Current Research Projects
Shaping human-animal connectedness: Training cultures and the emergence of new forms of human-animal relations
Leverhulme funded. This inter-disciplinary project aims to investigate different forms of human-animal connectedness and the ways in which they are shaped by different training cultures. Using dog training as an example, our project explores different training practices and the effects they have on dog-human relationships and the welfare of human and animal participants. We ask whether training practices contribute to the emergence of new, post-human forms of human-animal relations.
Food poverty and food security
Increasing numbers in the UK are using emergency food provision to get by, often through ‘food banks’; our recent research for Defra and others has tried to look at what is going on and why...
Authority & Political Technologies
APT is part of the Social Theory Centre and an Institute for Advanced Studies research network involving colleagues and PhD students from a range of social-science disciplines who share a broad intellectual background influenced by ‘Foucaultian’, 'Deleuzian', ‘post-structuralist’ and ‘cultural-theory’ approaches. We focus on contemporary critical empirical work that pushes forward these perspectives.
Science, religion and the making of publics in the UK and USA
Leverhulme Trust Funded - Part of the Leverhulme programme 'Making Science Public' at Nottingham University.
Mapping Immigration Controversy
ESRC Funded - An 18 month research project that explores the impacts on local communities and national debate of current publicity campaigns about migration by the UK Home Office.
Toxic Expertise
ERC Funded - This 5 year research project offers the first systematic sociological analysis of the global petrochemical industry in relation to corporate social responsibility and environmental justice. Examining different claims about the health impacts of toxic pollution, this is a highly topical, interdisciplinary project.
Recently completed projects
Imagine: Connecting Communities Through Research
ESRC Funded - The social, historical, cultural and democratic context of civic engagement.
Sleep and Wakefulness
ESRC Funded - Medicated Sleep and Wakefulness - A Social Scientific Investigation of Stakeholder Interests, Policies and Practices. Project Start Date: 01/04/2011 - Project End Date: 01/01/2014. Recent years have witnessed an upsurge of concern, in professional and popular culture, about the nature and extent, costs and consequences of poor sleep for society... (Simon Williams)
The Emergence of 'Trans'
ESRC Funded - Retheorising Gender and Sexuality: The Emergence of 'Trans' - Project Start Date: 01/01/2012 - Project End Date: 31/12/2014. (Deborah Lynn Steinberg)
MyPlace - Memory, Youth, Political Legacy and Civic Engagement
EU Funded - MyPlace - Memory, Youth, Political Legacy and Civic Engagement. European Union under the 7th Framework Programme (Nickie Charles)