Our people
More about the researchers, lecturers and honorary staff that make up our Sociology department.
Search this page
Press Ctrl+F (Windows) or ⌘ Command+F (Mac) to open the 'Find' box (this works in most browsers). This command can also be found in the 'Edit' menu in Internet Explorer, or in the ☰ menu in Chrome and Firefox.
Please note: If you're using a mobile browser, the Find command is usually in the browser's menu (it is often called 'Find in Page').
If you are using Safari for iOS, delete the address that is in the address bar and type the word you want to search for there instead. Select 'On this page' from the search results that appear.
Head of Sociology
Professor Alice Bloch
Professor of Sociology, Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences
Research specialisms: forced migration, refugees, migration, undocumented migrants, second-generation refugees.
Deputy Head of Sociology
Dr Kevin Gillan
Senior Lecturer in Sociology
Research specialisms: social movements, protest, neoliberalism, globalisation, corporations.
Teaching and research staff within Sociology
Dr Owen Abbott
Lecturer in Sociology
Research specialisms: self, sociology of morality, social practice, relational sociology.
Professor Claire Alexander
Professor of Sociology, Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences
Research specialisms: race/ethnicity and identity, youth/gangs, migration/diaspora, south Asians/Muslims in Britain.
Dr Roaa Ali
Research Associate (Cultural production and consumption)
Research specialisms: race/ethnicity and identity, politics of representation, cultural production, Arab American drama/theatre, Islamophobia.
Dr Andrew Balmer
Senior Lecturer in Sociology
Research specialisms: secrecy, lying, lie detection, science and technology, dementia.
Neema Begum
Research Associate
Research specialisms: race/ethnicity and identity, ethnic minority voting behaviour, political participation and representation, intersectionality, whiteness.
Dr Camille Bellet
Wellcome Trust Fellow
Public health, animal care, human-animal relations, digital technologies, precision farming.
Dr Elisa Bellotti
Senior Lecturer in Sociology
Research specialisms: social network analysis, mixed methods, criminal networks, scientific networks, gender and social networks.
Dr Wendy Bottero
Reader in Sociology
Research specialisms: inequalities, subjectivity, social identities, social practices, pragmatism and social inquiry.
Dr Tine Buffel
Senior Lecturer
Research specialisms: ageing and urbanism, social exclusion/inequality, neighbourhood and community, co-production and participatory research methods, age-friendly communities.
Professor Bridget Byrne
Professor of Sociology, Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences
Research specialisms: race/ethnicity, class, citizenship, gender, nation.
Professor Nick Crossley
Professor of Sociology, Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences
Research specialisms: social networks, culture, relational sociology, music, embodiment.
Professor Fiona Devine
Director of Alliance Manchester Business School and Professor of Sociology, Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences
Research specialisms: social stratification and mobility, politics and participation, space mobility and lifestyles, gender, work and family.
Dr Patricia Doran
Research Associate
Research specialisms: ageing and urbanisation, social exclusion and inequality, health, lifecourse, age-friendly communities.
Dr Gemma Edwards
Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Undergraduate Director
Research specialisms: social movements, protest, social networks, participation, historical sociology.
Professor Martin Everett
Chair in Network Analysis, Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences
Research specialisms: social networks, analytical sociology, methodology, new media.
Dr Simin Fadaee
Senior Lecturer in Sociology
Research specialisms: social movements and activism, environmentalism and environmental politics, global south, inequality.
Professor Colette Fagan
Professor of Sociology and University of Manchester Vice-President for Research, Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences
Research specialisms: gender, work and care; employment, job quality and working conditions; international comparative analysis.
Dr Laura Fenton
Research Associate
Research specialisms: lifecourse, gender, life history/ oral history, creative methods.
Dr Matthijs Gardenier
Newton International Fellow
Research specialisms: social movements, vigilantism, anti-migrant groups, security studies.
Dr Leah Gilman
Research Associate
Research specialisms: family and personal life, reproductive technologies, sociology of donation.
Dr Maria Haarmans
Research Associate
Research specialisms: race/ethnicity, intersectional inequalities, co-production and participatory research methods, gender, mental health.
Professor Brian Heaphy
Professor of Sociology
Research specialisms: sexualities, gender, personal life, social change.
Professor Sue Heath
Professor in Sociology and Associate Dean for Postgraduate Research, Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences
Research specialisms: housing, home, shared living, intergenerational relations, creative methods.
Dr James Hodgson
Research Associate
Research specialisms: sexualities, queer visual culture, social isolation and aloneness.
Dr Helen Holmes
Lecturer in Sociology
Research specialisms: materiality, everyday, sociology of consumption, temporality, creative methods.
Dr Remi Joseph-Salisbury
Presidential Fellow
Research specialisms: race/ethnicity, (anti-)racisms, mixedness, education, decoloniality.
Dr Dharmi Kapadia
Lecturer in Sociology
Research specialisms: race/ethnicity, mental illness, mental health services, stigma, advanced quantitative methods.
Professor Graeme Kirkpatrick
Professor of Social and Cultural Theory
Research specialisms: technology, aesthetics, culture, games, art.
Dr James Laurence
ESRC Research Fellow
Research specialisms: ethnic diversity and immigration, social cohesion, social and civic engagement, inter-group relations, macro/micro-economic hardships.
Professor Yaojun Li
Professor of Sociology
Research specialisms: social mobility and stratification, ethnic integration, socio-economic inequalities, international comparison, social capital.
Professor Vanessa May
Professor of Sociology
Research specialisms: belonging, self, temporality, ageing, families.
Dr Peter McMylor (peter.mcmylor@manchester.ac.uk)
Senior Lecturer
Dr Robert Meckin
Presidential Fellow
Biotechnology, automation, robotics, interdisciplinarity, responsible innovation, science and emerging technologies.
Professor Andrew Miles
Professor of Sociology
Research specialisms: social class, cultural participation and policy, social mobility, inequalities, mixed methods research.
Dr Nadim Mirshak
Lecturer in Sociology
Research specialisms: authoritarianism, sociology of education, political sociology, state-civil society relations, social movements and alternative resistance.
Professor James Nazroo
Professor of Sociology, Fellow of the British Academy, Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences
Research specialisms: inequality, race/ethnicity, ageing, health, mental health.
Dr Richie Nimmo
Senior Lecturer in Sociology
Research specialisms: animals and human-animal relations, Actor-Network Theory (ANT), posthumanism and biopolitics, environmental sociology, historical and archive methods.
Dr Petra Nordqvist
Senior Lecturer in Sociology
Research specialisms: gender, sexuality, kinship, family relationalities, reproductive donation.
Dr Filippo Oncini
Marie Curie Fellow
Research specialisms: food consumption, cultural stratification, social inequalities, social class, health stratification, school meals
Dr Tugba Aydin Ozturk
Research Associate
Research specialisms: sociology of music, media, culture and technology, social networks and social capital, semiology, gender, music and art policy.
Dr James Pattison
ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow
Research specialisms: territorial stigma, precarious work, migration and race/class identities and political subjectivities.
Professor Christopher Phillipson
Professor of Sociology and Social Gerontology
Research specialisms: ageing societies, age-friendly cities, work and retirement, urban sociology, social policy.
Dr Elisa Pieri
Lecturer in Sociology
Research specialisms: security and biopolitics, pandemics, Science and Technology Studies (STS), urban sociology, media and discourse.
Professor Hilary Pilkington
Professor of Sociology, Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences
Research specialisms: youth, social activism, extremism, post-socialist societies, comparative qualitative research methods.
Professor Debora Price
Professor of Social Gerontology, Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences
Research specialisms: ageing and ageing societies, pensions and finance over the lifecourse, poverty and inequality in later life, gender, couples and families across the lifecourse.
Dr James Rhodes
Lecturer in Sociology
Research specialisms: racism and ethnicity, urban depopulation and deindustrialisation, urban inequalities.
Dr Alina Rzepnikowska-Phillips
Lecturer (teaching-focussed)
Research specialisms: social network analysis, network science, computational social science, network centrality, social stratification.
Dr David Schoch
Presidential Fellow
Research specialisms: social network analysis, network science, computational social science, network centrality, social stratification.
Dr William Shankley
Research Associate and UK Data Service Impact Fellow
Research specialisms: citizenship, migration, rights, legal status, media.
Dr Nicholas Thoburn
Reader in Sociology
Research specialisms: publishing and the book, Marx, Marxism and Communism, social housing and architecture, social and political theory, material text.
Professor Penny Tinkler
Professor of Sociology and History
Research specialisms: gender history, girlhood, life-course, creative and photographic methods, memory.
Dr Meghan Tinsley
Presidential Fellow
Research specialisms: race/ethnicity, nationalism, postcolonial theory, collective memory, cultural production.
Professor Alan Warde
Professor of Sociology, Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences
Research specialisms: consumption, food and eating, culture, stratification, sustainability.
Dr Daniel Welch
Lecturer
Research specialisms: consumption, sustainability, practices, social theory, culture.
Dr Sophie Woodward
Senior Lecturer in Sociology
Research specialisms: materiality, gender, consumption, fashion, creative methods.
Dr Luke Yates
Lecturer in Sociology
Research specialisms: social movements, protest, consumption, practices, sharing.
Professor Gary Younge
Professor in Sociology, Honorary Fellow of the British Academy, Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences
Research specialisms: social movements (especially the civil rights movement), inequality, race, immigration, identity and politics.
Honorary staff
Prof Janeen Baxter
Honorary Hallsworth Visiting Professor
Prof Philip Cerny
Emeritus Professor
Dr Katherine Davies
Honorary Fellow, Morgan Centre
Professor Dame Janet Finch
Honorary Professor, Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences
Prof Peter Halfpenny
Emeritus Professor
Dr Bethan Harries
Honorary Research Fellow
Prof Clare Holdsworth
Honorary Professor
Dr Keekok Lee
Honorary Research Fellow (Sociology)
Dr Laurence Lessard-Phillips
Honorary Research Fellow (Sociology)
Dr Camilla Lewis
Honorary Research Fellow
Professor Jennifer Mason
Honorary Professor of Sociology, Fellow of The British Academy
Research specialisms: personal life, affinities, socio-atmospherics, qualitative methods, mixed methods.
Professor David Morgan
Emeritus Professor of Sociology
View David Morgan's memorial page.
Dr Helen Norman
Honorary Research Fellow
Ms Tugba Ozturk
Honorary Research Fellow
Professor William Sharrock
Professor of Sociology
Research specialisms: choice, rules, analytic sociology, experimental philosophy, computerised visualisations in astrophysics research.
Professor Carol Smart
Professor Emerita, Morgan Centre, and Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences
Dr Djordje Sredanovic
Honorary Research Fellow
Dr Nina Teasdale
Honorary Research Associate
Dr Bram Vanhoutte
Honorary Research Fellow
Prof Mark Western
Honorary Hallsworth Visiting Professor