice system and so I took the opportunity to complete a Graduate Diploma in Criminology here at Te Herenga Waka, and never looked back. In my postgraduate research I have been able to draw on my earlier experiences with quantitative analysis, while also developing new qualitative research skills, and I have broadened my understandings of justice and harm beyond the traditional criminal justice system.

My thesis adopts a social harm lens to examine the experiences of people living in emergency housing, with a focus on the role and impacts of surveillance for residents. Social harm provides an expansive understanding of both interpersonal harms and structurally produced harms which result from the ways in which society is organised. Surveillance practices, including an emphasis on security and the regulation of residents’ behaviour, are often features of state-provided housing environments. These practices have the potential to further marginalise an already vulnerable population. Through interviews with emergency housing residents, my research aims to understand how those in New Zealand’s emergency housing system experience and perceive surveillance practices, and to consider the extent to which the emergency housing environment has the potential to generate various harms.

Research Interests

I am interested in drawing on social harm perspectives to understand the experiences of marginalised communities, such as those in emergency housing. By utilising the concept social harm, I want to understand how state institutions and systems produce and perpetuate various harms which are often obscured within traditional understandings of ‘crime’.

Qualifications

MA in Criminology

Awards

High Commendation for the Best Honours/Masters Thesis in Criminology Award, ANZSOC 2025.

Oral Presentations

2025. Myles, P.  "Surveillance and the production of social harm in Aotearoa New Zealand’s emergency housing system." SAANZ Conference, 4 December, 2025.