Room:  MB740a
Phone: 0121 204 3599
Email:[email protected]

Katy is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology, and recently was Programme Director for Sociology and Policy Undergraduate Programmes and Deputy Head of the Department of Sociology and Policy. She joined Aston University in September 2013 as a Lecturer in Sociology. Prior to joining Aston, Katy held research positions in the School of Health Sciences and Social Care at Brunel University, and the Department of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Birmingham.

Katy has undertaken research projects relating to erotic dance; sex work; creative pedagogies; ageing and everyday life; and ageing, racism and digital exclusion. Katy's previous projects include a BA/Leverhulme-funded project entitled ‘Empowering Pleasures? ‘Sexual’ Leisure Spaces For Women’ (P.I); a project on Ageing and Digital Exclusion, funded by Research England (C.I); and research into the sexual health needs of ‘online’ sex workers in Birmingham for University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (C.I).

Katy's most recent research includes a collaborative project with Fun Palaces: 'Creative Voices, Activist Voices: Sensory Stories of Creative Communities', which explored whether finding your creative voice can unlock your civic activist voice. Katy was joint PI with Fun Palaces, and the project was funded by the Collaborate Fund within The Centre for Cultural Value (AHRC, ACE, Paul Hamlyn Foundation). 

Outputs from the research include an exhibition, a podcast, and an 'Activist Toolkit'. A digital version of aspects of the exhibition, and the toolkit and podcast links, are available on the Fun Palaces website.

In 2025-6, Katy is touring the exhibition with Fun Palaces, funded through an ESRC IAA Social Science Innovation Award. All associated workshops/events are free and everyone is welcome. Upcoming tour locations include:

• Bureau Blackburn Centre for the Arts, 16 September - 5 October 2025.
• artsdepot, North London, 17 - 31 October, 2025.
• Greener & Cleaner, Bromley, 15 January – 9 Feb 2026.
• Arbeit Studios, Hackney Wick, 12th February – 15 March 2026.

The exhibition is on tour until March 2026, after that we will be looking for a long-term 'home' for the exhibition. Please get in touch if you would be interested in hosting.

Katy has published widely in relation to power and inequalities, particularly in relation to gender, sexualities, ageing and embodiment. Her research monograph Erotic Performance and Spectatorship: New Frontiers in Erotic Dance was published in 2017 (Routledge), and she has co-edited two books: Embodying Religion, Gender and Sexuality (2021, Routledge, with S. Page); and Queer Sex Work (2015, Routledge, with M. Laing and N. Smith), which brings together insights from sex workers, academics, practitioners and activists. She is currently writing a book for Palgrave Macmillan in relation to gender and sexualities.

Katy usually teaches on the following modules:

• Embodiment and Feminist Theory
• Bodies, Power and Resistance
• Identities and Inequalities
• Foundations in Qualitative Research (PhD training)
• Dissertation supervision and module convener

• Gender
• Sexualities
• Embodiment
• Power Dynamics and Social Inequalities
• Work and Employment Relations
• Ageing
• Digital Exclusion
• Sex Work
• Leisure Spaces and Night-time Economies
• Visual Methods
• Creative Pedagogies
• Religion and Spirituality
• Mothering and Inequalities

• Postgraduate Certificate of Professional Practice in Higher Education, with Distinction, Aston University (2015, HEA Fellowship).
• PhD Sociology (ESRC Funded), University of Warwick (2012).
• MA Social Research, with Distinction (ESRC Funded), University of Warwick (2008).
• BA (Hons) Sociology, with First Class Honours, University of Warwick (2007).