About

I joined the University of Derby as a lecturer in Sociology in 2013 after a period of working for a Member of Parliament.

Outside of academia, I am a politics blogger and occasional contributor to a number of media outlets. These have included BBC Radio 4, local radio, The Independent, and New Statesman among others. I also speak regularly to audiences of trade unionists, campaigners and activists. My research interests tend to tally with these preoccupations.

Teaching responsibilities

I currently lead the following modules:

• Sociology in the World 1: Putting Sociology to Work (year two)
• Politics in the World 1: Putting Politics to Work (year two)
• Gender and Sexuality (year two)
• The Sociology of Power and Protest (year three)
• Health, Illness, and Social Justice (year three)
• Sociology in the World 2: Life After Graduation (year three)

I also contribute to the first year modules Thinking Sociologically, Making Modern Britain, What is Politics? and Patterns of Inequality and Capitalism, Culture, and Class (second year).

Research interests

I have a wide range of research interests. I completed my PhD looking at the process of radicalisation and continued commitment of Trotskyist activists in 2009. I have an interest in the sociology of power and politics and have published articles about the politics of the far left as well as the sociology of Jeremy Corbyn's support. At the time of writing, forthcoming is a co-written book on big data and society, a piece on the demographics of guests on BBC Question Time and a book chapter on Corbynism at the constituency level. I am also starting to write a book on the crisis in the Conservative Party.

Membership of professional bodies

• Fellow of the Higher Education Association

Qualifications

• PhD - Keele University 2005-2009
• MRes Political Parties and Elections - Keele University 2004-2005
• MA Social and Cultural Theory - Staffordshire University 2000-2002
• I also hold a Postgraduate Certificate for Teaching in Higher Education

Recent conferences

'Is the Conservative Party Doomed?', Departmental Research Series, 7 November 2018, University of Derby

'Trotskyism and Corbynism', Contemporary Trotskyism Seminar, 28 June 2018, Queen Mary College

'How to Explain the Rise of Jeremy Corbyn', Departmental Research Series, 15 November 2017, University of Derby

Experience in industry

Having previously worked in a politics-related occupation and as an activist, I have experience and insight into the workings of a local and national government, running campaigns, organising set-piece events, formulating political strategy, and media management.

In the media

• On The Independent Group, Politics Theory Other, 24 February 2019
• On Fat Cat Day, a short history of why the rich keep getting richer, and what can be done about it, The Independent, 4 January 2019
• The only way out of our Brexit malaise? Labour winning a general election, The Independent, 16 November 2018
• The Tories in Crisis, Politics Theory Other, 11 July 2018
• Democratic politics beyond liberal democracy, Open Democracy, 15 June 2018 

Recent publications

• (2017) Class Politics and the Revenge of the Future, in M. Perryman (ed.) The Corbyn Effect. London: Lawrence and Wishart
• (2014) Marching separately, seldom together: the political history of two principal trends in British Trotskyism, 1945-2009, in E. Smith and M. Worley (eds) Against the Grain: The British far left from 1956. Manchester: Manchester University Press
• (2011) The Real Lessons of New Labour, in E. Clarke and O. Gardner (eds) The Red Book. London: Searching Finance