Research interests

Broadly speaking, my research interests are in:

• the sociology of education, especially higher education
• the sociology of stratification and social mobility
• the sociology of inequality, covering gender, race/ethnicity and social class

Specifically I work on:

• inequalities in access to postgraduate study by social class, gender and ethnicity
• institutional stratification in higher education
• empirical testing of theories in the sociology of education (persistent, effectively maintained and maximially maintained inequality, Bourdieusian capitals, relative risk averson, contest and sponsorship mobility)
• academia as a 'field of power'
• comparative study of educational expansion and its relation to inequality etc

I have a scholarly interest in sociological research methods, but I am not active in methodological research per se. I am also interested in the macro-sociology of social change as it relates to education, the history of education and social stratification as this forms the basis of much of my teaching.

Projects

I have a few projects 'on the go' at the moment.

I am developing publications arising from my PhD thesis which look at the relationship between social class and access to postgraduate study in the UK, focussing on the extent to which this confirms or challenges existing theories about social and educational 'reproduction'. I am also hoping to develop further publications looking at gender and ethnic inequalities in progression to postgraduate study from a first degree. There is very little existing research on inequalities in access to postgraduate study, which is unusual given the huge growth at this level in the last two decades. This research uses secondary data provided by the Higher Education Statistics Agency and a survey of over 2,000 postgraduates at nine higher education institutions which I conducted myself.

To understand better the process of educational decision-making at the postgraduate level I have conducted a pilot study based around interviews with postgraduates and first-degree graduates who have not entered postgraduate study. I am currently analysing this data and will extend this project by conducting further interviews in the near future, with my colleague Adél Pásztor (Northumbria University) funded by the British Academy. I have also conducted research into MBA student motivations and perceptions of barriers to access in the UK and South Africa in collaboration with Linda Ronnie (University of Cape Town).

I am interested in the divergence (or not) of the higher education systems of the UK and Ireland, particularly with regard to tuition fees. Beyond the UK, I am looking at the growth of postgraduate study in the EU, North America and beyond and its implications for inequality. Some of this research, looking at women's participation in doctoral study is a collaboration with Prudencia Gutiérrez Esteban of the Universidad de Extremadura, Spain.