Dr Will Mason
School of Education
Senior Lecturer in Qualitative Methods
+44 114 222 8368
Full contact details
School of Education
The Wave
2 Whitham Road
Sheffield
S10 2AH
- Profile
-
Will is a sociologist with expertise in youth work, critical methodologies, and the voluntary community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector. He takes an engaged and pragmatic approach to scholarship, working at the intersection of research and practice. His research experience ranges from large-scale, multi-institutional studies to small, community-based projects delivering bespoke, localised initiatives.
Will specialises in engaged scholarship and community-led university partnerships. He plays an active role in several local and regional initiatives. He has been a volunteer youth worker for over ten years, supporting the coordination and delivery of five open-access youth provisions, including homework clubs, youth clubs, and community gyms.
He is a steering group member of the Sheffield Youth Alliance, a cross-sector network of youth and community organisations in Sheffield, and co-editor of the British Sociological Association (BSA) journal Sociological Research Online.
- Research interests
-
Will’s research examines how the voluntary community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector responds to social inequalities, with a particular focus on youth. His recent projects explore the importance of community resources (like youth clubs and community gyms) for young men’s mental health, as well as the role of community partnerships in strengthening the capacity of grassroots youth organisations to meet local needs.
His work aligns with current policy priorities that emphasise the role of civil society in addressing national challenges. It highlights the need for sustained investment and infrastructural support for the VCSE sector to improve working conditions and build organisational capacity, while safeguarding social purpose.
Methodologically, Will is particularly interested in engaged, community-led scholarship, longitudinal research relationships (staying) and partnership working. Substantively, his research focuses on the social determinants of health and wellbeing, the civic role of universities, VCSE partnerships, and the translation of policy into practice.
- Publications
-
Edited books
- Teaching Research Methods in Sociology. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Journal articles
- Towards a Pedagogy of Joy. British Journal of Sociology of Education.
- Understanding how voluntary and community sector resources impact the mental health and wellbeing of young people living in context of disadvantage: A realist review. Children and Youth Services Review, 108969-108969.
- The Unity gym project podumentary: joint enterprise, anti-racism and community partnership. Sociological Research Online, 30(3), 781-786. View this article in WRRO
- Academic reading as a grudging act: how do Higher Education students experience academic reading and what can educators do about it?. Higher Education.
- CiviAct: Negotiating ‘fields of paradox’ in anti-racist university community partnerships. Methodological Innovations.
- Book Review: The politics and ethics of representation in qualitative research: Addressing moments of discomfort. Qualitative Research, 146879412210822-146879412210822.
- On staying: Extended temporalities, relationships and practices in community engaged scholarship. Qualitative Research.
- Understanding out of Home Care Rates in Northern Ireland: A Thematic Analysis of Mixed Methods Case Studies. The British Journal of Social Work, 51(7), 2645-2664.
- Safeguarding children when fabricated or induced illness is suspected or proven: reviewing the experiences of local safeguarding children boards in England. Child Abuse Review, 29(6), 559-573. View this article in WRRO
- Toward Full Integration of Quantitative and Qualitative Methods in Case Study Research: Insights From Investigating Child Welfare Inequalities. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 14(2), 164-183.
- ‘No One Learned’: Interpreting a Drugs Crackdown Operation and its Consequences Through The ‘Lens’ of Social Harm. British Journal of Criminology, 60(2), 382-402.
- Poverty, inequality, child abuse and neglect: changing the conversation across the UK in child protection?. Children and Youth Services Review, 97, 127-133. View this article in WRRO
- “Swagger”: urban youth culture, consumption and social positioning. Sociology, 52(6), 1117-1133. View this article in WRRO
- Walking the Walk: changing familial forms, government policy and social work practice. Social Policy and Society, 17(4), 603-618. View this article in WRRO
- Some Useful Sources. Social Policy and Society, 17(4), 679-681.
- Introduction: Families, Social Work and the Welfare State: Where Contemporary ‘Family’ Meets Policy and Practice. Social Policy and Society, 17(4), 599-602.
- Social work, poverty, and child welfare interventions
. Child and Family Social Work, 23(3), 364-372. View this article in WRRO
- The association between child maltreatment and adult poverty: a systematic review of longitudinal research. Child Abuse & Neglect, 77, 121-133. View this article in WRRO
- Using the Framework Method to Analyze Mixed-Methods Case Studies. SAGE Research Methods Cases, Part 2. View this article in WRRO
- Poverty child abuse and neglect patterns of cost and spending. Families, Relationships and Societies, 5(1), 155-161. View this article in WRRO
- Austerity youth policy: exploring the distinctions between youth work in principle and youth work in practice. Youth and Policy, 114, 55-74. View this article in WRRO
- Student Stickers: Reflecting upon Joyful Learning, Co-Creation and the Politics of Playful Dissemination. Sociological Research Online.
Book chapters
- Approaches to teaching thematic analysis in sociology In Foster L, Mason W & Nichols K (Ed.), Teaching Research Methods in Sociology (pp. 247-263). Edward Elgar
- Introduction: why engaging research methods teaching in sociology matters, Teaching Research Methods in Sociology (pp. 1-10). Edward Elgar Publishing
- Conclusion to Teaching Research Methods in Sociology, Teaching Research Methods in Sociology (pp. 314-319). Edward Elgar Publishing
- Approaches to teaching thematic analysis in sociology, Teaching Research Methods in Sociology (pp. 242-258). Edward Elgar Publishing
- Bad medicine? Drugs policing, harm reduction and social inequality, Handbook on Crime and Inequality (pp. 148-171). Edward Elgar Publishing
- Structural Inequalities, Neighbourhoods and Protecting Children, Child Maltreatment (pp. 81-99). Springer International Publishing
- Radically slow? Reflections on time, temporality and pace in engaged scholarship In Clift B, Gore J, Gustafsson S, Bekker S, Costas Batlle I & Hatchard J (Ed.), Temporality in Qualitative Inquiry: Theories, Methods and Practices (pp. 142-157). Routledge
Reports
- Investing in community services for young men’s mental health
- Youth violence, masculinity and mental health: learning from the communities most affected
- The relationship between poverty, child abuse and neglect: a rapid evidence review View this article in WRRO
- ‘You Don’t Come to Maple or You Get Bullets in Your Head’: Somali Youth, Risk Talk and the Realities of Risk Avoidance View this article in WRRO
Digital content
- #unitydoc : participatory filmmaking as counter-storytelling. Retrieved from https://www.youthandpolicy.org/articles/unitydoc/ View this article in WRRO
- Police drugs crackdown operations can do more harm than good – I’ve seen it. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/police-drugs-crackdown-operations-can-do-more-harm-than-good-ive-seen-it-121515 View this article in WRRO
- Knife crime : folk devils and moral panics?. Retrieved from https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/resources/knife-crime-folk-devils-and-moral-panics View this article in WRRO
- Reframing child welfare inequalities: making sense with research and changing the conversation. Retrieved from https://archive.discoversociety.org/2017/06/06/reframing-child-welfare-inequalities-making-sense-with-research-and-changing-the-conversation/ View this article in WRRO
- If we want to support men’s mental health, we need to talk about wellbeing.
- If you want students to read more, consider asking them to read less.
- Reading Sociological Theory. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.51428/tsr.ahgo9029
- ‘Reproducing the Stereotypes’: Family Complexity, Resource Scarcity and Social Work Decision-Making..
- “No one walks out their house without a knife”: living with violence as a daily threat. Retrieved from https://discoversociety.org/2018/06/05/on-the-frontline-no-one-walks-out-their-house-without-a-knife-living-with-violence-as-a-daily-threat/ View this article in WRRO
- Why those most needing child protection might be least likely to get it.
- A critical case for participant action research in youth work. Retrieved from https://www.ymca.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/yresarch-journal-2015-edition-1-ebook-1.pdf View this article in WRRO
Dictionary or encyclopaedia entries
- Hermeneutics. In SAGE Research Methods Foundations (Vol 1).
- Teaching Research Methods in Sociology. Edward Elgar Publishing.
- Teaching interests
-
Will is a Senior Fellow of the HIgher Education Academy. His teaching and wider pedagogical research has won several awards. In 2021 he was awarded Masters Teacher of the Year in the national FindaAMasters.com and FindAPhD.com Postgraduate awards. In 2025 his collaborative work Towards a Pedagogy of Joy with Dr Lauren White received a University of Sheffield Education Award.
Will has experience of teaching across a wide range of substantive and research methods courses. He currently convenes modules on the principles of research design, advanced qualitative methods and interdisciplinarity.
Will’s teaching philosophy is closely informed by both critical pedagogy and an ethic of care. This emphasises the value of extending and enriching knowledge in dialogue and doing so in ways that promote mutual understanding and growth. Will is committed to enhancing enjoyment in and through his teaching. His educational practice seeks to achieve this by (i) creating inclusive learning environments (ii) actively seeking and responding to student feedback and (iii) creating opportunities for students to practice their craft, in experiential learning encounters.
- PhD Supervision
Kaltum Osman Rivers