Here is the latest edition of the Department of Sociology and Criminology’s research newsletter. As always, we are delighted to share the exciting research achievements and contributions of our colleagues over the past year.
We are proud to belong to a department ranked 1st in the UK for Research Environment (REF 2021) and recognised as one of the top 100 Sociology departments in the world (QS World University Rankings). This reflects the vibrant, supportive, and ambitious research culture we foster here at Essex.
In this edition, you will find stories about research life in the department, including a special highlight on the thriving research community among our PhD students.
Our research students
Yintan recently completed a stint as visiting PhD student at Sciences Po, where he presented at a PolEconSoc seminar on 28 April.
Presentation topic: Leave to Remain: Who Is the Next Fashion Maker?
He will next present his work at the International Sociological Association (ISA) Forum in Rabat, Morocco, on 10 July 2025.
Presentation topic: Calibrated Time: Temporal Embeddedness of Chinese Migrant Entrepreneurship in Prato Fast Fashion Industry
Farid Adilov recently attended Political Studies Association’s 75th Annual International Conference titled “What Next?” in Birmingham.
The conference theme/question of “What Next?” attempted to address a range of diverse issues and debates, including challenges faced by women in politics and the need for intersectional approaches to representation and activism.
Farid also presented his PhD research on the role of female parliamentarians in shaping women-friendly policies at the Postgraduate Research Spotlight, University of Essex. His presentation drew on insights from recent fieldwork conducted in Azerbaijan and in Geneva with the United Nations experts.
Salih Kinsun presented a chapter of his doctoral research at the 10th European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA) Conference, held at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, from 24 to 27 September 2024. His presentation focused on increasing digitisation, rise of remote working, and growing job insecurity in regional newspaper journalism in the UK. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 26 local journalists, the research provides insight into how these transformations are reshaping the sector.
Participation in this prestigious international conference highlights the originality and relevance of his research and offered a valuable opportunity to engage with peers, receive feedback, and contribute to ongoing discussions about the future of journalism in the UK, Europe, and beyond.
Salih will also attend the 10th Biennial Future of Journalism Conference at Cardiff University from 11 to 12 September 2025. Themed “Conflicting Journalisms: Resistance, Struggle, and Prospects”, the event will address pressing issues in contemporary journalism – including AI, open-source intelligence, and political polarisation. With a research focus on digital transformation and precarity in local journalism, Salih’s work is well aligned with the conference programme and will benefit from engagement with leading voices in the field.
Samuel Au presented his research, “The Political Exodus of Hong Kong’s Skilled Migrants in the UK” at the British Sociological Association Annual Conference 2025, held at the University of Manchester. His participation was supported by generous funding from BSA.
Reflecting on the experience, Samuel said: “What a brilliant few days! Full of sociology, great talks, thoughtful chats, and some lovely new connections. Being around passionate researchers is always so energising."
Xiaowei Long presented a chapter of their doctoral research at the Japanese Sociological Society (JSS) Annual Meeting, held in Japan November 2024, under the theme “Decentering Global Sociology”. Xiaowei’s paper, “Reimagining Kinship Through Lala Families in Transitional China: Decentring Global Sociology through Queer Asia”, received a full travel funding from the JSS.
Drawing on both their Masters' research and recent doctoral fieldwork, Xiaowei examined lesbian kinship practices in mainland China through the lens of “Queer Asia as Method.” Through life-history interviews with ten urban-born lesbian women, the study explored how these individuals navigate familial pressures, negotiate kinship in the absence of legal recognition, and reimagine family through strategies such as contract marriages and queer parenting. Their work challenges Western-centric frameworks and contributes to a more inclusive and decolonized global sociology.
Xiaowei also shared their academic journey at a community salon hosted by the Chinese Sociology Society UK on 22 May 2025. They shared insights from their participation in both the European Sociological Association Conference and the Japanese Sociological Society Meeting, offering early-career perspectives on engaging with international sociological communities.
Xiaowei will present further findings from their doctoral project at the Lesbian Lives Conference, in New York (24-26 October 2025), themed “The Lesbian International: Creating Networks of Knowledge Across Space and Time”. Their paper, “Engineering the Perfect Child? Sperm Selection, Gender Preference, and the Reproductive Politics of Chinese Lesbian Couples”, draws on interviews with 20 lesbian couples across urban China.
Samanmali Alujjage Don presented her research at the 2025 Menstruation Research Network Conference, at the University of East London on 28–29 May 2025. The conference theme, “Dignity, Health, and Inequalities”, foregrounds the role of structural disparities in shaping menstrual experiences around the world.
Samanmali’s presentation draws on her ethnographic study on the menstrual management practices among Malaiyaha Tamil women working on Sri Lanka’s tea plantations. Her research traces how menstruation is negotiated across three generations within a community shaped by displacement, cultural continuity, and systemic precarity. Drawing on interviews, participant observation, and visual and policy analysis, she examines the influence of cultural rituals, environmental challenges, and economic hardship on menstrual practices.
A key focus of her work is the tension between traditional knowledge systems and development-sector interventions – such as WASH and MHM programs – which often fail to accommodate the social and infrastructural complexities of the communities they intend to serve. Her research positions menstruation not merely as a biological event, but as a deeply social experience, interwoven with labour conditions, caste and religious norms, and generational identity.
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EJ Caris-Hamer has been appointed as an Assessment Specialist for an examination board, contributing to the revision of the A-Level Sociology specification.
Additionally, EJ served as a guest lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University, where EJ engaged students in discussions on careers in teaching and inclusive education. EJ was also invited to deliver a workshop on trans inclusion - addressed to both staff and students - at the University of Essex.
Viva Congratulations
Warm congratulations to Mollie Monopoli, Emma Frost, Zayu Safitri and Arthur Slocum on successfully passing their PhD Viva in March 2025.
Mollie Monopoli
PhD Title: Colonial representations of gender, race and class in John Masters’ novels
Supervisors: Professor Colin Samson and Dr Carlos Gigoux.
Examiners: Dr Johanna Römer (internal) and Professor Mariano Longo, University of Salento, Italy (external).
Emma Frost
PhD Title: ‘In silence there was a lot of suffering’: The impact of child sexual abuse across the life-course.
Supervisors: Dr Laurie James-Hawkins
Examiners: Dr Katerina Hadjimatheou (internal) and Dr William Tantam, University of Bristol (external).
Zayu Safitri
PhD Title: The Evolution of Indonesia’s National Security Strategy (NSS) from 1990 to 2024
Supervisors: Professor Anna Sergi and Dr Carlos Solar
Examiners: Dr Sobia Ahmad Kaker (internal) and Dr Zora Arfina, University of Indonesia (external).
Arthur Slocum
PhD Title: The Infernal Cultural Complex: The Devil as a Symbol and Jungian Archetype of Change in late Twentieth Century American Popular Culture
Supervisors: Dr Shaul Bar-Haim and Professor Sean Nixon
Examiners: Professor Roderick Main (internal, PPS) and Professor John Wills, University of Kent (external).
We would like to thank all the examiners for their time, insights and contributions, and extend our best wishes to the graduates in their next steps.
Congratulations to Kane Silver for passing their confirmation board and achieving ethics board approval.
PGT and PGR Social
On 2 June 2025, our PGT and PGR students came together for a fun afternoon in the sun of frisbee golf, followed by pizza and drinks outside the SU Bar. The Department was happy to see everyone taking a well-deserved break, connecting in a relaxed and sunny setting.
A big thank you to Shaul and Jason for organising such an enjoyable event.
Our academic staff
I led an application for the Workshop Support Grant from the Foundation for the Sociology of Health and Illness with Greg Hollin (Sheffield) and Martyn Pickersgill (Edinburgh). Our application was successful. The workshop is titled “Towards a Sociology of Neurology: Imbrications with the Sociologies of Ageing, Disability, Mental Health, and Science” and will take place at the University of Essex in May 2026.
My article with Christine Aicardi (King’s College London) and Nikolas Rose (University College London) titled “Experiments in Anticipation: Learning from Responsible Research and Innovation in the Human Brain Project” has been accepted for publication and is forthcoming in the journal Futures.
I successfully submitted a proposal for a Special Issue of the journal Interdisciplinary Science Reviews with Noortje Marres (Warwick) and Michael Guggenheim (Goldsmiths). The Issue is based on the proceedings of a University of Essex and University of Warwick funded workshop titled “Re:Constructs | Exchanges between STS and Sociology”. It will be published in October 2026.
With Christine Aicardi (King’s College London), I prepared two conference papers:
- “Navel Gazers, Wedding Planners and the Ethics Police.” UK Association for Studies in Innovation, Science and Technology (AsSIST-UK 2025) biennial conference, 2-3 June 2025
- “Experiments in Anticipation: Learning from Responsible Research and Innovation in the Human Brain Project.” STS Italia Conference, 11-13 June 2025
Professor Róisín Ryan-Flood presented her research on online romance fraud at the Department of Sociology at Stockholm University in June, where she also acted as an examiner for a PhD on lesbian motherhood in the Netherlands. She previously lived in Stockholm for two years, so it was a welcome opportunity to return.
On Monday, 23 June, she gave the annual Gender Lecture at the University of Vienna. Her lecture there also presented aspects of her research on online dating and romance fraud.
This term Professor Anna Sergi had her farewell drinks to the department at Essex. She is moving to Italy and will start at Full Professor at the University of Bologna.
In the meantime, Professor Sergi has submitted the final typescript of her upcoming book How to Recognize the Mafia Abroad, which will come out in November with Bristol University Press.
Summer will be devoted to writing the impact case study, putting down the narrative that keeps together the work done during impact leave and beyond, such as an event held in Rome with Libera NGO on mafia and migration which will be the basis for an anti-mafia agenda in faraway countries.
In June 2025, Professor Sergi was invited to two panels at Trame Festival in Calabria, Italy to discuss her Australian research and co-writing of the podcast Sea of Rage/Mare di Rabbia.
Tim is currently writing about the relationship between policing and counterinsurgency warfare. Along with colleagues, he has also recently had the following article about policing and racialisation published online by the British Journal of Criminology:
Tim Head, Emmanuel Onapa, Dawud Smith, Infinity Agbetu, Racial Profiling, Anti-Black Racism, Black Resistance and the Policing of Young Londoners, The British Journal of Criminology, 2025;, azaf023,
Abstract: In this article, drawing on findings from an ethnographic study (2018–21) and a Participatory Action Research project in a London Borough, we explore the nature, impact, and forms of resistance to, police racial profiling. Centring accounts of ‘policed’ Black young Londoners we develop a reconceptualization of racial profiling in sociological terms as a dynamic process, understood as both didactic and dialogic; ‘didactic’ given the ways that policed individuals are compelled, uncomfortably, to ‘learn’ about their place in the social formation through profiling interactions; and ‘dialogic’ given the way that profiling instigates a series of claims and counterclaims whereby racist tropes and categorizations can be consolidated, contested and/or resisted as part of an ongoing process of cultural production.
Myself and my colleague Jon Schubert published the following article, “Unseeing urban divides in Luanda and Maputo” in Environment and Planning D: Space and Society.
Abstract: Taking China Miéville's novel The City & The City as our point of departure, we develop the idea of “unseeing” as a central cultural skill to make sense of, and live with, contemporary urban inequality. Based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork in Luanda and Maputo, we posit unseeing as a useful heuristic to capture the processes by which divisions between disparate urban lifeworlds are produced and upheld. While unseeing is a necessary, entrained social practice to live with the contradictions of contemporary capitalism, urban life also offers opportunities for moments of “breach” that reveal both the forces that reassert social division and the potential of practices that seek to force people to see rather than unsee.
Neli and Sobie have been awarded a Knowledge Transfer Partnership funding for the project titled ‘The University of Essex and The Guide Association (Total project costs: £282,215).’
The project will establish a coproduction approach between Girlguiding and the Essex team to address challenges experienced by the organisation in 1) understanding the long-term impact of guiding activity on girls, 2) increasing the organisation’s outreach in different communities, and ensuring the representation of different groups.
Giacomo was invited to present his work at the workshop “Caregiving Responsibilities Across the Life Course”, held at the Centre for Economic Demography, Lund School of Economics and Management. He also participated in the Retirement Conference for Professor Richard Breen at Nuffield College, Oxford, pictured left.
Giacomo published a chapter entitled “Introduction to Sequence Analysis” as part of a two-volume contribution to the Routledge International Handbook series, titled The Routledge International Handbook of Time Use Data and Methods.
Professor Nigel South has had a busy few months, with PhD vivas at Edge Hill University and the University of Oslo, as well as participating in workshops in San Sebastián, Castellón de la Plana and Hong Kong.
During his time in Hong Kong, he reconnected with old friends of the Department, Maggy Lee and Travis Kong (see photo). In addition, he has recently completed work on a new book.
