Colette Fagan

Biography

Colette is a Professor of Sociology (2005-) and the University’s Vice-President for Research (2017-). Previously she was Deputy Dean and Vice-Dean for Research (2010-17) of the Faculty of Humanities. Before that she held posts as the Research Director for the School of Social Sciences (2004–10) and Co-Director of the European Work and Employment Research Centre (2004–10). She was elected to Senate in 2008 and in 2009 joined the University’s Board of Governors as a senate-elected representative, with her term of office renewed twice by election (2009-18). Her other board experience includes primary school governing body chair and parent governor (2008-11).

Colette’s research focus is on employment, working conditions and job quality; with particular interests in gender relations and inequalities in the workplace and in family life, working-time and time-use, and international comparative analysis. Her research has been supported by major national and international funders, including the UK’s ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) and the European Union’s research framework programes. Her record of knowledge exchange and impact formed one of the University’s REF2014 impact cases for sociology. She is an elected Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and has held visiting academic appointments at the Wissenshaftzentrum (WZB) Berlin; RMIT Australia; and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.

Through her research she has been appointed to several high-level advisory bodies. She was a working group member and co-author of the British Academy’s 2016 report Crossing Paths: Interdisciplinary institutions, careers, education and applications. She is the UK national academic expert in the European Commission''s Expert Network on Employment and Gender Equality (SAAGE) and one of the two academics appointed to Eurofound’s Advisory Board on Working Conditions and Sustainable Work (the European Commission’s tri-partite research and policy agency). Her previous advisory appointments to inform policy through research include the European Commission, the European Parliament, the United Nations’ International Labour Office and the OECD; plus reports for a range of government agencies, trade unions and employers’ associations in the EU, Australia, Japan and South Korea.

Colette joined the University as a sociology lecturer in 1998. Previously she worked as a lecturer at the University of Liverpool, a researcher at UMIST and a research officer at the UK’s Equal Opportunities Commission (now the Equality and Human Rights Commission). Her connection with the University started in 1990 when she registered as a part-time PhD student.

As a member of the British Sociology Association her roles have included serving on the editorial board of the journals Sociology (1998-2000) and Work, Employment and Society (2000-2004) and on the conference organising committees for the 50th Annual British Sociological Association Conference (2001) and the 2004 Work, Employment and Society Conference.

Further information

Supervision areas:

I am particularly interested in supervising students who want to work on the following topics:

• Employment trends, organizational restructuring and working conditions in the so-called ‘service’, ‘knowledge’ or ‘new economies’
• The older workforce and ‘active ageing’
• Working-time and the life course
• The impact of employment trends on the organization of unpaid care work and voluntary work in the home and community; and patterns of time-use in households more broadly
• Fatherhood
• Gender mainstreaming of labour market and welfare state policies

My current and recent PhD students:

• Fatima Assuncao (2007-) Gender and self-employment in Portugal, Portuguese government scholarship
• Abril Saldana (2007-) Domestic service in Mexico, Mexican government scholarship
• Helen Norman (2006-) Fatherhood and flexible employment opportunities: is ‘active fatherhood’ on the increase? ESRC doctoral studentship
• Pierre Walthery (2006-), Women returners on the labour market: attitudes and constraints
• Hayley Limmer (2006-), Why do women from selected ethnic groups have different rates of self-employment? 
• Stefano Ba (2003-) ''Post-Fordist Families: Class and Gender in the Flexible Economy'' ESRC doctoral studentship, PhD submitted 2007
• Nina Robinson ''Fragmented Sisterhood? A critical investigation of social relationships between women managers/professionals within the Gendered Workplace'' ESRC doctoral studentship, PhD submitted 2007
• Darren Nixon ‘Economic Restructuring, Feminisation and Men’s Employment Opportunities’ ESRC doctoral studentship, PhD awarded 2005

Additional information:

Colette''s recent invited presentations to policy audiences include events hosted by the OECD (2007), the European Parliament (2006), the Australian Federal State of Victoria’s Minister for Industrial Relations (2005), the European Commission and the German Hans Böckler Stiftung (2004).

She is available for media interview on her specialist topics (working-time, gender inequalities in Europe), and has been interviewed on these topics by journalists in Britain, France, the Netherlands and Australia.

Recently completed competitive awards (2001-)

2003-4 European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions ''A New Organistion of Time through Working Life'' in a consortium coordinated by D.Anxo (Sweden) and J-Y Boulin (France)

2002-4 ESRC award ''Living and labouring in London and Manchester: Young adults'' work-life choices'' 

2001-4 Anglo German Foundation ‘Jobs for whom? Service sector employment restructuring in Germany and the UK’

2001-2 European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions ''Gender and working conditions in Europe''

2000-1 European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions ‘Gender and employment preferences in Europe’

Recent research consultancies (2001-)

United Nations - International Labour Office (2002/3), UK Trades Union Congress (2004/5), United Nations – UNIFEM CEE (2006), OECD (2007)