Katherine joined The University of Sheffield as Lecturer in Sociology in 2012. Before moving to Sheffield, Katherine held a number of research posts at The University of Manchester where she worked on two ‘nodes’ of the ESRC’s National Centre for Research Methods. Katherine completed her PhD at Manchester in 2011 under the supervision of Professor Jennifer Mason and Dr Wendy Bottero. Katherine is an Honorary Fellow of The Morgan Centre for the Study of Everyday Life.

Katherine's research focuses upon the complexities of personal relationships and the life course and she has a long standing interest in qualitatively driven methodological approaches which can capture the lived experience of everyday lives, times and relationships. Katherine's previous research has included a study investigating the social significance of family resemblances and a project researching how associations with friends, neighbours, colleagues and the like matter throughout the life course in both positive and negative ways (both projects were completed with colleagues at The University of Manchester). Her most recently completed project was an ESRC project entitled ‘Under the Same Roof: The everyday relational practices of contemporary communal living in the UK’ which explores the relational complexities of shared living arrangements including co housing, housing co-ops, private lodgings and shared houses. Katherine is currently completing a research project funded by The British Academy entitled 'Talking Politics: Brexit and everyday (Inter)generational family relationships which explores the ways people talk about politics, particularly Brexit, in families.

Research areas:

• Kinship and relatedness;
• Friendship, personal relationships and social change;
• Sibling relationships;
• Inheritance and social transmission;
• Life course, youth and childhood;
• Qualitative methodologies.

Katherine currently teaches and supervises students at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. All of Katherine's teaching is closely linked to her research activities and she encourages students on her courses to develop critical reflection through carrying out small pieces of research themselves, keeping research diaries and through group discussions and presentations.

Katherine's teaching includes:

• SCS1008 ‘Introduction to Social Research’ (first year)
• SCS6002 ‘Qualitative Methods’ (postgraduate)
• SCS3036 ‘Intimacy and Personal Relationships’ (third year)

Katherine also supervises students taking extended essays and dissertations in Sociology and Social Policy.

See our Undergraduate degree and Postgraduate degree web pages.

Postgraduate Supervision

Current PhD students:

• Sarah Bell (supervised with Dr Philip Benson)
• Melanie Lovatt (supervised with Dr Lorna Warren)
• Nobuko Terai (supervised with Dr Afua Twum-Danso Imoh)

Katherine is interested in supervising PhD students in any of her research areas.

To find out more about our PhD programmes, go to:
Studying for a PhD in Sociology

Publications since 2005

Edited peer reviewed journals

Davies, K, Mason, J, and Heath, S (Guest Editors) (2011) ‘Crossing Methodological Boundaries’ Methodological Innovations Online (Link opens in new window), Special Edition 6 (3)

Peer reviewed journal articles

Davies K. 'Siblings, Stories and the Self: The Sociological Significance of Young People’s Sibling Relationships’ Sociology 49(4). doi: 10.1177/0038038514551091

Heaphy, B. And Davies, K. (2012) ‘Critical Friendships’, Families, Relationships and Societies 1(3) pp. 311-326

Smart, C, Davies, K Heaphy, B and Mason, J (2012) ‘Difficult Friendships and Ontological Insecurity’ The Sociological Review 60 (1)

Mason, J and Davies, K (2011) ‘Introduction to Special Issue:  Crossing Methodological Boundaries’ (Link opens in new window) Methodological Innovations Online. Special Edition on ‘Crossing Methodological Boundaries’ 6 (3)

Davies, K and Heaphy, B (2011) ‘Interactions that Matter: Researching Critical Relationships’ (Link opens in new window) Methodological Innovations Online. Special Edition on ‘Crossing Methodological Boundaries’ 6 (3)

Davies, K (2011) ‘Knocking on Doors: Recruitment and Enrichment in a Qualitative Interview-based Study’ (Link opens in new window) International Journal of Social Research Methodology 14 (4) pp 289-300

Mason, J and Davies, K (2009) ‘Coming to our Senses? A Critical Approach to Sensory Methodology’ (Link opens in new window) Qualitative Research 9 (5)

Books

Heath, S., Davies, K., Edwards, G. and Scicluna, R. (2017) Shared Housing Shared Lives: Everyday Experiences Across the Lifecourse Routledge.

Chapters in books

Davies, K (2011) ‘Friendship and Personal Life’ in May, V (ed) The Sociology of Personal Life Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan

Davies, K (2011) ‘Making Sense of Family Resemblance: the Politics of Visual Perception’ in Jamieson, L, Simpson, R and Lewis, R (eds) Researching Families and Relationships: Reflections on Process Palgrave Studies in Family & Intimate Life, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Mason, J and Davies, K (2010) ‘Experimenting with Qualitative Methods: Researching Family Resemblances’ in Mason, J and Dale, A Understanding Social Research: Thinking Creatively about Method London: Sage

Working papers

Wiles, R, Prosser, J, Bagnoli, A, Clark, A, Davies, K, Holland, S and Renold, E (2008) ‘Visual Ethics: Ethical Issues in Visual Research’ ESRC National Centre for Research Methods Review Paper No. 11.

Davies, K (2008) ‘Informed Consent in Visual Research’ Real Life Methods Toolkit #01 Manchester: University of Manchester.

Davies, K (2008) ‘Door Knocking as a Method of Recruiting a Sample’ Real Life Methods Toolkit #05 Manchester: University of Manchester.

Other publications

Davies, K (2007) Review of Ebtehaj, F., Lindley, B. and Richards, M. (2006) ‘Kinship Matters’ Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law Vol. 29, Nos. 3-4

Hurrell, K. and Davies, K (2005) ‘Time Use and Childcare’ Equal Opportunities Commission Briefing

Video

Davies, K (2010) 'Creative Approaches to Public Engagement in Qualitative Research'