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  • Sociology

Sociology

PHOTO: Workers leaving a factory at dusk

Sociology at Queen’s is a medium sized department, which allows us to cover a wide range of sociology themes and skills while also being accessible and welcoming to students.

Sociology is a discipline concerned with the explanation of social life and human behaviour of all kinds. It equips students with the skills to understand the nature of contemporary society, ranging from the global (including power and politics, conflict and peace processes, security, the digital world, climate change, racism and social justice) to individual experiences (such as the body, intimacy, emotions, identity, beliefs and mental health). Through theoretical tools and methodological techniques, Sociology at Queen’s provides students with a unique way of interacting with the world as critical and engaged citizens. Our staff are internationally recognized academics in key sociological specialisms, including political sociology, violence and peace, protest movements, religion, migration, and health and well-being.

Over 88% of research submitted by colleagues from Criminology, Social Policy, Sociology and Social Work to the Social Policy and Social Work Unit of Assessment (UoA) was judged to be World Leading or Internationally Excellent. An endorsement of the quality of our research and its impacts in areas such as the penal system, mental health and trauma; work once again achieved through work undertaken in partnership with the health, social care and criminal justice sectors. We are delighted that Social Work and Social Policy (including Sociology and Criminology) has been ranked at 12th in the UK (Times Higher Education Social Work and Social Policy UoA table).

83.4%

of students satisfied with teaching

(GUARDIAN UNIVERSITY GUIDE 2022)
75%

satisfied with the quality of the course

(DISCOVER UNI)
JOINT 10th

IN THE UK
FOR STUDENT:STAFF RATIO

(GUARDIAN UNIVERSITY GUIDE 2022)

KEY THEMES

  • Political sociology
  • Peace and conflict
  • Religion
  • Quantitative and qualitative research methods

KEY RESEARCH PROJECTS

EU flag
CONTESTED SOCIETIES
The Post-Brexit Status and Future of Northern Ireland

Dr Katy Hayward has received a major ESRC Fellowship on the UK in a Changing Europe on this subject in 2019-2022 will not only record and explain the impact of Brexit of Northern Ireland, but also the impact that Northern Ireland will inevitably have on post-Brexit landscape for the UK and EU itself. Into a particularly febrile and dangerously uncertain environment, this Fellowship will allow us to reassert the invaluable role for non-partisan knowledge and rigorous evidence in political debate, providing a solid foundation for public understanding, policymaking and future planning.


Church
CONTESTED SOCIETIES
Learning from Presbyterian Responses to the Troubles

In 2017, Dr Gladys Ganiel received funding from the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs for an action research project with the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, which critically evaluated Presbyterian responses to the Troubles in light of contemporary debates on reconciliation. Considering Grace: Presbyterians and the Troubles, by Ganiel and Jamie Yohanis, was published by Merrion Press in 2019, forming the basis for engagement within the churches and wider society.

See: https://gladysganiel.com/my-books/considering-grace-presbyterians-and-the-troubles/


Pride flag
CONTESTED SOCIETIES
Gender equality and LGBT rights after conflict:

Non-sectarian social movements and consociationalism in Northern Ireland and Lebanon.

Prof John Nagle received a Leverhulme Fellowship to comparatively examine the consequences of postwar power-sharing on LGBTQ and feminist groups in Lebanon and Northern Ireland. The research further analyses how LGBTQ movements mobilize for rights within consociational power-sharing systems.


Academic Staff

Name Area of Research Expertise Email Telephone
Dr Veronique Altglas

Sociology of religion: religious individualism & bricolage; religion & social class; globalisation of religion; religion in Northern Ireland; new religious movements; responses to religious diversity; cult controversies. Sociology of Anti-Semitism & ethnic relations. Epistemology; Research ethics.

v.altglas@qub.ac.uk  +44 (0)28 9097 3581 
Professor John Brewer

Sociology of peace processes, especially memory, truth, religion, both for victims and ex-combatants. Northern Ireland, South Africa, Sri Lanka. Ethnography.

j.brewer@qub.ac.uk  +44 (0)28 9097 3835 
Dr Emma Calvert Education, employment and social inequality.  e.calvert@qub.ac.uk +44 (0)28 9097 3958
Professor Gladys Ganiel  Religion, conflict and peacebuilding; sociology of religion on the island of Ireland. g.ganiel@qub.ac.uk  +44 (0)28 9097 3658 
Professor Katy Hayward Borders, sociology of Ireland; Brexit; political sociology. k.hayward@qub.ac.uk  +44 (0)28 9097 3189
Dr Jonathan Heaney

Sociology of emotion, political sociology, political sociology of emotion, power, nationalism, social theory, sociology of Ireland, relational sociology, process ontology.

j.heaney@qub.ac.uk  +44 (0)28 9097 3482 
Dr Cathal McManus Conflict and conflict transformation; othering; political extremism and sectarianism; peace processes; nationalism and identity politics.  c.p.mcmanus@qub.ac.uk  +44 (0)28 9097 5914
Dr Cate McNamee Race and ethnicity; family, marriage; large-scale longitudinal panel survey analysis c.mcnamee@qub.ac.uk  +44 (0)28 9097 3342 
Dr John Moriarty  Workplaces, Mental health and wellbeing. j.moriarty@qub.ac.uk  +44 (0)28 9097 3236
Professor John Nagle  Divided societies; social movements; sectarianism; sexuality. john.nagle@qub.ac.uk  +44 (0)28 9097 5922  
Professor Lisa Smyth Norms, Emotions, Social Conflict and Change, Agency, Care, Family, Abortion, Motherhood.  l.smyth@qub.ac.uk +44(0)2890973251
Dr Rin Ushiyama

Cultural sociology; memory studies; right-wing social movements; historical denial; East Asia; East Asian religions; diasporas; social theory; sociology of intellectuals.

r.ushiyama@qub.ac.uk  
Dr Ulrike M Vieten Sociology of Gender and Ethnic Minorities; Citizenship, Migration and Gender in Europe; Transnationalism and Europeanisation; Normalisation of the Global Far-Right. u.vieten@qub.ac.uk  +44 (0)28 9097 2528

Research Staff

     
Dr Caoimhe Ní Dhónaill The Changing Role of Religion in Societies Emerging from Covid-19 caoimhe.nidhonaill@qub.ac.uk  

 

Group of teenagers in an educational setting
STUDY

Sociology gives students the key skills to analyse their societies. Students study modules ranging from conflict and peace processes, contemporary Northern Ireland, protest movements, gender inequality, and health and well-being. Throughout their study, students learn important research tools, including qualitative and quantitative methods, using databases and big data.

We offer an array of course choices in sociology at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Criminology and Sociology | BA
English and Sociology | BA
History and Sociology | BA
Social Policy and Sociology | BA
Sociology | BA
Social Science Research | MRes
Sociology PhD

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800x533 study abroad
ENGAGEMENT

Researchers from Sociology initiated the Knowledge Exchange Seminar Series (KESS) in at the Northern Ireland Assembly and direct all-Ireland residential summer school aimed at ‘educating’ civil servants about the importance of welfare. 

Students can undertake Study Abroad through Erasmus schemes (with universities in Barcelona, Lund in Sweden, Paris, Aix en Provence, in France, Munich and Dusseldorf in Germany, Rotterdam and Nijemegen in the Netherlands, Jyvaskyla in Finland) as well as visiting international students who take Sociology modules, particularly those connected to research expertise for which Queen’s is renowned (e.g. Conflict Transformation and Social justice, Childhood, Public Health etc.)


Subject Area
  • Subject Area
  • Criminology
  • Education
  • Social Policy
  • Social Work
  • Sociology

Latest News

  • Dr Katy Hayward
    Evolving Impact of Brexit – Expert Analysis from Professor Katy Hayward
    Dec 2, 2021
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