
Professor Rachel Brooks
About
Biography
I am currently Professor of Sociology and Associate Dean for Research and Innovation for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. I have previously held roles as Head of the Department of Sociology (2012-16) and Associate Dean for the Doctoral College (2017-19). I am editor-in-chief of Sociology, an executive editor of the British Journal of Sociology of Education, co-editor of the 'Research into Higher Education' book series, a member of Governing Council of the Society for Research into Higher Education, and a member of ESRC Council. I was also a member of the education sub-panel for REF 2021.
Areas of specialism
My qualifications
Affiliations and memberships
News
ResearchResearch interests
My research interests lie in the sociology of education (particularly higher education), youth studies and the sociology of the family. Details about specific research projects are given below.
Research projects
International student mobilitiesOver the past decade and a half, Johanna Waters and I have conducted a wide variety of research projects on different aspects of international student mobilities and processes of internationalisation in higher education more broadly. Our recent publications in this area include Student Migrants and Contemporary Educational Mobilities. Our current research focuses on the UK’s Turing Scheme, and an exploration of the ways in which the concept of ‘the international’ is understood in scholarship on student migration.
Supranational space in higher education policySince November 2020, I have been working with colleagues at UCL and the University of Oxford on a project exploring the supranational space in higher education policy – i.e. the ways in which policy is formed, disseminated and implemented above or beyond nation-states. This is part of the ESRC-funded Centre for Global Higher Education, which runs until autumn 2023. As part of the wider project, I have been leading research on the ‘European Universities Initiative’ and the response of various higher education actors across Europe to the war in Ukraine. This develops some themes from my recently-completed European Research Council project on conceptualisations of higher education students across Europe.
Caring practicesI am also interested in caring practices – in relation to education – and amongst families in general. I have recently published Student Carers in Higher Education, with Marie-Pierre Moreau and Genine Hook and, with Paul Hodkinson, am conducting a longitudinal study of UK fathers who are equal or primary carers for young children, examining how their practices have changed over time and the extent to which they have been impacted by the pandemic. This builds on our previous work on Sharing Care: Equal and Primary Carer Fathers and Early Years Parenting.
Life PatternsFinally, I am an international partner on an Australian Research Council-funded project, ‘Life Patterns’ which has been exploring the lives young Australians since the 1990s. This is led by Johanna Wyn at the University of Melbourne.
Research interests
My research interests lie in the sociology of education (particularly higher education), youth studies and the sociology of the family. Details about specific research projects are given below.
Research projects
Over the past decade and a half, Johanna Waters and I have conducted a wide variety of research projects on different aspects of international student mobilities and processes of internationalisation in higher education more broadly. Our recent publications in this area include Student Migrants and Contemporary Educational Mobilities. Our current research focuses on the UK’s Turing Scheme, and an exploration of the ways in which the concept of ‘the international’ is understood in scholarship on student migration.
Since November 2020, I have been working with colleagues at UCL and the University of Oxford on a project exploring the supranational space in higher education policy – i.e. the ways in which policy is formed, disseminated and implemented above or beyond nation-states. This is part of the ESRC-funded Centre for Global Higher Education, which runs until autumn 2023. As part of the wider project, I have been leading research on the ‘European Universities Initiative’ and the response of various higher education actors across Europe to the war in Ukraine. This develops some themes from my recently-completed European Research Council project on conceptualisations of higher education students across Europe.
I am also interested in caring practices – in relation to education – and amongst families in general. I have recently published Student Carers in Higher Education, with Marie-Pierre Moreau and Genine Hook and, with Paul Hodkinson, am conducting a longitudinal study of UK fathers who are equal or primary carers for young children, examining how their practices have changed over time and the extent to which they have been impacted by the pandemic. This builds on our previous work on Sharing Care: Equal and Primary Carer Fathers and Early Years Parenting.
Finally, I am an international partner on an Australian Research Council-funded project, ‘Life Patterns’ which has been exploring the lives young Australians since the 1990s. This is led by Johanna Wyn at the University of Melbourne.
Supervision
Postgraduate research supervision
I am an experienced supervisor of postgraduate researchers and would be keen to receive proposals for doctoral work in any of the following areas: sociology of education (particularly higher education); education policy; youth studies; and sociology of the family.
Teaching
During the 2022-23 academic year, I'll be teaching Families and Society (Level 6) and supervising undergraduate dissertations.