Current work

My main work is my PhD, Community, Politics and 'Extremism'. This examines community engagement and cohesion where some community activists are deemed 'extremist' (in this case Islamists and BNP members). As the 'community empowerment' and engagement agenda suggests all in the community should have a say, those deemed 'extremist' cannot be shunned and ignored. This can mean conversing, and even working, with those who hold beliefs that are seen as 'beyond the pale' and are, as individuals or groups, demonised by the press. I ask how this engagement across the mainstream/extremist divide works at a neighbourhood level.

I was doing this for two years part-time at Goldsmiths College, University of London, with Les Back. I've now got funding from the ESRC to do it full time at Keele, supervised by Dave Gadd, who's done work on race relations in Stoke. I guess I've come on a roundabout route, doing maths when I was first at university and then moving to History and Philosophy of Science, Cultural Studies and Sociology.

I'm also doing bits of freelance or part-time research work, most recently for the Young Foundation and Goldsmiths' CUCR.