Brian Heaphy

I have a first degree in Cultural Studies and a PhD in Sociology. Prior to working at Manchester I held lectureships at the University of Leeds and Nottingham Trent University, and was a research fellow at London South Bank University.

My teaching has included courses on gender and sexuality, families, relationships and social change, personal life, social theory, research methods and methodologies.

My research and publications has focused on the implications of social change for living with HIV; same sex intimacies; 'given' and chosen' families; ageing sexualities; friendships and other critical associations; theorising personal life; the links between sexualities and class; marriage and formalised partnerships, and qualitative research methods.

As well as the above, I have organised and provided training and capacity building workshops and events for the Realities node of the ESRC National Centre for Research Methods. 

As a previous Head of Sociology, I worked with colleagues on initiatives to build further the dynamic teaching and research culture of Sociology at Manchester. As the previous Director Research in the School of Social sciences, which includes, Econonomics, Politics, Philosophy, Social Anthropolgy, Social Statistics and Sociology I worked with colleagues to further develop the excellent research culture of the School. As Head of School I am currently working with the new Director of Research and other colleagues to contuinue this.

Currently, my theoretical and research interests are focused on the interaction of identities, relationships and diverse ways of living in the context of social change.

I am interested in theories of social and cultural change, and in arguments about the contemporary reconfiguration of 'the social' and personal life. I critically engage with key examples of such theories and arguments in my book Late Modernity and Social Change.

I have researched the implications of social change for how we concieve 'the social' and 'personal life' through ESRC funded projects on sexualities and gender, families and intimacies, ageing and research methods. I have studied and written about living with HIV, same sex intimaces, ageing sexualities, sexuality and class, friendships, civil partnerships and same-sex marriages. I am currently developing a research project on relationship dissolution and divorce, as well as a book on readical interactionist responses to Queer theory and research.

I was a member of the Realities research methods team which was linked to the ESRC's National Centre for Research Methods, and a founding memeber as well as co-Director of the Morgan Centre for the Study of Everyday Life.