Staff profile

Dr Vicky Butterby

I joined Durham University’s Sociology Department as a Research Associate after completing my PhD in 2019, which focused on loss in the lives of young people known to youth justice services. Since then, I have worked on several different research projects, in the Sociology Department, for Durham Law School, and as an independent researcher, including work on image-based abuse, economic abuse, policing in schools and young people's experiences of their consent education.

I am a qualified teacher and have worked with young people in different contexts and settings since 2005, including in secondary education and in youth justice services. I have also worked as a teacher-educator, supporting Further Education practitioners to explore and develop their practice through participatory and action research as part of the Education and Training Foundation’s Outstanding Teaching, Learning and Assessment Programme.

I have been part of the Sociology Department's Contextual Safeguarding Team since 2025 and I am currently working on a project with Dr Cait Jobson, Dr Rachael Owens and Professor Carlene Firmin called Everybody’s Business, which explores contextual safeguarding within the hospitality sector. I am also working on a project with Dr Nicole Renehan; we are working collaboratively with specialists from neurodivergent-led organisations and domestic abuse specialists to develop practitioner guidance on supporting neurodivergent men attending domestic abuse perpetrator programmes. Additionally, I work part time with Durham Law School, supporting their impact and engagement work and providing research assistance. 

Research Groups

I am a member of CRiVA, Durham’s centre for research into violence and abuse.  

Chapter in book

• I urge you to hear me: changing prison education for the better
  
  Butterby, V., Collins, C., & David, P. (2020). I urge you to hear me: changing prison education for the better. In M. Daley, K. Orr, & J. Petrie (Eds.), Caliban’s Dance: FE after the Tempest. UCL Press.

Journal Article

• Book review: Stringer, E., & Ortiz Aragón, A. (2021). Action Research (5th ed.). Sage Publications.
  
  Butterby, V. (2023). Book review: Stringer, E., & Ortiz Aragón, A. (2021). Action Research (5th ed.). Sage Publications. The Canadian Journal of Action Research, 23(1), 120-123. https://doi.org/10.33524/cjar.v23i1.652
• Enhancing practice through classroom research. A teacher’s guide to professional development (2nd edition): by Caitriona McDonagh, Mary Roche, Bernie Sullivan and Máirín Glenn, Abingdon, Routledge, 2019, 232 pp., £32.99 (paperback), ISBN 978-113-839-457-5; £120.00 (hardback), ISBN 978-113-839-456-8; £16.50 (eBook), ISBN 978-042-940-109-1
  
  Butterby, V. (2021). Enhancing practice through classroom research. A teacher’s guide to professional development (2nd edition): by Caitriona McDonagh, Mary Roche, Bernie Sullivan and Máirín Glenn, Abingdon, Routledge, 2019, 232 pp., £32.99 (paperback), ISBN 978-113-839-457-5; £120.00 (hardback), ISBN 978-113-839-456-8; £16.50 (eBook), ISBN 978-042-940-109-1. Educational Action Research, 29(1), 165-166. https://doi.org/10.1080/09650792.2020.1771605