Jo Phoenix

Jo Phoenix is Professor of Criminology and Deputy Head of School at the University of Reading's School of Law. Over three decades she has researched the questions that sit where women's lives meet the state: prostitution policy, violence against women, child sexual exploitation, youth justice, and the treatment of women in the criminal justice system. She has published five books and given expert evidence in courts and tribunals.

In 2024 she won a landmark employment tribunal against the Open University, which found she had been constructively dismissed and discriminated against for her beliefs. The case was reported nationally and funded by thousands of ordinary supporters, and it remains a reference point in arguments about academic freedom and open debate in public institutions.

She is founding director of the Gender Critical Research Network and founded Phoenix Publications, an independent press. Its first title, Sex: One Woman's War, written with Pat Carlen, was published in 2026. She writes regularly on Substack.