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Our people

Over 60 people work in the Department of Sociology.

Find contact details and explore who does what.

Lecturer

Discipline: Centre for Women's Studies

Research interests:

  • Marriage and kinship
  • Everyday practices of intimacy and care
  • Gendered dimensions of urban poverty and precarity
  • Materiality and emotional dimensions of intimate relations and domestic violence

Emeritus Professor

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Violence, representation and gender
  • Sociology of medicine
  • Political Sociology

Director of Centre for Women's Studies

Discipline: Centre for Women's Studies

Research interests:

  • Contemporary Feminism
  • Gender and Migration
  • Gender Based Violence
  • Feminist Pedagogies
  • Girls' rights

Professor Emeritus

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Sociology of health and illness
  • Sociology of gender, feminist theories
  • Sociology of professions and occupations
  • sociological theory
  • sociological of childbirth

Honorary Fellow

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Sociology of science and technology
  • Sociology studies of outer space
  • Sociology of science outreach and education

Dr Miranda Armstrong

Honorary Fellow

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Black Cultural Archives
  • Crime, Control and the State
  • Archiving the Inner City

Dr Vanessa Armstrong

Honorary Fellow

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Sociology of Veterinary Studies
  • Archiving the Inner City

Postgraduate researcher

Graduate teaching assistant (GTA)

Research interests:

  • Contemporary Witchcraft Practice
  • Sociology of Religion
  • Social Anthropology
  • Gender Studies

Professor

Director of REF

Chair of Research Committee

Director of Research

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Sociology of health and illness
  • Sociology of disability
  • Health inequalities

Susan Baker

Postgraduate researcher

Lecturer

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Social Theory
  • Cultural Sociology
  • Sociology of Intellectual Interventions

Lecturer

Programme Lead for MA/MSc Social Media Programmes

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Mobile Digital Technologies and Locative Media Platforms 
  • Mobilities, Urban Economies and Touristic Development
  • Algorithmic Governance, Affects and Inequalities
  • ANT, Foucauldian and New Materialist Feminist Theories
  • Qualitative, Ethnographic, Walking and Digital Methods

Lecturer (Assistant Professor)

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Digital Media and Communication
  • Gender and Sexuality
  • Migration, Diaspora and Borders
  • Qualitative Research Methods
  • Sociology of Time and Temporalities

Professor

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Culture
  • Media and New Media
  • Social and Cultural theory
  • Digital methods

Senior Lecturer

Chair of Board of Studies

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Politics of expertise concerning reproductive and other new life science technologies
  • The construction of human/non-human boundaries
  • The sociological study of the healthcare profession
  • Feminist theory

Programme Lead Sociology with Criminology

Staff Race Equality Forum Steering Group Committee Member (SREF)

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Migration
  • Asylum-seeking
  • State
  • Racism
  • Violence

Senior Lecturer

Examinations Officer

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Sociology of mental health
  • Qualitative methods
  • Microsociology
  • Historical sociology

Professor

Head of Department

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Sociology of health
  • Regulation of bioscience
  • Classical/contemporary social theory

Natalie Browne

Postgraduate Research Student

Discipline: Sociology

Jennifer Brunner

Postgraduate researcher

Lecturer

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Memory and memorialisation
  • Norbert Elias and Hannah Arendt
  • Holocaust denial
  • Architecture and prisons
  • The history of crime and punishment, death and sequestration

Lecturer

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Embodiment
  • Ageing
  • Dementia
  • Material culture and technology

Matthew Butler

Postgraduate researcher

Emeritus Professor

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Culture and cultural change
  • Sociology of religion
  • Action theory

Reader

Director of Undergraduate Teaching and Learning

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Domestic
  • Gender
  • Class
  • Gambling
  • Consumption

Senior Research Fellow

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Global health
  • Genetic disorders
  • Reproductive technologies
  • Race, ethnicity and citizenship
  • Ethnographic and biographical methods

Lecturer

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • AI, Algorithms & Digital Society
  • Futures, Narratives & Imaginaries
  • Ethics & Responsible Innovation
  • Science & Technology Studies (STS)
  • Science Communication & Policy

Lecturer

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Gender, sexuality and identity
  • Disability
  • Youth Transitions
  • Narrative
  • Creative methods

Postgraduate Research Student

Discipline: Sociology

Austin Cooper

Postgraduate researcher

Sarah Couttie-Cunningham

Staff Administration Manager

York Law School, Department of Sociology and Centre for Women's Studies

Postgraduate Research Student

Discipline: Sociology

Honorary Visiting Fellow

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Multispecies medicine
  • End of life care
  • Ethical considerations
  • Science, health and animal welfare

Lecturer

Admissions Lead

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Gender, sexuality and identity
  • Digital media and sociality

Sheila Davitt

Research Facilitator

Research, Innovation and Knowledge Exchange (RIKE)

Discipline: Sociology

Postgraduate Research Student

Discipline: Sociology

Research Associate

Research interests:

  • Dementia
  • Intimacy
  • Secrecy
  • Relational citizenship
  • Creative methods

Postgraduate Research Student

Discipline: Sociology

Postgraduate Research Student

Discipline: Sociology

Postgraduate Research Student

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • British motorcycle racing
  • Sociology of the motorcycle
  • Visual and media sociology
  • Cultural heritage and cultural production

Lecturer

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Law, human rights and social control
  • Gender, sexualities and crime
  • Sociology of law and human rights
  • Feminist and queer jurisprudence

Levi Farrington

Postgraduate researcher

Emi Frane

Postgraduate Research Student

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Sociology of Health and Illness
  • Sociology of Chronic Illness
  • Sociology of Disability
  • Feminist Methodologies

Madelaine French

Postgraduate Research Student

Discipline: Sociology

Senior Lecturer

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Social Movement Studies
  • The sociology of the climate and ecological emergency
  • Transnational protest
  • Anti-racism
  • Contentious politics

Honorary Visiting Fellow

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Freelance artist
  • Producer
  • Trained funeral celebrant

Postgraduate Research Student

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Digital sexual violence
  • Digital identities and interactions
  • Gender and sexual violence
  • Sexualisation of culture

Postgraduate Research Student

Discipline: Sociology

Lecturer

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Black feminist theory
  • Parenting, motherhood, fatherhood, families
  • Assisted reproductive technologies and their intersection with race
  • Neoliberalism and coloniality
  • Black feminist research methodologies

Victoria Hill

Student Services Administrator

Discipline: Sociology

Postgraduate Research Student

Discipline: Sociology

Honorary Visiting Fellow

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Conversation analysis
  • Broadcast talk
  • Humour and laughter interaction

Postgraduate Research Student

Discipline: Sociology

Honorary Professor

Research interests:

  • Child counselling and family psychotherapy
  • Media talk and political communication
  • Conflict talk
  • Communication and technology

Senior Lecturer

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Conversation analysis
  • Healthcare interactions
  • Pregnancy and birth
  • Gender

Emeritus Professor

Discipline: Centre for Women's Studies

Research interests:

  • Feminist theory
  • Theories of gender and sexuality
  • Women's and family relationships
  • Sociology of childhood

Lecturer

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Memory
  • Social media
  • Data and machine learning
  • Social Theory

Honorary Professor

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Health and wellbeing
  • Traditional wisdoms and ancient pedagogies
  • International humanitarian affairs and global governance
  • Colonialism, disasters, and uneven development
  • Intersectional racism

Postgraduate Research Student

Discipline: Sociology

Oscar Johnston

Student Services Administrator

Discipline: Sociology

Amy Kandola

Lecturer

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Non-heteronormative and queer sex work
  • Sex work and technologies
  • Researching academics
  • Sex work and health
  • Co-creation and participatory methods

Emeritus Professor

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • New genetics
  • Reproduction
  • Development and ageing

Emeritus Reader

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Social equalities and social identities, particularly class, gender and generation
  • Theoretical work of Bourdieu and Goffman

Postgraduate Research Student

Discipline: Sociology

Jo Lupton

Faculty Finance Assistant

Discipline: Sociology

Postgraduate Research Student

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Youth Climate Activism
  • Social Movements
  • Consumptive practices
  • Collapsology and Imagined Futures
  • Political Sociology

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Religion and non-religion
  • Ageing and the life-course
  • Inter-generational research
  • End of Life
  • Citizenship and belonging

Postgraduate Research Student

Discipline: Sociology

Senior Lecturer

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Architectural theory
  • Cultural Geography
  • Social and cultural theory
  • Urban Studies

Postgraduate Research Student

Discipline: Sociology

Danielle Maxwell

Student Services Administrator

Discipline: Sociology

Senior Lecturer

Deputy Head of Department for Staffing and Workload

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Migration
  • Residential segregation
  • Race/ethnicity and discrimination using quantitative methods

Lecturer

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Research Methods and Research Design
  • Modern and Contemporary Sociological Theory
  • Sociology of Health and Illness
  • Sociology of Gender and Sexuality
  • Ageing and the Lifecourse

Reader

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Urban Studies
  • Urban Cultures
  • Race, Racism and Migration
  • Memory and the City

Honorary Fellow

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Race, heritage and feminism in African diasporic communities
  • Christianity in Africa and the African Diaspora
  • African Francophone Literature

Postgraduate Research Student

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Digital technologies, gender and sexuality
  • Social media and LGBTQ+
  • Queer theory, and post-phenomenology

Phoebe Murphy

Postgraduate Research Student

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Transgender Rights and Issues
  • LGBTQ+ Rights and Issues
  • Queer and Feminist Theory

Emeritus Professor

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Sociology of health and illness
  • Sociology of the body

Research Fellow

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Disability and health
  • Mental and physical multi-morbidity
  • Involvement of people with lived experience in research

Senior Lecturer

Deputy Chair of Board of Studies

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Gender, identity and femininities
  • Consumption and non-consumption
  • Alcohol, sobriety and the Night Time Economy
  • Veganism and plant-based consumption

Lecturer

Director of Postgraduate Learning and Teaching

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Culture
  • Music consumption
  • Digital technologies
  • Materiality
  • Popular culture heritage

Senior Lecturer

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Environmental Sociology
  • Democratisation
  • Social Movements
  • Political Leadership

Professor

Deputy Head of Department for Teaching, Learning and Assessment

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Death Studies
  • Popular Culture and Celebrity
  • Cultural Criminology
  • Pedagogy (the method and practice of teaching)

Honorary Professor

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Feminist and intersectional theory
  • Racial capitalism
  • Sexual violence

Rose Pickford

Postgraduate researcher

Links Pollen

Student Administrator

Honorary Fellow

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Space policy
  • Space based technological systems

Postgraduate Research Student

Discipline: Sociology

Science and Technology Studies (STS) Scholar

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • History of science and religion
  • British Imperialism in the long nineteenth century
  • Science and colonialism
  • South Asian studies
  • Relationship of science and Islam

Sophie Rainbow

Postgraduate researcher

Senior Lecturer

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Human-computer interaction
  • Health, urban transport and intelligent communication systems
  • Social informatics

Professor

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • History of science/Sociology of Science
  • Human/Animal relationships
  • Science and faith
  • Science Fiction/History of the Future
  • History of prehistory/field sciences

Genevieve Reeves

Postgraduate researcher

Paria Rezayi

Postgraduate researcher

Stephanie Richards

Postgraduate researcher

Postgraduate Research Student

Discipline: Sociology

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Science and Technology Studies
  • The Body
  • Death
  • Health and Illness

Senior Lecturer

Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion Group Chair

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
  • Pedagogy (the method and practice of teaching)
  • Prisons and penology

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Ocean Science and Surveillance
  • Science and Technology Studies
  • History of Science and Technology
  • Science Diplomacy
  • Science and Faith

Emeritus Professor

Discipline: Centre for Women's Studies

Research interests:

  • Fashion and footwear cultures
  • Men and masculinities
  • Heterosexualities
  • Risk sports
  • Feminist sociology of the everyday

Postgraduate Research Student

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Sociology of Scientific Knowledge
  • Scientific Dissemination
  • Science Policy and Governance
  • Organisational Theory
  • Science and Technology Studies

Lead Academic and Communication Skills Advisor for PG Sociology

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Interdisciplinarity in course development
  • Educational inequalities
  • Quality assessment within the HE sector
  • Teacher education and training
  • (Online) course design

Asma Saidani

Postgraduate researcher

Honorary Fellow

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Sociological theory
  • Sociology of philosophy
  • Postmodern social thought
  • Contemporary European philosophy and social theory
  • Reflexive social science

Postgraduate Research Student

Discipline: Sociology

Research Associate

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • The history and memory of the Second World War in...
  • National identity and belonging in France
  • Oral history theory and practice

Postgraduate Research Student

Discipline: Sociology

Honorary Fellow

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Religion and Childhood
  • Morality, ethics and values
  • Religion and media
  • Nonreligion and secularity

Senior Lecturer

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Racism and ethnicity studies
  • De/post-coloniality
  • Migration and disporia
  • Sikh studies
  • Islamophobia and the war on terror

Steven Spencer

Associate Lecturer

DACS Academic Skills Advisor

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Supporting PGTs in the Department

Postgraduate Research Student

Discipline: Sociology

Lecturer

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Quantitative research methods
  • Longitudinal data analysis
  • Social stratification
  • Sociology of education

Reader

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Sociology of religion
  • Sociology of morality, ethics, and cultural values
  • Education, religion, and citizenship
  • Non-religion, secularity, and secularism
  • Sociology of childhood

Yuqi Sun

Postgraduate researcher

Heather Taylor

Student Services Coordinator

Professor

Learning and Teaching Committee Chair

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Science and Technology Studies
  • Sociology of the Future
  • Sociology of Health and Illness

Postgraduate Research Student

Discipline: Sociology

Luping Wang

Postgraduate Research Student

Discipline: Sociology

Postgraduate Research Student

Discipline: Sociology

Postgraduate Research Student

Discipline: Sociology

Alice Wilson

Postgraduate researcher

Honorary Visiting Fellow

Research interests:

  • Body image, body dissatisfaction and body weight perception
  • Social media use (upward social comparison and self-presentation on social media)
  • Health behaviours in adolescence and childhood
  • Social inequality in mental health
  • Eating and dieting in adolescence
  • Physical activity
  • Self-efficacy 

Emeritus Professor

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Language and social interaction
  • The relationship between language and anomalous experience
  • Reports of mental states in social interaction

Xiaohang Chen

Postgraduate Reserach Student

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Gender, sexuality and identity
  • Familism and confucianism
  • Sociology of bodies, migration, ethnography

Yujie Xu

Postgraduate Reserach Student

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Gender, sexuality and identity
  • Social media
  • LGBTQ+ Rights and Queer Theory

Qian Zhang

Postgraduate researcher

Xiaoyu Zhang

Postgraduate Research Student

Discipline: Sociology

Research interests:

  • Feminism, consumerism, and media
  • Digital Captilism