Jo Phoenix

She is one of the two academic speakers (along with Rosa Freedman) who received an apology from University of Essex in 2021 after their invitation to speak was withdrawn at short notice. In November 2021, Phoenix welcomed legal action against the University of Essex, claiming its policies breach free speech legislation. The Free Speech Union, led by Toby Young, took the action. An investigation found the decision to withdraw the invitation "amounted to a breach of Prof Phoenix's right to freedom of expression".

In 2021 she began a process of suing the Open University (her employer) for not protecting her against harassment in the workplace. She has stated that she hopes the "case will help to establish a line in the sand and make it clear that baseless accusations of transphobia simply for standing up for the rights of women is harassment especially when made in an academic context". She left the Open University to take up a professorial role at University of Reading in the School of Law.

In June 2021, Phoenix and Jon Pike (a researcher in Philosophy of Sport) convened the Gender Critical Research Network (GCRN) at the Open University. The network aims to "bring together a range of academics and scholars, all of which share a common interest in exploring how sexed bodies come to matter in their respective research fields and a common commitment to ensuring that a space within academia is kept open for those explorations". Philosopher Kathleen Stock and Historian Selina Todd are members.

Phoenix has held academic posts as Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Middlesex from 1998 - 2000, at University of Bath until 2000 and a variety of posts at University of Durham until 2013 (Reader in Criminology, made Professor in 2010, Deputy Head of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Health, Dean of Queens Campus) and Head of Law Department at University of Leicester. She was Professor of Criminology at the Open University, before moving to University of Reading. Phoenix is a trustee of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies.

Jo Phoenix (born 1964) is an author and professor of Criminology in the UK. Phoenix writes about the policies and laws which surround various sexually activities, and the social conditions which underpin them. She is known for her "gender critical" views, having founded the Gender Critical Research Network, and has sued her employer after they refused to act when her colleagues subjected her to sustained harassment and bullying.