I am a Professor of Sociology at Lancaster University in the North of England. I am currently Head of the Department of Sociology (2019-2022). I was previously Deputy Head of Department (2017-19). I have been working as a teacher, lecturer and researcher in Higher Education for 25 years.

I am a sociologist and social theorist whose research centres on social inequalities, social justice and social problems. My background was in the humanities (philosophy, cultural studies) and this is reflected in the interdisciplinary nature of my research, which extends across the social sciences, humanities and arts. Indeed, my approach to researching social problems is profoundly interdisciplinary, in terms both of methods and modes of dissemination.

As well as teaching and writing, I frequently collaborate with artists and activists. I work with community and social activists, particularly around issues of poverty, anti-racism and social exclusion. I am a civic commissioner on the Morecambe Bay Poverty Truth Commission, and a trustee of the national Poverty Truth Network. I am on the advisory board of an amazing community social work project called New Beginnings in Stockport. I am a member of a newly formed community Lancaster Black History Group in Lancaster (see this post for some of that work), which is working with the city council, local schools, museums and other community groups. I am also a founding member of a new social action research group at the university, which includes both academics and community members, and has grown out of my work with the local poverty truth movement. I am also a co-opted community governor at Morecambe Bay Community Primary School