Profile
Biography
I joined the Department of Sociology in 2017 to undertake my PhD, which examined the attachment and generation of value in the disposal of the dead body. The project was awarded with the AsSIST-UK Andrew Webster PhD Prize (2022) for its contribution to policy and theory in the environmental and technological management of the dead body.
After completing my PhD I took on an Associate Lecturer role in the department in January 2021 where I primarily taught on the postgraduate programmes in Social Media. Following this, I became a Postdoctoral Research Associate in October 2023 working with Professor Nik Brown on the biopolitics of the biosciences.
Career
- PhD – Sociology (University of York)
- MSc – Criminology and Criminal Psychology (University of Greenwich)
- BSc – Sociology and Social Science (Canterbury Christ Church University)
Research
Overview
My research draws together approaches from science and technology studies, sociology, and criminology to examine the contradictions of protecting against risk. This has taken three strands:
- The function of technologies in the disposal of the dead body.
- The politics of immunity.
- The role of atmosphere in national defence.
Publications
Full publications list
Peer-reviewed journal articles
Nettleton, S., Brown, N., Atkin, K.M., Dolezal, L., Metsäketo, S. and Robins, D., (2024). Välkky’s voyage on to a hospital ward: expectations, explorations and emergent robocentric nursing care. Health, 1-20.
Robins, D., (2024). ‘The Calculation of Environmental Indicators in Crematorium Burden Sharing Schemes’, Mortality.
Robins, D.P.G., (2024). ‘Rendering, Waste Disposal and the Production of Value’, The Sociological Review.
Robins, D. Smith, R. (2021). ‘Hidden Labour in Funeral Directing: Providing Care to ‘Difficult’ Dead Bodies’, Mortality, 26, (1), 100-111.
Book chapters
Robins, D. (2022). ‘(Dis)posing of ‘Toxic Necro-Waste’: Managing Unwanted Ghosts’. In Fiddler, M. Linnemann, T. Kindynis, T. (Eds). Ghost Criminology. New York: New York University Press.
Teaching
Undergraduate
Morbidity, Culture and Corpses (Convener)