STORIESofESSEXSOCIOLOGY

The Essex Sociology Roll Call

Probably some 6,000 students, staff and others have been in, around and through the department over the last 50 years. We can never hope to locate most of them.

Here for the record, a little listing of some of them starts. Is your name here? Would you like to add it. If so, just send it to us by clicking on

You can send your short entry direct to us and of course you can still continue to write longer entries for the blog. Also let us have corrections and amendments. This is an ongoing saga

In August 2014, as we approached the anniversary weekend in September we had 100 names on the list. Just a beginning…..

1. Graham ALLEN (1967-70,BA; 1970-6 PhD )  taught in the Sociology Departments at Exeter University, University of Southampton (1975) and became Professor of Social Relations/ Sociology at Keele University in 2000
2. Kaoru AOYAMA (–2005, PhD) worked as a research fellow for Tohuko University ‘Gender Law and Social Policy’ and as a part time lecturer for the School of Area and Cultural Studies at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies from 2006 to 2008. She has been working at the Graduate School of Intercultural Studies, Kobe University, Japan, since October 2010.
3. Liz BEATTIE (1974-7, BA) became an educationalist and recently retired as Pro Vice Chancellor at the University of Cumbria
4. Anne BEAUMONT ( –2007 PhD ) is a part-time Lecturer at the Open University. She is the author of Virtual Women: Ladyboys: Changing Sex in Thailand.
5. Annie BIELECKA  (1977-8 MASSP ) became a social work tutor at North London. She is now a textile artist living in Wivenhoe
6. Virginia BOTTOMLEY (1960’s BA) became the Conservative Secretary of State for Health under John Major (1992-5), Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone in 2005 and Chancellor of the University of Hull in 2006  (see Wikipedia entry)
7. Joanna BORNAT (  1970’S Ph.D  ) is Emeritus Professor at the Open University. She has for many years been a committee member of the Oral History Society and joint editor of the journal Oral History. She is a founder member of the Centre for Ageing and Biographical Studies
8. David BOUCHIER (1968-1986:BA, PhD, Staff) taught at Essex for a decade and then at SUNY. He left academia in the 1980’s to become a writer and broadcaster.
9. Keith BRADLEY was Professor of Business and Business Management at the Open University and Cass Business School. He is a Director of Integra.
10. Marc BURKE (1989 -1993 PhD) became a social psychology lecturer at Surrey University before migrating to the USA. Here he became a writer and social worker- before joining the real estate business.
11. Kerman CALVO ( dates at Essex?  is in the Department of Sociology and Communication in 2010 and a Member of the Juan March Institute at Universidad de Salmanca. He previously worked as a researcher and lecturer at the Universities of Essex (‘Human Rights Centre’), UOC, Carlos III and Pompeu Fabra and the Centre for Political and Constitutional Studies (as researcher ‘García Pelayo’).
12. Liz CARTER (1999-2009, BA, MA, PhD) is Senior Lecture in Criminology at Buckinghamshire New University. Her book Analyzing Police Interviews won the Criminology Award in 2012 for the British Society of Criminology.
13. Rohhss CHAPMAN (1980-3,BA; 83-5,MA) now lectures in Disability Studies at Manchester University
14. Chantanee CHAROENSRI   (2001 PhD) is currently a lecturer in Sociology at Thammasat University, Bangkok.
15. Raymond CHAN (–1966,PhD) is Associate Professor of Social Policy at City University of Hog Kong – and currently Dean of Students
16. Wycliffe CHILOWA   (   )  was last located as Director of the Centre for Social Research at the University of Malawi
17. Simon CLARKE (1967-75, PhD, 1971 lecturer) became Professor of Sociology at Warwick University where he is now Emeritus Professor.
18. Stephen CLAYTON  is a Lecturer on the Masters in Public Health and Research Fellow in the Department of Public Health and Policy at the University of Liverpool. He has more recently been involved in comparative studies of the impacts of active labour market policies aimed at people with long-term illnesses and disabilities.
19. Deborah COLES  ( )  is Director of Inquest, a charity which deals with bereaved people facing and inquest, with a focus on deaths in custody.
20. Harry COLLINS (MA 1971) has been Professor of Sociology at the University of Bath and is now Professor of Social Sciences at Cardiff University.
21. Ben CREWE (  …..) is  Director of Penology and Deputy Director of Prisons Research  Centre at the Institute of Criminology at Cambridge. He is the author of  The Prisoner Society.
22. Graham CROW (1978-82, MA, PhD) was for many years at Southampton University and is now at Edinburgh University as Director of the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science, and Professor of Sociology and Methodology (since 2013); Deputy Director, ESRC National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM) (since 2006)
23. Valentina CUZZOCREA (–2008 PhD) is a Research Fellow at the University of Cagliari, Italy, where she graduated in Political Science and more recently taught sociology.
24. John DAVIS  (197xxx?    is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Portsmouth University and about to retire!
25. Fernando DE MAIO  (    )  is Associate Professor of Sociology at DePaul University. He was previously an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Simon Fraser University. He serves on the editorial board of the International Journal of Social Research Methodology.
26. Matt DAWSON ( 2003-7, BA , MA) completed his PhD at Sussex in 2011 and am now a lecturer in Sociology at the University of Glasgow
27. Esther DERMOTT (– 2003 PhD) is Reader in Sociology at the University of Bristol. She is the (co) author of Intimate Fatherhood.
28. Fiona DEVINE  (1980-1990) did a joint degree in Sociology and Government between 1980-83; then an MA in Sociology on a part time basis between 1983-85, and a PhD in 1985 and was awarded it in 1990.Became Professor of Sociology at Manchester, a world leader in the study of social class, and an OBE  and member of the Academy of Social Sciences.
29. Jean DUNCOMBE (  ?-   1999, MA, PhD) married Dennis Marsden and became a Principal Lecturer at Chichester University. She is now retired.
30. Tim EDWARDS ( Ph.D 1991  )   is a Senior Lecture in Sociology at Leicester University
31. Dave ELDER-VASS  (2006 -10, Postdoc) After a career as an IT specialist and executive, he studied for his PhD at Birkbeck, University of London, and spent three years as a British Academy post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Sociology at the University of Essex. He is now a Senior Lecture in Sociology at Lougborough.
32. Annabel FARADAY (1973-198?). After becoming a ‘pioneer of lesbian history’, she left academia to become a ceramicist.
33. David FORD  (PhD, 2000) was a Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Programme Leader at University College, Chester. Included in David’s publications is ‘Realism and Research, Philosophy and Poverty Politics: the Example of Smoking,’ in Lopez, J and Potter, G. After Postmodernism: Critical Realism, Athlone Press, 2002.  He sadly died in 2011.
34. Tabitha FREEMAN (1996-2004, PhD )  has been a Research Associate at the Centre for Family Research since 2004 at Cambridge University. Her research addresses parent-child relationships and child development in different family forms, including those created by assisted conception.
35. Kimberley Drae FISHER (1994-2002, PhD Research Fellow) worked for ISER and is now Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford  where she works in the Centre for Time Use Research
36. Pauline FULLER (BA, PhD, 1995..) is a Senior Lecturer in Public Health and Well Being at the University of Wolverhampton
37. Eileen GREEN (1974-5, MA) joined Teesside University as Professor of Sociology in 1996. She was a founder Director of the Centre for Social and Policy Research and co-director of the Unit for Social and Policy Research USPR. Before this she was Reader in Sociology at Sheffield Hallam University, where she was Director of the Centre for Women’s Studies between 1988 and 1992 and Head of Sociology from 1994-6. She retired in 2011 but remains a Professor Emeritus at Teesside University.
38. Aisha GILL (1993-2002, BA, MA PhD) is a senior lecturer in Criminology at Roehampton University. In 2011 she was named Professional Woman of the Year at the Asian Awards ‘and also Alumna of the Year at Essex, 2012.
39. Diana GITTENS  (Ph.D1979 )   is a writer and poet, with various publications in both prose and poetry. She has been an Associate Lecturer in Creative Writing for the Open University, but is now writing full-time. She has published four works of nonfiction, a collection of poetry, short prose and a number of reviews and essays in various magazines and journals. Her poetry pamphlet, BORK!, came out in May 2013, published by HappenStance Press. Born in the USA, she came to the UK when she 14, where she attended Dartington Hall School and the University of Essex. I also studied at the University of Paris and Bath Spa University. She now lives in Exeter with her partner, two cats and three hens.
40. Paul GODIN ( 2002 PhD   ) is a Senior Lecturer at City University. His research area highlights mental health care and examines the links between the penal and asylum systems.
41. Dennis GORMAN (  -1988 PhD ) is Professor and Head of Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Texas A & M University.
42. Michael HAJIMICHAEL (1979-82, BA) is Assistant Professor in Communications at The University of Nicosia, Cyprus.  He is also a performance poet, radio broadcaster and DJ, known as Haji Mike.
43. Catherine HAKIM   ( 1974 PhD) became Director of the ESRC Data Archive for one year ( 1989-1990) and in 2013 was a Senior Research Officer at the Centre for Policy Studies. She is the controversial author of Honey Money: The Power of Erotic Capital (2011).
44. Peter HALFPENNY ( PhD 1976) former Associate Director of MeRC and Professor of Sociology in the School of Social Sciences until September 2010. He was Head of the Department of Sociology from 1993 to 1996, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law in 2003-04, and first Head of the School of Social Sciences for two years after the new University of Manchester was formed by the merger of the Victoria University of Manchester and UMIST in 2004. He was Executive Director of the National Centre for e-Social Science from its establishment in 2004 until 2009
45. Mike HARDEY ( 80’s) taught at Surrey, York  and died unexpectedly in 2012 (see his daughter’s web site and account on: http://www.mariannhardey.com/mike-hardey)
46. Gina HARKELL (Social History 1980’s) has become a celebrated jazz singer
47. Barbara HUDSON ( 1977-198?) became Professor of Criminology at University of South Lancashire. Died September 2013….
48. Edith R. JIMENEZ  HUERTA  (  PhD1988  )   Research professor, Department of Regional-INESER Studies, University Center for Economic and Administrative Sciences, University of Guadalajara, Mexico
49. Meltem KARADAG (2004, PhD ) is Associate Professor of Sociology at Gaziantep University, Turkey
50. Ajay KHANDELWAL (MA, PhD,1995) has worked in a number of health and social care roles over the last twenty years across voluntary and statutory sectors. Ajay joined NESTA in 2011.
51. Motohiro KAWASIMA (MA PhD 2004) Assistant Professor Education and Research Support Center, Graduate School of Medicine, Gunma University 4-2 Aramaki-machi, Maebashi, Gunma, 371-8510, Japan
52. Richard KILMINSTER ( PhD  ) lectured at Leeds University and became a specialist on the work of Norbert Elias
53. Dave KING (1977-1986 PhD) became a Senior Lecturer at Liverpool University
54. Travis KONG (1993-2000 MA, PhD) is Assistant Professor at Hong Kong University and currently editor of the journal Sexualities.
55. Pauline LANE (1986-89,BA; 91-95 PHD) is Reader in Mental Health at Anglia Ruskin University & South Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, but about to leave.
56. Di LEONARD was one of the first to teach a feminist agenda in the department in the early 1970’s. After several years at Essex University, she moved to the Institute of Education where she became a professor in the 1990s. She died in 2011.
57. Chin Ju-LIN ( 2003, PhD )   is currently Associate Professor in the Graduate Institute of Gender Studies in Kaohsiung Medical University, Taiwan
58. Ruth LISTER (1964-7) became a poverty campaigner, a social policy Professor at Loughborough University and a Dame in the House of Lords ……
59. Jose LOPEZ (1994-2000, MA PhD, Fellow) became associate Professor at the University of Ottawa, Canada
60. Terry LOVELL is now Emeritus Professor Sociology at the University of Warwick, where she taught courses in women’s studies and cultural studies
61. Trevor LUMIS ( 1981, PhD   ) wrote many books based on “oral evidence’; he died in September 2013 ( see: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/books-obituaries/10365001/Trevor-Lummis.html
62. Dawn LYON (2004-7 Senior Research Officer) is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Kent
63. Dan MAHONEY (1998-2004) is an Associate Professor with the School of Nutrition at Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and is also a family sociologist with an interest in the social, cultural and health-related aspects of interpersonal relationships. Dan teaches and conducts research in the areas of health, research methods, sexuality, and family studies. His methodological interests in family-based research include interpretive ethnography, self-reflexive storytelling, and thematic and narrative analysis.
64. Jane MARCEAU (lecturer 1967-70)   Professor Jane Marceau was formerly Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research), University of Western Sydney
65. John MARSHALL (1976-82) became editor of Gay Times for ten years. After this, he left academic and gay politics to become a librarian.
66. Gordon MARSHALL (1978- 1990) became Chief Executive of the ESRC, Vice Chancellor of Reading University(2003-11), Director of the Leverhulme Foundation and awarded FBA and CBE.
67. Susan MASON (1978-2001, MA, Ph ) is now retired and lives in Ipswich.
68. Hannah MASON-BISH ( 2009, PhD ) is Lecturer in Sociology and Criminology at the University of Sussex
69. Ken MENZIES (1973, PhD) Professor of Sociology, University of Guelph, Canada.
70. Gareth MILLINGTON (2006, PhD ) is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Roehampton, London
71. Gad MIMRAN (2005-8, BA) runs an international volunteer placement organisation called Plan My Gap Year.
72. Siyndu MOHANATHAS (2009-12) a business support officer with NSPCC ChildLine
73. Sian MOORE (2010) is Professor of Work and Employment Relations at the University of West England
74. Bethany MORGAN (1999-2011 BA, MA, PhD ) worked in the data Archive at Essex, taught in the sociology department and is now Senior Lecturer in sociology at the University of East London.
75. Rhiannon MORGAN (PhD, 2004) is Senior Lecturer in Political Sociology, Oxford Brookes University, UK
76. Professor Ronaldo MUNCK (-1977 Ph D) (Argentinian by birth) held the first post-apartheid Chair in Sociology at the University of Durban in South Africa after a number of years at the University of Ulster. He was Professor of Political Sociology and Director of the Globalisation and Social Exclusion Unit (1996-2004) and then Professor at Dublin City University since 2004.
77. Karim MURJI (1980-83) is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the Open University
78. Danzan NARANTUYA is in the Department of Sociology, National University of Mongolia, Mongolia
79. Daniel NEHRING (2002-8, BA, MA, PHD) is Lecturer in Sociology, Pusan National University, South Korea.
80. Howard NEWBY(BA, PhD 1969-1968) is Vice Chancellor of the University of Liverpool.
81. Tom OBINYAN was last sighted at at the University of Lagos
82. Karen O’REILLY (1989-1999 BA. PhD. ISER) is Professor of Sociology at Loughborough University
83. Nigel PARTON (1977,MA) became Professor in Child Care and the Foundation NSPCC Chair of Applied Childhood Studies at Huddersfield University
84. Constantinos PHELLAS (1994-8, PhD) went to South Bank University and is now Rector for Research at the University of Nicosia. Cyprus
85. Steve PLATT(1967-70, BA) is Professor of Health Policy at the University of Edinburgh
86. Lucinda PLATT (taught 2000-7) moved to ISER in 2007 and later became Professor of Sociology at the Institute of Education and Director of the Millennium Cohort Study….
87. John PODGORSKI (2000-2003, BA) gained a MSc in Passenger Transport Management via a joint CILT/Aston University (distance learning) programme in 2011 and currently employed as a training Manager cum bus driver at Hedingham Omnibuses – part of Go Ahead Group PLC. I am also a self-employed tutor in Business (to degree level), Sociology (to A level) and English (GCSE) He is also a committee member of Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT UK) for the Eastern Region and Chair of South Essex sub-group
88. Jennie POPAY (1996-7, MA) is Professor of Sociology and Public Health at the University of Lancaster, and Director of the newly established Collaborating Centre for Community Engagement in England. She spent five years teaching in East Africa and then studied in New Zealand before beginning her research career at the Unit for the Study of Health Policy at Guy’s Hospital in London at the end of the 1970s.
89. Garry POTTER (1985-200, Ph D, Tutor) became Associate Professor of Sociology at Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada
90. Nicole POWER is Associate Professor of Sociology at Memorial University, St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada
91. Anthony PRYCE (1998, PhD) is Emeritus Professor in the School of Community & Health Sciences
City University
92. Maurice PUNCH (1965-1966, MA, Ph.D 1971, 1971-4 Lecturer) and has worked in universities in the UK, USA and The Netherlands – where he has lived since 1975.  After 20 years in Dutch universities he became an independent researcher / consultant in 1994 and in 1999 was appointed Visiting Professor at the Mannheim Centre at LSE: he is also Visiting Professor at King’s College London in the Dickson Poon School of Law.
93. Wapula Nelly RADITLOANENG (1989, MA) is an Associate Professor at the University of Botswana
94. Nirmal PUWAR (1994-7, Research) is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Goldsmith’s College, London
95. Dave REASON graduated with a degree in Sociology (having intended to specialise in Theoretical Physics), and moved to the University of Kent where he is Master of Keynes College and Senior Lecturer in Interdisciplinary Studies in the History & Philosophy of Art.
96. Penny RICKMAN (80’s) became a Probation Officer.
97. Andrew RIGBY (????) is Professor at the Center for Peace and Reconciliation Studies at the University of Coventry.
98. Michael RILEY enjoys a “rewarding career as a Professional Chef with extensive management experience in the restaurant, catering, hotel, resort and film catering industries, including his own business ventures.” “My ongoing passion for cooking and the hospitality industry continues, as I explore new opportunities to advance my commitment to culinary excellence”. Last was Executive Chef at Painted Boat Resort, Canada.
99. Chrissie ROGERS (1995-2004, BA, MA, PhD) went on to lecture at Keele and Brunel before moving to Anglia Ruskin as a director of PhD research and the Childhood and Youth Research Institute. In 2012, she joined Aston Sociology as a Senior Lecturer in Sociology.
100. Heather ROLFE (1985-7, Research Officer) is Principal Research Fellow National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR)
101. Mike ROPER (MA, PhD) is now a Professor of Sociology at the University of Essex
102. David ROWE (1978-81, PhD 1986)was for many years at The University of Newcastle in New South Wales. In 2006 he moved to the University of Western Sydney (UWS), where he is currently a Professor of Cultural Research in the Institute for Culture and Society.
103. Victoria SAMUEL now VEALE (2005-8 BA) is a Community Care Practitioner with Suffolk Services
104. Faye SAVAGE (2006-9) works as a Lived Experience Officer at ecdp, a disabled people’s user-led organisation in Essex.
105. Mahmood SHAHABI (1994-1998, Ph.D) is an assistant professor in sociology and cultural studies in the Faculty of Social Sciences, Allameh Tabatabai’ University, Tehran, Iran. He obtained his Ph.D. from Sociology Department of Essex University, England in 1998. He has pioneered cultural studies in Iran and recent publications include two book chapters: The Iranian moral panic over video: A brief history and policy analysis (Routledge, 2008), and Youth subcultures in post-revolution Iran: An alternative reading (Routledge, 2006). His research interests include youth cultures, media studies, gender studies, globalization, intercultural communication and diaspora.
106. Susie SCOTT (1995-2000, BA, PhD) is Reader in Sociology at Sussex University
107. Damien SHORT ( — 2004 PhD ) is Director of the Human Rights Consortium in the School of Advanced Studies at University College London. He is the author of Reconciliation and Colonial Power: Indigenous Rights in Australia
108. Agnes SKAMBALLIS (1998, BA 2000, MA) has been administrator for the Journals Sexualities and European Societies throughout the new millennium, and is still based at Essex.
109. Lolu SOYOMBO (1988-1991 PhD) is Professor Criminology at the University of Lagos, Nigeria
110. Nigel SOUTH (1973-6 BA, 1976- MA) became Professor of Sociology at Essex and Pro-Vice-Chancellor Academic Partnerships and Law and Management Faculty (2005-2013).
111. Jon STRATTON (– 1978 PhD) moved to Australia in 1980. He is currently Professor of Media, Culture and Creative Arts at Curtin University, Peth, Western Australia
112. Rebecca TAYLOR ( — 2002, PhD ) Rebecca Taylor worked at the Policy Studies Institute and is now a research fellow at the Third Sector Research Centre (TSRC) School of Social Policy House
University of Birmingham. She also teaches on the Third Sector module of the MA Social Policy
113. Katherine THEODOSIUS (BA- -2003,Ph.D ) is Senior Lecturer in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at the University of Brighton
114. David TRIESMAN ( ‘68) was suspended from Essex in 1968 after breaking up a meeting addressed by a defence industry scientist; but went on to become the general Secretary of the Association of the University Teachers, a member of the Blair Government, the first independent chairman of the Football Association and is now Shadow Foreign Minister in the House of Lords.
115. Andy TUDOR (Staff in the 1960’s) After four years of teaching at the University of Essex in the 1960’s, he joined the Department of Sociology at the University of York in 1970, becoming successively Senior Lecturer, Reader and Professor in that department. Head of the Sociology department for six years from 1988 to 1995, he then became Head of the new Department of Theatre, Film and Television in 2006 and retired in 2013.
116. Jackie TURTON (1992 BA, PhD) is a lecturer in Sociology at the University of Essex
117. Pingla UDIT (PhD, 1998) Pingla was subsequently Special Advisor, Office of the National Director of Public Prosecutions in Post-Apartheid South Africa, and in 2006 served as the Acting Deputy Co-ordinator of the National Intelligence Co-ordinating Committee (NICOC). She is currently working for the South African government on peace and development projects in Addis Abbaba at the African Union.
118. Karen WADDY (2005-8, BA) is a Marketing Administrator at LIFE-FORCE Counselling Service, Colchester
119. Matthew WAITES (MA, 1995) is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Glasgow University
120. Sylvia WALBY (1976- Ph.D. 1984 ) became Professor of Sociology and the founding UNESCO Chair of Gender Research at the University of Lancaster…..
121. Damian WHITE (PhD 1995-2000). Taught Sociology at East London and Goldsmiths after Essex. Then headed off to the USA. 5 years at James Madison University in Virginia. Now in New England, Associate Professor of Sociology and Head of the Department of HIstory, Philosophy and Social Science at the Rhode Island School of Design
122. Will this be you?

J