PhD Grant Success for Keele Sociology graduate!

We are delighted to announce that Rachel Cason (nee Wiggett) has just been awarded a prestious ESRC Studentship for her PhD. This is a real achievement for her (and for Keele) as the Open Competition awards are extremely difficult to come by and Rachel is one of only 77 students nationally to receive one in the whole of the Social Sciences in the UK.

She is just completing her Masters in Research in Sociology, taught by many members of the School of Sociology and Criminology, and prior to that she achieved a First Class degree in Sociology and French from Keele. She also won the Neil and Gina Smith Student of the Year award (the second Sociology student to do so in 2 years!) for her all round commitment to Keele University. Rachel will be supervised by Professor Pnina Werbner and Dr Dana Rosenfeld, both from the School of Sociology and Criminology. If you would like to find out more about studying at Keele, you can find information about our Undergraduate degrees, Masters' degrees or Doctoral opportunities by clicking on the links above, or you can find out about Sociology staff supervision expertise by looking up individual research interests by clicking on staff names.

Here's what Rachel herself has to say about her background and how this led to her interest in her PhD project:

I came to Keele University having lived "full-time" in England for only three years. In fact, I was close to being listed as a foreign student (which would have been of great financial inconvenience!) unless I had completed my three years residency. I was born in Niamey, Niger Republic, West Africa to missionary parents. My father worked at a leprosy project, local market, mission treasury, and as mission director. My mother homeschooled me and my sister alongside several other missionary children, and later worked as mission pastorial director - providing support and acculturation advice to new missionaries.

We lived on an African compound away from the mission compound, and my parents dressed and, in many ways, adopted the cultural habits of their neighbors. When I was 11 years old we moved to the capital, where I was enrolled in the private mission school there. It was this melange of cultures and countries that developed in me a over-whelming curiousity in how societies "worked".

Keele University was not threatened by my questions, nor did it let me get away with stereotypying or cliched "answers". Now, in my fifth year here, I have been granted the amazing opportunity to study more about people who, like me, are constantly re-defining and re-living their identities in ways that cross occupational, national, gender, race, and local boundaries. I am a Third Culture Kid but this ESRC grant will allow me to theorise this personal experience in way that is meaningful across the sociological and anthropological disciplines. I feel very blessed and challenged by this unique opportunity.

The PhD proposal: Third Culture Kids

Third Culture Kids (TCKs) are people who have spent “a significant part of their developmental years outside their parents’ culture” (Pollock and van Recken 2001). They are the children of expatriates employed by international organisations as, inter alia, development experts, diplomats, missionaries, journalists, international NGO and humanitarian aid workers, or UN representatives. The ‘third culture’ they possess is the temporary, nomadic multicultural space they inhabited as children, within an expatriate community and international school. It is distinct from their parents’ homeland culture (the first culture) and from that of the country in which they spend their formative years but of which they are not native members (the second culture). The “third culture” they claim for themselves does not unite their first and second cultures but comprises a space for their unstable integration (Knorr 2005), although how and when this is achieved remains an open question, despite some preliminary research on this group.

TCKs are situated ambiguously in current transnational and identity theory, falling outside conventional sociological and anthropological paradigms. They thus provide an opportunity to expand the relevant literatures’ current theorisation of the deterritorialisation of identity (Debrix 1998; 14, 18) the relation of identity to place (Appadurai 1990 and 1996) and the ‘new’ cosmopolitanism (Werbner 2008). The formative experiences of those who have matured outside of their country of origin are likely to shape how they negotiate their identity, roots and social relations across the life course, nationally and transnationally. For some TCKs, the only ‘home’ to which they can return is that of an expatriate itinerant. Much remains to be understood about identity formation and development as our traditional reference points of national borders begin to dissipate and citizenship becomes increasingly flexible (Ong 1999). The life histories, social relations, and identities of TCKs can thus allow for a critical expansion of current theories of diaspora and transnationalism, and of ideas surrounding double-rootedness, identity and ways of belonging in navigating cultural worlds (Werbner 2002; Levitt and Glick-Schiller 2004). The project will explore the McLachlan’s (McLachlan 2005) argument that the adaptability, perseverance and multilingualism typically developed in TCKs contribute to a cosmopolitan sensibility and therefore demonstrate TCK's growing significance to a global society.

Postgraduate opportunities in Sociology and Criminology at Keele

It's that time of year when third year students are getting their heads down on their dissertation, worrying about finals and whether there will be any jobs left in a few months (now that the merchant bankers have destroyed the economy...). Some of them, crazy though it might sound, are even wondering if they might carry on studying, now that they're only just working out what it is all about. Now (and we mean right now) is the time to get your act together if you would like to do some postgraduate study.

So what are the opportunities in Sociology and Criminology at Keele? Well, if you want to study Sociology, you might like to take our Masters in Research in Sociology, which offers ESRC-recognised research training with the chance of taking some advanced specialist modules in research-led fields. Sociology (with colleagues across Keele University) will shortly be advertising a Masters in Urban Futures (subject to University final approval, this course should be available from Autumn 2009 - please check back on this blog and the Sociology homepage for updates). Criminology also has a Masters' and Postgraduate Diploma in the Ethics of Policing and Criminal Justice, which is taught jointly with the Centre for Professional Ethics. This course is particularly useful for those already working in the areas of policing and criminal justice such as police and probation officers, magistrates etc, but applications are welcome from anyone with an interest in this field.

Often students take the MRes as a first step towards doing a Doctorate. PhD training is perhaps one of the most difficult but most rewarding postgraduate routes and if you've got a lot of dedication, a real niggling research question you'd like to solve (perhaps something you've been wondering in your dissertation but haven't been able to follow up...?) and you're prepared to work hard to apply for funding or help support yourself through it, you're probably the right person. You will need to work up a research proposal for a project you'd like to do, and be supervised by someone who is a specialist in that area or related area. Have a look at the research interests and specialist supervision areas of the Sociology group for a better idea of the fields we're interested in. You can also take a similar programme in Criminology and you can see the research interests and specialist supervision areas of the Criminology group here. A PhD is a route into a number of careers, notably professional social research in say Local Authorities, charities and thinktanks, an academic career in research and teaching, or as a 'career' researcher working on different and new projects.

So why Keele? You might start by having a look at the previous blog entry about Keele's success in the recent Research Assessment Exercise, in which staff in Criminology and Sociology had their research rated Internationally Excellent. This blog also gives some reasons why Keele is a great place to study. We particularly welcome International students to Keele - there is a thriving International student community at Keele with visitors from around the world. You can find some information mostly intended for undergraduate International students here but much of it applies to postgraduates also.

But the big question is all about the money. There's no doubt that funding for postgraduate courses and research is a very limited pot and it is highly competitive. It is particularly difficult to get external funding for a taught Masters' and if you can support yourself, you have a much stronger chance of fulfilling your ambitions. You need to have or expect a good (2.1 or above) degree to have a hope of applying for funds. You will also need a decent idea for a research project, even if you're going to apply for the 1+3 route (that is, taking the MRes first) and you will need to get your skates on as most of the deadlines are the end of February! The ESRC application deadline is later but you need to work with us to submit a good application and to have a chance of internal funding, so contact someone as soon as possible.

There are some (very competitive) options for funding at Keele, for example what is called a 1+3 route for Sociology - if you want to apply for this route, you need to get in touch with us NOW to help formulate your application: only the best candidates with the best ideas will get put forward.

If you're interested in Criminology or certain areas of Sociology, there are a few more options. The Institute of Law, Politics and Justice - which hosts all of the Criminology staff and some Sociology - has some dedicated studentships for priority areas plus a +3 scholarship (ie for someone who already has an appropriate Masters') - you can find more details on this link (look at the LPJ details). However, in all cases, we will be encouraging potential students to submit applications to external bodies such as the Economic and Social Research Council - so please have a look at their requirements and deadlines also.

All staff in Sociology and Criminology would be happy to advise you on specific issues to do with your areas of interest, but if you want to enquire more generally, could you please contact the following people:

MRes (Sociology or Criminology): Dr Lydia Martens
MA Urban Futures: Dr Mark Featherstone
MA Ethics of Policing and Criminal Justice: ethics@keele.ac.uk
PhD (including 1+3 options) for Sociology: Dr Lydia Martens and for Criminology: Prof Anne Worrall,


The postgraduate Taught course (Masters') prospectus is here - although it is not updated as frequently as this blog or our School homepage. You can also contact the Graduate School for information on applying for postgraduate Research degrees (PhD) at Keele. The Postgraduate Research Prospectus is here - although this information is not as frequently updated as this blog.

Criminology and Sociology research excellence at Keele...

Staff in the School of Sociology and Criminology are delighted today to hear that their research has been rated as excellent in the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE)* for 2008. The large bulk of staff submitted to the RAE from the School went under the Social Policy and Administration category (covering all of Criminology and some Sociology, as well as other bits of research, for example Social Work and Gerontology). This research grouping scored one of the highest scores in the university as a whole, and nationally, Keele is ranked 12th in the country in this field. This is an excellent result for us since it means Keele is at the forefront of international research in this area, with a large number of scholars of not only international reputation (65%), but also 'world leading' in their field (15%).

In our School, we are particularly proud to have achieved this given the commitment to high quality teaching. At Keele teaching and research are interdependent and we believe strongly in both. This means that students are taught directly by experts in their fields and have access to the best, newest research. At the same time, students are still the backbone of a university and without the best efforts of committed lecturers, our joint successes in teaching quality and research would not have been possible. The School of Sociology and Criminology for example features highly in examples of good teaching practice within the university, almost all of our staff have a Higher Education teaching qualification, our student feedback is fairly consistently good (including in the National Student Survey) and our support systems are efficient and, well, supportive! One of the things that isn't often discussed in the debate about the balance between research and teaching is the way in which teaching students can really enrich and develop research ideas. Most staff in our School teach options in their specialist research areas and this means that students themselves are contributing to the body of knowledge from the university.

Of course, the area where research strength makes the biggest difference is to postgraduate opportunities. World-class staff and a supportive research culture with appropriate resources make a big difference to postgraduates. Keele has a number unique advantages for postgrads.

First, it can rightly claim its place alongside the big hitters in research in these fields and since the choice of postgraduate degree is often based on supervisor's reputation, scoring well in the RAE is crucial here. Keele is a friendly and vibrant place to be a postgraduate student with plenty of research projects ongoing and the small size of the university means it is very easy to tap into the expertise of others. To find out more about the specialist areas of the Sociology and Criminology staff at Keele, please follow the links.

Second, Keele has a well-developed research infrastructure to support postgraduates. The two Research Institutes that cover staff in Sociology and Criminology are the RI for Lifecourse Studies and the RI for Law, Politics and Justice. Each has dedicated space for postgraduates to work, meet, attend a multitude of exciting research seminars, to access funding support for research activities such as conference attendance, and provision of high quality equipment and software. Keele's Graduate School also provides important support for postgraduates, ensuring the process runs smoothly and students are provided with appropriate supervision and resources.

Third, Keele has an amazing self-contained environment. One of the most beautiful rural campuses in the UK, we have acres of parkland and woodland in which to create those big thoughts. We have fully equipped sporting facilities, cultural facilities such as the art gallery and a full programme of music events from the Bach Choir and Keele Philharmonic to big-name bands in the students union, award winning coffee shop (and some of the best cakes - and Staffordshire oatcakes - in Staffordshire!). We have our own bookshop, our own nursery, an excellent school in the beautiful conservation area of Keele village, and even purpose-built housing for staff and postgraduates, as well as undergraduates. Keele is currently establishing new developments to build on our research expertise in Environmental Science/Policy and our amazing campus resource in order to develop Keele as a landmark 'green' campus.

Fourth, Keele is a good place to be, especially if you're visiting the UK from overseas. We are less than an hour from the major cities of Birmingham and Manchester, and Manchester Airport (50 minutes drive away) is a major international hub you can fly into from just about anywhere in the world. London is just under two hours away on the fast train service. We are - literally - minutes from the M6 motorway which can get you to the Lake District within 3 hours, and Scotland within 4.5. More locally, Chester, the Potteries, the beautiful English countryside of Cheshire, Shropshire and Staffordshire and even Wales are well within an hour.

*[The RAE is a measure of the quality of research output and research culture at universities. Every few years academic staff submit examples of their best publications and the research environment is measured by assessing how much funding for research projects staff bring in and how supportive of research the university is. ]

Bring back mothers?

By Emma Head

Sociologists have long been interested in the transition to motherhood. Perhaps the best known study of this important time in a woman’s life was Anne Oakley’s work Becoming a Mother (1981), based on in-depth interviews she conducted with women in the 1970s. Earlier this month (July 2008) the Modern Motherhood conference in London focused on first-time motherhood and reported the findings of two research projects, The Making of Modern Motherhoods project led by Professor Rachel Thomson and Dr Mary Jane Kehily (Open University) and Becoming a Mother project led by Professors Wendy Hollway (Open University) and Ann Phoenix (Thomas Coram Research Unit at the Institute of Education). Throughout the day various contributors made the point that while politicians and policy documents now tend to refer to the gender-neutral ‘parenting’, this doesn’t reflect the social reality as the bulk of caring for children continues to be carried out by mothers.

This is a point taken up in a new report from the National Families and Parenting Institute (NFPI) titled Listening to Mother: Making Britain Mother-friendly. The report states that “The language of parenting has not always equalised the relationship between men and women: it has sometimes masked inequalities which have not been properly thought through or tackled”. The NFPI report goes on to argue that talking about ‘parenting’ in such a generalised way obscures the particular needs of mother, such as the needs for support services in the period immediately after childbirth. Britain has a shortage of midwives and a review of NHS maternity services has identified “serious flaws” in care, including a lack of support for mothers who have given birth. The numbers of health visitors, a group who provide support and advice to new mothers, are also in decline. The report identifies the way that the transition to motherhood has a far greater effect on the lives of women, than becoming a father has on men.

So how important is language? Is it time to stop talking about ‘parents’ and to give fuller recognition to the ways that the roles of mothers and fathers do differ in contemporary Britain. Or would an emphasis on mothers serve to perpetuate the difficulties women are facing in getting men to take on more caring tasks and also be exclusionary to those fathers who are increasingly involved in the care of small children?

At Keele, the motherhood and parenthood agenda is a hot topic: modules on the changing nature of the family and parenting relationships are on offer at levels 2 and 3 on the undergraduate programme, as well as modules on parenting and consumer culture. We also offer advanced Sociology of the Family as part of our Masters' in Research in Sociology.

In our research, there are a number of activites relating to the shaping of modern motherhood and parenting: Lydia Martens has an ongoing interest in this field, with specific reference to the ways consumer cultures shape motherhood, babyhood and children; Emma Head is also working on parenting styles and motherhood; the two of them, with Rebecca Leach, are developing a new project in this field. Lydia has recently been awarded (with Pauline Maclaran in Marketing at Keele) an ESRC seminar series on Mothers, Markets and Consumption.

Sociology student wins Student of the Year (Neil & Gina Smith Prize)

We are delighted to announce that Rachel Wiggett (Sociology/French) has won the Neil and Gina Smith Prize for Student of the Year. Rachel has been an outstanding student in Sociology achieving very high firsts in all her modules. Her dissertation challenged the distinction made by contemporary social theorists between 'the pure relationship' and the idea of 'romantic love' and drew on her strengths in both subject areas, Sociology and French. Her background as the daughter of missionaries working in Niger and her experiences of the developing world and being part of an international cohort of young people in a unique kind of transnational communityhave informed the subject of her chosen topic for study at PhD level. Rachel will be coming back to Keele next year to do the MRes in Sociology as the first step towards a doctoral degree.

This is a great accolade for the Sociology group and our students. This is the second time in only three years of this award that a Sociology student has won this prize: the first winner being Heather Phillips, who studied both Sociology and Criminology and who went on to do the Masters in Social Work at Keele.

The Neil and Gina Smith prize is a cash award of £5000 and is open to all undergraduate finalists who have made an outstanding contribution to Keele University life as well as achieving highly in their academic studies.