Dr John Goodwin

John joined the Centre for Labour Market Studies (CLMS) in 1991, having previously taught briefly at Loughborough University and within the Sociology Department at Leicester as a tutorial assistant. He has a BSc in Sociology and Social Psychology from Loughborough and a PhD from the University of Leicester. He is an Academic Fellow of CIPD. He is also a Fellow of both the Higher Education Academy and the Royal Society of Arts and a Member of the Irish Institute for Training and Development.  Between January 2006 and October 2010 John served nearly five years as Head of Department for CLMS. John was also the Sub-Dean for Graduate Studies in the Faculty of Social Sciences from 2003-2006 and served as the first Academic Director for the College of Social Science between 2009-2010. John currently represents the College of Social Science on the Senate Student Disciplinary Committee, the Estates and Infrastructure Strategy Committee and the Student Recruitment and Admissions Advisory Group.

Research Interests

As a sociologist John’s research interests cover the sociology of work – especially the transition from education to work; gender and employment; the sociology of Norbert Elias, C. Wright Mills and Pearl Jephcott; and finally, the history of Sociology - especially sociology at Leicester and the history of the sociology of work and community. John is currently involved in eight ongoing projects around these key themes - for more information see 'Research Themes'

John is the convener of the University of Leicester Elias Research Network (LERN)

John is a member of the Figurational Research Network

ESRC - Making the 'Precariat': Unemployment, Insecurity and Work-Poor Young Adults in Harsh Economic Conditions, £178,035, 2013-2014 (with Henrietta O'Connor and Professor Andy Furlong (University of Glasgow)).

British Academy - Scoping Data Analysis on Youth Transitions and Class in Britain Post 1945, £5752, 2008-2009 (with Henrietta O'Connor).

ESRC - From Young Workers to Older Workers: Reflections on Work in the Life Process, £29, 671, 2001-2005, Rated Outstanding (with Henrietta O'Connor).

Other awards, from a variety of non-funding council sources, totaling £77,000.

Sociological Practice

John has  expertise in qualitative secondary analysis, restudies, biographical methods - especially the use of unconventional data sources . The highly rated From Young Workers to Older Workers project has uniquely combined secondary analysis with the tracing of respondents for restudy. Most recently John, with Jason Hughes has developed a figurational analysis of epistolary forms (see British Journal of Sociology) arguing that letters and correspondence offer a unique insight into the history of British sociology. Reflecting these methodological interests John has recently edited two major works for SAGE – Biographical Methods, Secondary Analysis (published June and July 2012). He is currently editing two further major works for SAGE -  Ethnographic Research and, with Jason Hughes, Human Documents and Archival Research.

• External examiner, University of Ulster, University of Limerick, Dublin Institute of Technology. Previously external examiner at the University of Hong Kong and Brunel University.
• Associate Editor, Journal of Youth Studies. Editorial Board Member Human Figurations, Industrial Relations Journal, Education and Training, and the European Journal of Training and Development. He was previously on the editorial boards of Work, Employment and Society and Sociological Research Online and has edited special editions of the Journal of Education and Work and Education and Training.
• Reviewer for: The Economic and Social Research Council; The British Academy; Routledge; SAGE; Ashgate, Open University Press
• Member of the International Sociological Association, the American Sociological Association and the British Sociological Association.

Doctoral Teaching and Supervision

Alongside being one of the original architects of the DSocSci, for which he was awarded Teaching Fellowship and made a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA), John has supervised twenty doctoral students to completion and has examined thirty one doctoral theses at Leicester and beyond. He has also successfully supervised well over 200 MSc dissertations. See here for current students.  He would be interested in supervising doctoral work in the following areas:

• Education to work transitions
• Transitions from and to higher education
• Higher Education
• Work, community and locality - especially restudies and secondary analysis
• Gender/masculinity, work and employment
• Work, employment and community in Ireland
• The sociology of Norbert Elias, C Wright Mills or Pearl Jephcott