Room:  MB770 
Phone:  0121 204 3805  
Email: [email protected]

Having taught at the University of Wolverhampton (1992-2001) and Nottingham Trent University (2001-7), I joined Aston in 2007, becoming Head of Sociology and Policy from 2018 to 2024. I am a former joint editor of the journal Environmental Politics (2016-2023), and a former editor and editor in chief of the journal Social Movement Studies (2009-2017).

My research focuses primarily on social movements, with an emphasis on disobedience, tactics, and institutional arenas. I am especially interested in developing socio-legal understandings of the criminal trials of social movement activists, focusing on interplays of voice and power in judicial settings.

I welcome research proposals, and am available to speak to the media, on these or related topics.

• BA in Modern European Studies, Loughborough University of Technology, 1989.
• PhD, Political Opportunity Structures and Environmental Protest in the French Fifth Republic, Department of Government, University of Manchester, 2000; awarded the Walter Bagehot prize for best dissertation in Government and Public Administration by the Political Studies Association, 2001.

I currently teach and/or run the following courses to Sociology and Policy students:

LK3034 The Challenges of Climate Change

LK3024 Contemporary Social Movements