Find a supervisor

Supervisors provide research students with personal and academic advice and direct a research project following the guidelines set out by the University. They are a research student's first point of contact with the Department if any difficulties arise during the research student programme.Supervisors are allocated by taking into account:

• The requirements set out by a research student's funding body;
• The expertise of the member of staff;
• The research area of the research student.

The Department has two models of supervision. The first is joint supervision where two supervisors share the main supervisory duties equally. One of the joint supervisors remains nominated as a primary supervisor for administrative purposes. The second is for the student to have a primary and secondary supervisor, with the primary supervisor having the main responsibility for supervision. Supervisors (but not the primary supervisor) may sometimes be drawn from other Departments.

Where a supervisor is expected to be absent for an extended period of time (e.g. study leave or summer research projects) the PGR Team will advise students of the alternative supervisory arrangements. Most supervisors continue with supervision during study leave.

It is not possible to stipulate precisely the nature and organisation of the supervisory relationship or the roles of different types of supervisor, but the following tries to clarify areas where there may be some confusion. The definitive statement of departmental or university policy on supervision can be found in the Graduate Research Office´s Code of Practice for Research Degree Programmes For Research Students and Supervisors.

The roles of different types of supervisor

Joint supervisors

We would normally expect supervision sessions to involve both supervisors. This is especially the case in the first semester. At the end of the first semester the supervisors and student should have negotiated how they want the supervision to be shared and the responsibilities of each supervisor. For instance, while it may be appropriate that both supervisors attend every supervision session and both comment on every draft, there are times when this may be neither desirable nor appropriate. There needs to be a clear understanding by all parties of their separate and shared responsibilities. It is essential that one supervisor assumes responsibility for all communications regarding the student´s progress to their funding body, to faculty and to the course manager.

Primary supervisors

Primary supervisors are responsible (through the postgraduate team) for all communications regarding the student´s progress to their funding body, to faculty and to the course manager. The primary supervisor is responsible for scheduling meetings, commenting on drafts, and determining the overall pattern of work in negotiation with the student.

Secondary supervisors

Second supervisors are responsible for providing general support and advice as appropriate (for instance on issues in their areas of specialised competence such as methodology). In the first month of registration the student should meet at least once with their second supervisor. In some instances it may be appropriate for particular supervisory sessions to involve both primary and secondary supervisors. This is a matter of negotiation between the supervisors and the student.

Formally, the second supervisor has two roles:

Review meetings – Once per year there should be a review meeting involving the student and primary and second supervisors. The aim of this meeting is to provide an overview of the student’s progress. At this meeting the student should provide a brief (one side of A4) summary of their progress to date.

Pre-final draft review – The second supervisor will read the entire draft prior to submission and, in negotiation with the primary supervisor and the student, advise on any amendments that are necessary before submission.

I have a good working professional relationship with both supervisors. Realistic objectives are set, and feedback given about written work is in a constructive and timely way. I meet regularly (every 4weeks) and the time given to me supervision is always used for this purpose – no interruption etc.

PhD student feedback

The setting of realistic objectives and positive feedback are important as well as constructive criticism. I have found that my supervisors work well as a team and complement each other. Meeting together in one meeting works well for me – it creates an environment of collaboration between supervisions rather than competition which I like. It is important that the strengths of supervisors are matched to the particular project.

Supervision meetings

For full-time research students, we would expect supervisory meetings to be held once per month. Allowing for holidays, this would equate to a minimum of 10 supervisory sessions per year. For part-time students we would expect a minimum of six meetings per year. In the first semester of registration supervisory meetings will probably need to be more frequent and as a general rule meetings should be once every two weeks.

Supervisors should ensure that supervisory sessions are uninterrupted as far as possible by telephone calls, personal callers and departmental business. Although it is not possible to dictate the precise length of meetings we would expect a period of at least one hour to be set aside for each supervision session.

The department has agreed that completion of Supervision Forms is compulsory. The forms should detail the agreed work schedule for the next meeting. The completion of this form is the responsibility of the student who will copy it to the supervisors. Supervisors are responsible for ensuring that this is done. These forms are available on the departmental website.

Evaluation of supervisors

The Department and the University Graduate Research Office carry out an annual evaluation of supervision and the Department seeks to feed back the general results of this into the training of supervisors.

If specific problems arise with the supervision process either supervisor or student or both should first contact the course manager who will advise and, where necessary, refer to the Director of Research and/or Head of Department. Similarly, if you are unhappy with any aspect of your work as a research student, and do not wish to consult your supervisor directly, please contact the course manager or any other member of the team.

Find a PhD supervisor by subject area

Everyday Life and Critical Diversities

Dr Matthias Benzer	Quality of life; ideas informing approaches to happiness, suffering, corporeality, dying and death; biopolitical dimensions of instruments for quality of life measurement (health sector).
Dr Jo Britton	Kinship and families; Muslim children and informal education; racialisation of crime; criminalisation of minority ethnic groups; mixed race and whiteness; European Muslims.
Dr Harriett Churchill	Children, young people and families; social citizenship and family support policies aimed at reducing social exclusion and poverty within families with children; gender relations; gender inequalities and family relations; parenting interventions; youth support and early interventions in social work.
Dr Katherine Davies	Kinship and relatedness; friendship; personal relationships and social change; sibling relationships; inheritance and social transmission; life course; youth and childhood; qualitative methodologies.
Dr Alex Dennis	Criticisms of contemporary social theory; empirical studies of deviance in historical and cultural perspective; studies of ‘protest’ and dissent.
Professor Sally Hines	Transgender and gender diversity; gender; sexuality; the body; intimacies; citizenship, recognition and social movements.
Dr Majella Kilkey	Migration; family social policy; families and the reconciliation of work and family life; transnational families; disabled men and fathering; gender social policy analysis at the interface of paid work; care and welfare; gender and paid domestic work; Europeanisation and globalisation.
Dr Hannah Lewis	Migration policies; 'race' and multicultural strategies; immigration; community; family; transnational relationships; work and leisure among migrants; forced labour.
Dr Alvaro Martinez-Perez	Social stratification; inequalities; labour markets; education; gender; family; informal economy; electoral behaviour; political participation.
Dr Lucy Mayblin	Asylum, refugees, human rights, historical and political sociology, postcolonialism, decoloniality, policy making and power.
Professor Kate Morris	Family experiences of child welfare services, how social workers theorise family and understand family practices; the impact of inequality; new approaches to supporting families.
Professor Sarah Neal	Ethnicity; race and multiculture; community; belonging and place; rurality and the countryside; social policymaking; social inequalities and inclusion.
Dr Michaela Rogers	Interpersonal violence and abuse; gender-based violence and abuse; gender, trans and gender diversity; hidden and marginalised communities; multiple social exclusion; qualitative and narrative methods.
Dr Mark Tomlinson	Child poverty and well-being; the transmission of disadvantage from childhood to adulthood; the measurement of well-being; the relationship between social, innovation and industrial policy; poverty and deprivation; labour markets.
Professor Alan Walker	Ageing; intellectual disability and ageing; social empowerment in theory and practice; political economy of social policy; comparative social policy in Europe, China and East Asia; comparative social quality; comparative welfare regimes; social quality regimes.
Dr Julie Walsh	Family; everyday sociology; migration, race and ethnicity; community; childhood.
Dr Lorna Warren	Ageing, caregiving and gender; older people and the social model of disability; ageing, caring and wellbeing; service user involvement.
Dr Kate Weiner	Sociology of health and illness, social studies of science and technology, everyday health practices, digital health, expert and lay knowledge, constructions of biomedicine, genetics, heart disease, self-tracking.
Dr Laura Connelly	Sex Work; Modern slavery, trafficking and exploitation; Racism and anti-racism; Scholar-activism and social justice; Migration; Black (intersectional) feminism; Alternatives to (or the abolition of) the police.
Dr Briony Hannell	Youth and the intersection of race, gender, and sexuality;  Popular culture as a site of struggle;  Participatory culture and fandom;  Digital cultures and platforms;  Girls’ and young women’s media cultures;  Belonging, (cultural) citizenship and civic engagement;  Digital feminist pedagogy and knowledge sharing;  Feminist methodologies.
Dr Eva Haifa Giraud	Alternative and activist media;  Food politics;  ‘Lifestyle’ ethics;  Online dis/misinformation and hate speech;  Mediated activism (particularly animal, anti-racist, and environmental activism);  Science and technology studies (STS);  Social & cultural theory (especially related to cultural politics).

Science, Technology and Medicine in Society (STeMiS)

Dr Ysabel Gerrard	Social media and society; feminist media theory; gender and digital cultures; fandom and audience studies; digital research methods.
Dr Tim Highfield	Visual, temporal, cultural and political perspectives of social and digital media.
Professor Helen Kennedy	New media theory, practice and creativity; social media data mining, big data analytics and data visualisation; the myths of new media; media industries and cultural labour.
Dr Xavier L'hoiry	Organised crime; illicit market prices; criminal expertise; surveillance; the Police and policing.
Professor Paul Martin	Clinical and commercial development of emerging biotechnologies; implications of contemporary developments in the neurosciences for both the social science and society; sociology of sociotechnical expectations.
Dr Warren Pearce	Climate change communication and policy; public inclusion in research governance; the rise of randomised trials within UK public policy.
Professor Sarah Salway	Public health; race/ethnicity; gender; poverty; reproductive health; chronic health conditions.
Dr Harrison Smith	Surveillance; data analytics industries; the geoweb; mobile digital culture; digital marketing.
Dr Stefania Vicari	Dynamics of civic engagement on digital platforms of communication; digital activism; digital health.
Dr Kate Weiner	Sociology of health and illness, social studies of science and technology, everyday health practices, digital health, expert and lay knowledge, constructions of biomedicine, genetics, heart disease, self-tracking.
Dr Ros Williams	Health and social media; digital health; sociology of health and illness; genetics; race and ancestry; science and technology in society/STS; digital methods; tissue donation and biobanking.
Dr Briony Hannell	Youth and the intersection of race, gender, and sexuality;  Popular culture as a site of struggle;  Participatory culture and fandom;  Digital cultures and platforms;  Girls’ and young women’s media cultures;  Belonging, (cultural) citizenship and civic engagement;  Digital feminist pedagogy and knowledge sharing;  Feminist methodologies.

Social Inequalities and Social Ordering

Dr Jo Britton	Kinship and families; Muslim children and informal education; racialisation of crime; criminalisation of minority ethnic groups; mixed race and whiteness; European Muslims.
Dr Harriet Churchill	Children, young people and families; social citizenship and family support policies aimed at reducing social exclusion and poverty within families with children; gender relations; gender inequalities and family relations; parenting interventions; youth support and early interventions in social work.
Dr Tom Clark	Sociology of evil; extreme deviance; crime causation narratives; public understandings of serial murder; cultural criminology; sociology of (lower league) football; sociology of football singing; the impact of research on social work practice.
Dr Katherine Davies	Kinship and relatedness; friendship; personal relationships and social change; sibling relationships; inheritance and social transmission; life course; youth and childhood; qualitative methodologies.
Dr Alex Dennis	Criticisms of contemporary social theory; empirical studies of deviance in historical and cultural perspective; studies of ‘protest’ and dissent.
Dr Liam Foster	Ageing, pensions and income in later life; gender; work and care; remembrance and sport; pensions reform and the impact of particular governments.
Professor Sally Hines	Transgender and gender diversity; gender; sexuality; the body; intimacies; citizenship, recognition and social movements.
Professor Nathan Hughes	Youth and young adult criminal justice policy; childhood neurodevelopmental impairment; developmental science and its applications to the social sciences; family-focused policy, practice and research methods.
Dr Majella Kilkey	Migration; family social policy; families and the reconciliation of work and family life; transnational families; disabled men and fathering; gender social policy analysis at the interface of paid work; care and welfare; gender and paid domestic work; Europeanisation and globalisation.
Dr Hannah Lewis	Migration policies; 'race' and multicultural strategies; immigration; community; family; transnational relationships; work and leisure among migrants; forced labour.
Dr Xavier L'Hoiry	Organised crime; illicit market prices; criminal expertise; surveillance; the Police and policing.
Dr Alvaro Martinez-Perez	Social stratification; inequalities; labour markets; education; gender; family; informal economy; electoral behaviour; political participation.
Dr Lucy Mayblin	Asylum, refugees, human rights, historical and political sociology, postcolonialism, decoloniality, policy making and power.
Professor Kate Morris	Family experiences of child welfare services, how social workers theorise family and understand family practices; the impact of inequality; new approaches to supporting families.
Professor Sarah Neal	Ethnicity; race and multiculture; community; belonging and place; rurality and the countryside; social policymaking; social inequalities and inclusion.
Dr Michaela Rogers	Interpersonal violence and abuse; gender-based violence and abuse; gender, trans and gender diversity; hidden and marginalised communities; multiple social exclusion; qualitative and narrative methods.
Professor Sarah Salway	Public health; race/ethnicity; gender; poverty; reproductive health; chronic health conditions.
Dr Mark Tomlinson	Child poverty and well-being; the transmission of disadvantage from childhood to adulthood; the measurement of well-being; the relationship between social, innovation and industrial policy; poverty and deprivation; labour markets.
Professor Alan Walker	Ageing; intellectual disability and ageing; social empowerment in theory and practice; political economy of social policy; comparative social policy in Europe, China and East Asia; comparative social quality; comparative welfare regimes; social quality regimes.
Dr Julie Walsh	Family; everyday sociology; migration, race and ethnicity; community; childhood.
Dr Lorna Warren	Ageing, caregiving and gender; older people and the social model of disability; ageing, caring and wellbeing; service user involvement.
Professor Sue White	Professional judgement and decision-making; how science, formal knowledge, rhetoric, moral judgement, emotion and subjectivity interact in professional practice.
Dr Ros Williams	Health and social media; digital health; sociology of health and illness; genetics; race and ancestry; science and technology in society/STS; digital methods; tissue donation and biobanking.
Dr Briony Hannell	Youth and the intersection of race, gender, and sexuality;  Popular culture as a site of struggle;  Participatory culture and fandom;  Digital cultures and platforms;  Girls’ and young women’s media cultures;  Belonging, (cultural) citizenship and civic engagement;  Digital feminist pedagogy and knowledge sharing;  Feminist methodologies.
Dr Lianrui Jia	Political economy of digital platforms; Platform governance; App studies; Regional platform culture.
Dr Ozge Ozduzen	Online political cultures; DIY media activism; visual politics; online disinformation campaigns and conspiracy theories; media and its relationship to radicalisation; and crisis communication.

Wellbeing Across the Lifecourse

Dr Jo Britton	Kinship and families; Muslim children and informal education; racialisation of crime; criminalisation of minority ethnic groups; mixed race and whiteness; European Muslims.
Dr Harriet Churchill	Children, young people and families; social citizenship and family support policies aimed at reducing social exclusion and poverty within families with children; gender relations; gender inequalities and family relations; parenting interventions; youth support and early interventions in social work.
Dr Katherine Davies	Kinship and relatedness; friendship; personal relationships and social change; sibling relationships; inheritance and social transmission; life course; youth and childhood; qualitative methodologies.
Dr Liam Foster	Ageing, pensions and income in later life; gender; work and care; remembrance and sport; pensions reform and the impact of particular governments.
Professor Nathan Hughes	Youth and young adult criminal justice policy; childhood neurodevelopmental impairment; developmental science and its applications to the social sciences; family-focused policy, practice and research methods.
Dr Majella Kilkey	Migration; family social policy; families and the reconciliation of work and family life; transnational families; disabled men and fathering; gender social policy analysis at the interface of paid work; care and welfare; gender and paid domestic work; Europeanisation and globalisation.
Professor Kate Morris	Family experiences of child welfare services, how social workers theorise family and understand family practices; the impact of inequality; new approaches to supporting families.
Professor Sarah Salway	Public health; race/ethnicity; gender; poverty; reproductive health; chronic health conditions.
Dr Mark Tomlinson	Child poverty and well-being; the transmission of disadvantage from childhood to adulthood; the measurement of well-being; the relationship between social, innovation and industrial policy; poverty and deprivation; labour markets.
Dr Stefania Vicari	Dynamics of civic engagement on digital platforms of communication; digital activism; digital health.
Professor Alan Walker	Ageing; intellectual disability and ageing; social empowerment in theory and practice; political economy of social policy; comparative social policy in Europe, China and East Asia; comparative social quality; comparative welfare regimes; social quality regimes.
Dr Julie Walsh	Family; everyday sociology; migration, race and ethnicity; community; childhood.
Dr Lorna Warren	Ageing, caregiving and gender; older people and the social model of disability; ageing, caring and wellbeing; service user involvement.
Dr Kate Weiner	Sociology of health and illness, social studies of science and technology, everyday health practices, digital health, expert and lay knowledge, constructions of biomedicine, genetics, heart disease, self-tracking.
Dr Ros Williams	Health and social media; digital health; sociology of health and illness; genetics; race and ancestry; science and technology in society/STS; digital methods; tissue donation and biobanking.
Dr Daniel Holman	Health inequalities; intersectionality and/or healthy ageing.