Stephen is the Associate Dean for the Faculty of Social Sciences at Durham University. He supports postgraduate research across all eight departments within the faculty and teaches on both the undergraduate and postgraduate Criminology programmes. He is also the lead for the Criminal Justice, Social Harms and Inequality Research Group in the Department of Sociology. His research lies at the intersection of Disability Studies and Criminology, drawing on theoretical perspectives from Disability Studies to examine issues in criminology, adult services, and youth services. His recent work focuses on the exploitation of young people in drug markets, particularly through county lines. Stephen has published widely on themes such as disability and county lines, cuckooing, disability hate crime, 'mate' crime, and community forms of coercive control (e.g., hate relationships). He has also investigated criminality and desistance among neurodivergent groups, with a particular focus on the intersections between disability and social deprivation. Stephen has published extensively in Disability Studies Theory and Criminology Theory, contributing to the advancement of both fields.