Clifford Shearing holds professorships at the universities of Toronto and Cape Town (Emeritus); the universities of Montreal and Griffith (Adjunct) and the University of New South Wales (Visiting Professorial Fellow). He is an Associate in the African Climate and Development Initiative at the University of Cape Town.

Clifford’s academic work has broadened criminology’s boundaries, primarily focusing on ‘security governance’ and how this might be understood and enhanced. In the context of his applied work, he co-authored the 1999 Patten Commission report on policing in Northern Ireland and, a 2014 report by the Council of Canadian Academies. The 2014 report ‘Policing Canada in the 21st Century: New Policing for New Challenges’ was commissioned by the Government of Canada.

Clifford has authored 20 books and over 200 papers and has throughout his career, sought to reshape understandings of security and its governance. His most recent book ‘Criminology and Climate: Insurance, Finance and the Regulation of Harmscapes’, co-edited with Professor Cameron Holley and Dr Liam Phelan, was published by Routledge in 2021.