School of Sociology and Social Policy

Presenter biographies

Professor Ray Pawson, School of Sociology & Social Policy, University of Leeds

Ray Pawson is Professor of Social Research Methodology.  He has written widely on the principles and practice of research, covering methods - qualitative and quantitative, pure and applied, contemporaneous and historical.  Publications include, A Measure for Measures (1989), Realistic Evaluation (1997) and Evidence-Based Policy: A Realist Perspective (2006).  He has acted as researcher and consultant on programme evaluation for the various UK and European government departments and agencies including the HO, SCIE, ODPM, DETR, HDA, NICE, HEFCE, DfES and DCFS.

Dr Angharad Beckett, Sociology & Social Policy, University of Leeds

Dr Angharad Beckett is a Lecturer in Sociology & Social Policy, University of Leeds.  She convenes the Joint BSA/SPA Study Group for the Sociology of Social and Public Policy.  Her research interests focus upon citizenship and the nature of social and political engagement.  Additional key research interests include disability politics, education policy (with a focus upon teaching about disability equality and citizenship education), and social research methods (in particular, new qualitative tools and techniques).  She was the Principal Investigator for the ESRC-funded study 'Disability Equality in English Primary Schools' (DEEPS) Project.  During this project she employed concept/mind mapping as a research tool for exploring primary-age children's understanding of and attitudes towards disability.

Dr Teela Sanders, Sociology & Social Policy, University of Leeds

Teela sanders is a Reader in Sociology.  Sitting on the borders of criminology and sociology, Teela explores the inter-relationship between human sexuality and socio-legal structures.  Her main research interests have been in the UK sex industry examining the social organisation of sex work, regulation regimes and men who buy sex.  She has published Sex Work: A Risky Business (2005); Paying for Pleasure: Men Who Buy Sex (2008), and co-edited Prostitution: Sex Work, Policy and Politics (2009).  She is currently working on an ESRC funded project: The Regulatory Dance: Investigating the Structural Integration of Sexual Consumption into the Night Time Economy.

Dr Rachel Colosi, Social Policy, University of Lincoln

Rachel Colosi is a lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Lincoln.  Before joining the Universityof Lincoln, Rachela was a Lecturer in Youth Studies at Teeside University, where she worked for a year after completing her PhD in 2008.  Before working in academia she worked as a lap-dancer and agency stripper, a set of experiences which has shaped her current academic interests.  Rachela is author of 'Dirty Dancing' An ethnography of lap-dancing', based on her PhD, and is currently conducting a study about lap-dancing club customers.  Her research interests are in the area of sex-work, particularly erotic dance.  She is also interested in youth cultures and the night-time economy.

Dr Nick Emmel, School of Sociology & Social Policy, University of Leeds

Nick Emmel is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Social Policy.  He has a particular interest in research methodology, in social exclusion, networks and working with hard to reach groups.  He has published extensively in these areas.  He is currently writing a book about sampling and choosing cases in qualitative research for Sage.  His research interests include investigations of poverty, social exclusion and equalities in low-income communities.

Dr Sarah Irwin, Sociology & Social Policy, University of Leeds

Sarah Irwin is a Reader in Sociology.  Her specialist interests include sociology of family and family change, education, class, gender and inequalities, and research methods.  She has published extensively in these areas.  She is currently leading the Secondary Analysis Project of Timescapes (an ESRC Qualitative Longitudinal study); and running a project on parenting and social class.  Her most recent book is Reshaping Social Life (2005)