Academic staff

Violence against women & girls at the intersection of gender, race, border & migration
Gender-based violence
Intersection of gender, race & ethnicity in employment relations
Domestic violence

Biomedical Research in Rare Disease
Industry Involvement in Public Health Research
Fringe Science

Sociological Theory
Sociological Methodology
Cultural Theory
Quality of Life Debates
Biopolitics
Sociology of Health & Illness
Sociology of Suffering, Dying & Death
Regulation Studies

International Relations

David Blunkett was appointed as Professor of Politics in Practice in June 2015.

Disability & mental health
The personalisation agenda
Mental Capacity & Human Rights
Empowering & strengths based theories of intervention
Learning disabilities practice

Theories of race & racism
Theories of identity
Muslim minorities
Multiculturalism & citizenship
Critical whiteness & ‘mixed race’ studies
Inter-generational relations
Qualitative methods

Environmental Politics

Sociology of health and illness
Digital health
Qualitative methodologies
Science & technology in society/STS

Social policy debates, reforms & contexts related to childhood & family relations
Sociology of childhood & family life
Welfare state reform
Promoting social equality for young people

Sociology of evil
Extreme deviance
Cultural criminology
Sociology of (lower league) football
Sociology of football singing
Impact of research on social work practice

Environmental Politics and Political Theory

Sex work
Modern slavery & trafficking
Scholar-activism & social justice
Migration
Alternatives to/the abolition of the police
Feminist methodologies, including participatory research

Everyday policing and punishment
Being and belonging in the city
The politics of crisis
Concepts of urban justice

Diaspora politics
Transnational political mobilisation and social movements
Migration governance
Global Politics
International Political Sociology
Global History
Connected Sociologies

Research Methods
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
Aging Population
Late working life
Carers & Unpaid care
- Researchers’ spaces & engagement with their working environment

Inequalities
Intersectionality
Stigma
Childhood sexual abuse
Research ethics
Social constructionism
Qualitative methods including insider research
Trauma informed research

Family relationships & politics
Friendship, personal relationships & social change
Sibling relationships
Everyday life
Qualitative methodologies

Science and technology studies
Social robotics/robots for care
Intersectionality
Reprogenetic technologies
Heterodox economics & science policy
Responsible research and innovation

Ethnomethodology and conversation(al) analysis
Ethnographic method and methodology
Workplace studies
Social interaction
Theories of social order

Orphan Drug Policy
Innovation System
Multi-agent Based Social Simulation
3D-Printed pharmaceuticals

Digital identity (and the presentation of self)
Online interaction
Social media/platform affordances
Everyday perceptions of digital media
Digital methods and ethics
Qualitative research methods

Gender-based violence
Image-based sexual abuse
Qualitative/Narrative Methods
Narrative Criminology
Consent
Aggression (including violence) during sex (AVS)
Technology-facilitated violence and abuse

PhD Title: Beyond Corporate Social Responsibility: Exploring the potential of worker-driven alternatives in supply chains.

Political Economy

Lived experiences of health and illness
Mental health and well-being
Health inequalities
Racial and gendered inequalities

Racial, gender and class inequalities in Europe and the United States
Women of colour’s grassroots organising and activism.

Environmental Politics

Ageing, pensions & income in later life
Gender
Work & care
Remembrance & sport
Pensions
Reform and the impact of particular governments

Data (visualisation)
Visual communication
Digital media
Emotions
Mobilisations and political participation
AI and machine learning

Young people’s experiences of social media 
Digital identities (particularly gender)
Digital research methods and ethics

Alternative & activist media
Food politics
‘Lifestyle’ ethics
Online dis/misinformation & hate speech
Mediated activism
Science & technology studies
Social & cultural theory

Political Theory

Critical data studies 
Digital sociology/Digital geography 
Media and communications
Medial sociology
Research methods
Urban studies/Smart cities research
Science and technology studies

Technology, identity and agency
Technology, young people and families
Digital culture
Asset-narratives of technology in disadvantaged settings
Creative, participatory research methods

The biopolitics of patient activism
Intellectual property & Global Health
Digital technologies & health
The politics of molecular conceptions of life
Foucauldian methods & Critical Theory

Political Economy

Transgender & gender diversity
Gender
Sexuality
The body
Intimacies
Citizenship
Recognition & social movements

Science and Technology Studies
Medical Sociology
Sociology of the psy- and neuro-sciences
Concussion and neurodegenerative disease
Autism spectrum conditions

Intersectionality
Health inequalities
Healthy ageing
Chronic disease and multimorbidity
MAIHDA (Multilevel analysis of individual heterogeneity and discriminatory accuracy)
Mixed methods
Social class

Professional resilience - surviving & thriving as a social worker
Integrating research & theory with practice experience
Online teaching methods for social work
Adoption & permanence planning

Youth/young adult criminal justice policy
Childhood neurodevelopmental impairment
Developmental science & its applications to social sciences
Family-focused policy, practice & research methods

Political economy of media
Platform studies
App studies
Media and financialization
Media industries
Media policy and regulation

Governance and Public Policy

International Relations

VR and AI in social work education

Conversational AI avatars

Challenging situations in frontline practice

International social work

International Relations

New media theory, practice & creativity
Social media data mining, big data analytics and data visualisation
The myths of new media
Media industries & cultural labour

Transnational families
Transnational political economy of care
Migration and transformations

Serious & organised crime
Human Trafficking
Illicit enterprise & entrepreneurship
Policing
Surveillance studies

Role of organisations in the coordination of social workers activities and the subversion of professional values and ethics. 

Migration policies
‘Race’ & multicultural strategies
Immigration; community
Family
Transnational relationships
Work & leisure among migrants
Forced labour

International Relations

The development of epigenetics & the role of science in policy
Novel biosocial concepts & methods in the social sciences
What it means to be human in the 21st Century
Responsible research

Social stratification & inequality
Labour markets
Education
Family & gender
Migration
Electoral behaviour
Advanced multivariate methods

International Relations

The politics of asylum and borders; postcolonial historical sociology; policy analysis
Decoloniality
Policy making & power

environmental humanities
poo, pee and menstrual blood
politics of toxicity, pollution and safety
composting, agroecology
postqualitative and arts-based research methodologies
posthumanist theory

Inequities in health and healthcare
Using an intersectionality approach to social and health outcomes
Mapping intersectional life course of inclusion/exclusion and wellbeing

Migration

International Relations

Ethnicity
Race & multiculture
Community
Belonging & place
Rurality & the countryside
Social policymaking
Social inequalities & inclusion

Human Rights and their significance to social work practice
Social Work in Courtroom settings
Law and Ethics
Enquiries and Serious Case Reviews

Gaming
Gaming culture and society
Gender
Popular culture
Participatory fan culture, including cosplay
Identity and digital media

International Relations

Inequalities in health
Roma health

Media activism
Digital politics
Contentious digital publics
Visual cultures
Online conspiracy theories
Online racism

Digital methodologies
Expertise on digital platforms
Social life of climate change
Environmental imagery
Computer vision
Governance of climate knowledge
Science communication
Science and technology studies (STS)

Global Media/Technology Policy
Global AI and Data Economy

Interpersonal violence & abuse
Gender-based violence & abuse
Gender, trans & gender diversity
Hidden & marginalised communities
Multiple social exclusion
Qualitative & narrative methods

Governance and Public Policy

International Relations

Domestic abuse, family violence, gender-based violence
Children and families social work practice and inequality
Restorative practice
Everyday family life and state intervention

Political Theory

Surveillance
Data analytics industries
The geoweb
Mobile digital culture
Digital marketing

International Relations

Surveillance and new technology
Policing of activists and activism
Human rights, technology, and law enforcement
Opposition and resistance to surveillance
Citizen-led policing

Governance and Public Policy | Political Economy

• Science and Technology Studies
• Medical Sociology
• Biomedicine
• Patienthood
• Professional practice
• Degenerative disease
• Ageing

Political Theory

Digital methods
Digital publics
Health and illness
Platform studies
Networks

Family
Everyday sociology
Migration, race & ethnicity
Community
Childhood

Belonging and affect
Central and Eastern Europe
Identity (politics) and representation
Religion in post socialist societies

Governance and Public Policy

Everyday health practices
Mundane health technologies
Lay/professional knowledge
Genetics
Prevention
Qualitative methods
Science & technology studies
Sociology of health & illness

Health & social media
Digital health
Sociology of health & illness
Genetics
Race & ancestry
Science & technology in society/STS
Digital methods
Tissue donation & biobanking

Matt's research is in the politics of urban air pollution governance with Sheffield Air.

Climate change communication
Environmental humanities
Science communication
Science and technology studies (STS)
East Asian studies

Sustainable care
Ageing

Research Fellow in Criminology, Gendered Violence, and Migration Studies