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Nicola Preston began her career as an operational police officer with Thames Valley Police, where she was part of a team that successfully introduced restorative justice into police work and was involved in the work that led to the introduction of Youth Offending teams in England and Wales. She has also been a primary school teacher and qualified as a Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator in 2011. She has had continuous involvement in restorative justice at a national and international level in the education and criminal justice sectors. Nicola is an Associate Lecturer with the School of Education & Society but also has research interests in Policing and Workplace use of Restorative Justice. Nicola has published numerous book chapters, articles and research reports in the U.K. and Europe and has been on the Editorial Committee of the European Forum for Restorative Justice. She is Adjunct Faculty for the International Institute for Restorative Practices, a member of the British Psychological Society, a Restorative Justice Trainer & Facilitator and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Nicola teaches across a range of subjects in Education, Psychology and Criminology.

Key research interests:

  • Restorative justice; school exclusion; relational justice; youth justice; inclusion; social justice.
  • Nicola has a PhD from the University of Northampton, two Master’s Degrees from the University of Chester and the University of Northampton, two Postgraduate Certificates from the University of Northampton and Oxford Brookes University and a BA (Hons) in Psychology from the University of Reading.
  • Her thesis topics have related to the use of relational approaches such as restorative justice to increase educational engagement and reduce exclusion and poor life outcomes for ‘at risk’ young people.
  • Preston, N. (2025). Autoethnography in restorative justice research: A relational methodology. In Rasmussen, K. B., Pali, B., Rosenblatt, F. F. & Zinsstag, E. (Eds.). Handbook on Research Methods and Restorative Justice. Brill Academic Publishers.
  • Preston, N. (2020). Stories of restorative justice and school exclusion: an autoethnography of relational understanding. (Unpublished PhD thesis). University of Northampton.
  • Preston, N. (2017, October). Special report – policy: Restorative practice. Children & Young People Now, 27-30. Retrieved from https://www.cypnow.co.uk/cyp/other/2004283/restorative-practice-policy-context
  • Preston, N. (2015). Restorative practices, affect script psychology and the social and emotional aspects of learning. In T. Gavrielides (Ed.), The psychology of restorative justice: Managing the power within (pp. 29-48). London, England: Routledge.
  • Preston, N. (2015, September 10). Restorative practices – it’s good to talk. Headteacher Update. Retrieved from https://www.headteacher-update.com/best-practice-article/restorative-practices-its-good-to-talk/88910/