Professor Carol Thomas

Professor of Sociology

Research Interests

Carol is Professor of Sociology. Her current research interests are in the following areas:

Disability Studies and the Sociology of Health and Illness

• Carol is a member of the Executive Editorial Board of the international journal Disability and Society, and has published widely in the field.
• Carol is Director of the Centre for Disability Research (CeDR) at Lancaster.
• Carol is the author of: Female Forms: experiencing and understanding disability (1999) Buckingham: Open University Press
• Carol is author of: Sociologies of Disability and Illness. Contested Ideas in Disability Studies and Medical Sociology (2007) Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Carol has co-edited the following:
  • Swain, J., Barnes, C., French, S. and Thomas, C (eds) (2004) Disabling Barriers - Enabling Environments (2nd edition). London: Sage. Currently preparing a 3rd Edition.
  • Watson, N., Roulestone, A. and Thomas, C. (eds) (2012) Routledge Handbook of Disability Studies. London: Routledge

Current & Recent Research Projects

ESRC Seminar Series: 2011 - 2013 Six Seminars over 2 years
Series Title: Opportunities, challenges & tensions: linking the ageing and disability rights agendas
Jointly run with Prof Christine Milligan

Australian Research Council
Project Title: Disability in Rural Australia - 01 Jan 2011 to 30 Dec 2013
PI: Prof Barbara Pini. Co-aps: Dr Karen Soldatic, Dr Helen Meekosha, Prof Carol Thomas

Marie Curie Cancer Care
Project Title: Unpacking the home: family carersnull reflections on dying at home
01 June 2011 - 30 May 2013
PI: Prof Sheila Payne. Co-aps:
PI: S. Payne. Co-applicants: S. Brearley, Xu Wang, C. Milligan, C. Thomas, D. Seamark, C. Kerr

British Academy Visiting Scholarship - 2012
To support visit to Lancaster University - PI: C. Thomas. Co-ap: Dr Karen Soldatic

Joseph Rowntree Foundation - March/April 2012
Commissioned to write a nullViewpoint Papernull on Dementia and the Social Model Of Disability with Prof. C. Milligan.

Other Research Interests

Carol has also researched and published in other fields, including:

• the nature of care
• public health and health promotion
• domestic labour and health
• womennulls health