Megan Stock

Profile

Academic background

I graduated in 2020 with a First Class Honours in BSc (Hons) Sociology and Criminology from the University of Portsmouth.

I graduated in 2021 with a Merit in MSc Criminal Justice and Criminal Psychology from the University of Portsmouth.

 

Biography

I grew up in a town in Gloucestershire and whilst at school, I started playing the violin from around the age of 7. I was a member of the school orchestra and the Gloucestershire Youth Sinfonia (GYS). As a member of GYS, I participated in regional music competitions and many concerts. I took the opportunity to join a summer workshop for string players across Gloucestershire supported by Nicola Benedetti.

I joined the University of Portsmouth orchestra and with them I travelled to Spain as part of the Music Society’s tour. As a member, I was also part of a pit orchestra for three years which accompanied the drama society’s musical stage shows. These shows included West Side Story, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella and Orpheus in the Underworld.

After leaving Portsmouth and returning back to Gloucestershire, I joined The Film Orchestra based in Cheltenham for two years before starting at the University of Leeds.

Throughout my childhood to adulthood, I have participated in a variety of choirs. This has involved singing as a backing choir for Hayley Westenra and the classical group Blake.

I am also a keen photographer with my repertoire consisting of but not limited to landscapes, animals and street portraits.

Between 2016-2023, I was a volunteer for the National Trust based at Croome Court in Worcestershire. Whilst there, I undertook an Extended Project Qualification alongside my A-levels on the Sociology of the History of Croome Court.

From 2015 to 2017, during the school holiday seasons, I was an arts and crafts assistant at a local school in Gloucestershire for children aged between 4-11.

To help fund my studies, I was a customer assistant in the Home Delivery/Click and Collect department at Morrisons supermarket between 2020-2023.

Research interests

My research

My undergraduate dissertation, I undertook a comprehensive literature review to examine the relationship between music and the likelihood of desistance regarding young offenders. This research identified how most young offenders represented in statistics are from a poverty background where access to a wide range of music is not as widely available as compared to those from more affluent backgrounds through financial constraints. This research further identified how music is a positive influence on developing skills and improving relationships and therefore may be a positive service for young offenders working alongside more mainstream programmes of rehabilitation. Class and finance are inexplicably linked to one another hence the interest in developing upon knowledge in capital.

My dissertation for my master’s drew upon my undergraduate research drawing more upon the public perceptions into the use of music as a rehabilitative service for offenders. This research identified how rehabilitation is important to the participants in my research. Music is an accepted form of rehabilitation for offending individuals with the overriding opinion that it should be implemented alongside other services. While not explicitly analysed for this research, one of my questions asked about barriers to accessing music in a more general sense with responses referring to class and stereotypes.

For my PhD research, I am continuing with the music theme with my research area reviewing how class and other societal influences can impact access to music utilising the concepts of language, taste and capital. As an amateur musician, I understand the benefits that music can provide and it is therefore important to me that individuals have equal opportunities to access music.

 

My research interests

• Social inequalities specifically in class and gender
• Access to the arts with a primary focus on music and music education
• Social, cultural and economic capital
• Socialisation
• Rehabilitation and desistance from crime and offending behaviour

Qualifications

• BSc (Hons) Sociology and Criminology, University of Portsmouth
• MSc Criminal Psychology and Criminal Justice, University of Portsmouth