Dr Diana Miranda

Senior Lecturer

Sociology, Social Policy & Criminology Faculty of Social Sciences 3T11 RG Bomont Building University of Stirling FK9 4LA, Stirling

Dr Diana Miranda

Contact details

About me

Diana’s work sits at the intersection of criminological and sociological research, exploring emerging biometric and data driven technologies. Her passion lies in understanding the impact of surveillance on our bodies and identities through processes of technologically mediated suspicion. She works across domains such as criminal investigation, predictive policing, smart cities, security of borders, and prisons.

Her research projects range from the use of biometric identification technologies in Criminal Justice settings, such as photography, facial recognition, fingerprints, and DNA profiling to the use of visual surveillance tools by law enforcement, including work funded by the Scottish Government and Scottish Institute for Policing Research on body-worn cameras and other emergent technologies (both reports available here: http://hdl.handle.net/1893/34460 and https://www.gov.scot/publications/review-emerging-technologies-policing-findings-recommendations/ ).

More recently, she has been exploring how AI engages with human emotion and intention, looking at the development of predictive biometrics in policing and security settings. This work has been developed in the 3-year ESRC project (2020-23), “Emotional AI in Cities: Cross Cultural Lessons from UK and Japan on Designing for An Ethical Life”. Dr Diana Miranda also actively seeks to understand citizens’ perspectives on novel and emerging technologies through projects like the 2023 EPSRC funded 'Critically Exploring Biometric AI Futures' (report available here: https://www.stir.ac.uk/research/hub/publication/1940503#files)

Dr Diana Miranda is currently supervising doctoral students in these research areas and welcomes PhD enquiries from prospective applicants with similar research interests.

Diana has published over 20 articles in leading peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary journals and several book chapters in both English and Portuguese (https://www.stir.ac.uk/people/1745041#outputs). She has been an invited speaker to present her research findings nationally and internationally, such as in Japan, Portugal and Germany. Her research has also been presented in + 50 academic conferences around the world (e.g. Surveillance and Society Conference, Eurocrim, The European Group for the Study of Deviance and Social Control, Data Justice, BSA, Society for Social Studies of Science (4S), etc.).

Her work has also informed policy and practice of different Criminal Justice institutions (e.g. in the UK and Portugal) and she has contributed expert evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Sub-Committee on Policing (e.g. namely on biometrics and the use of facial recognition technology in policing).

Before her position at the University of Stirling, Dr Diana Miranda carved her research and teaching trajectory through various universities across Europe and in the UK: including The Open University, Birkbeck – University of London, Northumbria University and Keele University.

Most recent publications (selected):

Miranda, Diana (2024) “Carceral surveillance: data flows within and beyond prison walls”, Incarceration, 5. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/26326663241237966

Urquhart, Lachlan; Miranda, Diana; Connon, Irena; Laffer, Alexander (2023) Critically Envisioning Biometric Artificial Intelligence In Law Enforcement. University of Edinburgh and University of Stirling. https://www.stir.ac.uk/research/hub/publication/1940503#files

Miranda, Diana (2022), “Body-worn cameras ‘on the move’: exploring the contextual, technical and ethical challenges in policing practice”, Policing and Society. 32(1) Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10439463.2021.1879074

Miranda, Diana (2023), “Frontline perceptions of Body-Worn Cameras: tools for transparency in British policing?”, In Jason Bosland, Joe Purshouse and Andrew Roberts (org.), Privacy, Technology, and the Criminal Process.

Webster, C William, Miranda, Diana, Leleux, Charles (2022) Evidence Review into Public Experience and Confidence of Body Worn Video in a Policing Context, Police Scotland/Scottish Police Authority/SIPR. http://hdl.handle.net/1893/34460 and http://hdl.handle.net/1893/34461

Connon, Irena; Egan, Mo; Hamilton-Smith, Niall; MacKay, Niamh; Miranda, Diana; Webster, William (2022) Review of Emerging Technologies in Policing: Findings and Recommendations. University of Stirling. https://www.gov.scot/publications/review-emerging-technologies-policing-findings-recommendations/

Urquhart, Lachlan; Laffer, Alexander; Miranda, Diana (2022) “Working with Affective Computing: Exploring UK Public Perceptions of AI enabled Workplace Surveillance”. ETHICOMP. Available: https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.08264

Bakir, Vian; Ghotbi, Nader; Manh Ho, Tung; Laffer, Alexander; Mantello, Peter; McStay, Andrew; Miranda, Diana; Miyashita, Hiroshi; Podoletz, Lena; Tanaka, Hiromi; Urquhart, Lachlan (2022), “Emotional AI in Cities: Cross-cultural Lessons from the UK and Japan on Designing for an Ethical Life”, In Silvio Carta (ed) Machine Learning and the City: Applications in Architecture and Urban Design. Wiley. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781119815075.ch51

Urquhart, Lachlan; Miranda, Diana; Podoletz, Lena (2022), “Policing the Smart Home: The Internet of Things as ‘Invisible Witnesses’, Information Polity. 27: 233-246. https://content.iospress.com/download/information-polity/ip211541?id=information-polity%2Fip211541

Urquhart, Lachlan; Miranda, Diana (2021), “Policing Faces: The Present and Future of Intelligent Facial Surveillance”, Information and Communications Technology Law. Available at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13600834.2021.1994220

Miranda, Diana (2020), “Identifying suspicious bodies? Historically tracing the trajectory of criminal identification technologies in Portugal”, Surveillance & Society, 18(1): 30-47. Available at: https://ojs.library.queensu.ca/index.php/surveillance-and-society/article/view/12543.

Miranda, Diana; Machado, Helena (2019), “Photographing prisoners: the unworthy, unpleasant and unchanging criminal body”, Criminology & Criminal Justice, 19(5): 591-694. Available at: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1748895818800747.

Surveillance; Biometrics; Body and Identity; Identification Technologies; Classification; Body-worn cameras; Facial Recognition; Suspicion; Visual surveillance; Forensics; Policing; Security; Imprisonment; Criminal Justice; Automated Decision Making; Ethical Practice; AI and machine learning; Smart city; Visual and Digital Criminology; STS; Qualitative research methods; Creative methods; Design Fiction

I am currently supervising doctoral students in these research areas , and welcome PhD proposals from applicants with similar research interests.

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