The Department of Sociology’s research is organised into five clusters that showcase its main research themes.

The clusters provide a space for staff to build smaller active and vibrant research communities within the department based on staff research interests. Uniquely, Sociology’s research clusters also include staff from the Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies (CIM). The clusters engage in disciplinary as well as interdisciplinary activities. Each cluster organises research activities based on their priorities for that year. Please feel free to browse through the research clusters to learn about cluster activities and staff projects.

Feminism, Gender and Sexuality

The Feminism, Gender and Sexuality (FeGS) research cluster houses empirical and theoretical research which explores and analyses how feminism, gender and sexuality intersect with other identities, social divisions and social movements. FeGS research is based on diverse and innovative methodologies and covers national and transnational contexts.

Just Eco-Geo-Political Futures

Scholars in the Just Eco-Geo-Political Futures Cluster explore a diversity of issues such as political cultures, authority & sovereignty; colonial ecologies, extractivism, environmental pollution and conflict; race, surveillance, human rights and citizenship in the digital age; more-than-human relations; religion and nationalism.

Race, Ethnicity & Migration

This cluster examines race, ethnicity, international migration, and their related processes and mechanisms underlying these processes. The members of the cluster are leading and involved in national and international major research projects with partners from across the world.

Violence and Social Justice

This cluster's research covers themes that tap onto enduring problems facing pursuits of social justice including borders and migration, racialised discrimination, criminalisation, gendered violence, homicide, policing, reconciliation, and the problems of prisons and punishment.

Technology, Economy and Society

This cluster brings together critical, empirical and creative research on contemporary transformations of economy, science, and society, with a special focus on automation, data technologies and AI. We conduct empirical studies of the introduction of technological systems including large language models, predictive algorithms, platforms and apps, open data, encryption and facial recognition into society. More generally, our work inspects the infrastructural, discursive and socio-economic dimensions of the digital society, through social studies of beta-testing, cybersecurity, digital capitalism, digital health, digital racism, digital work, environmental impacts of tech, generative AI and meta-research.