鈥僂meritus Professor鈥�

Personal statement

I left 黑料正能量 in 2017 as Executive Dean with responsibility for a broad range of subjects and around 5000 students. Apart from my sociological interests, I have a long standing concern with improving teaching and assessment in HE.

I gained significant funding for teaching and learning projects from the Higher Education Funding Council, the Higher Education Academy and the National Subject Centre for Sociology, Anthropology and Politics based at the University of Birmingham.

My sociology publications range from investigations into accountability of the medical profession, health and social care inequalities and, picking up themes from earlier research, the persistence of minority ethnic loyalties in the United Kingdom. Papers on the historical creation and possible breakup of the United Kingdom have been accepted at conferences in Brussels in 2020 and Amsterdam in 2022.

I continue to work with academic colleagues across the UK and retain an interest in 'quality' through my work with the OFS/QAA and as an undergraduate and postgraduate external examiner.

Academic qualifications

  • BSc (Sociology)
  • MSc (Economics)
  • PhD
  • PGCE.

Professional memberships

  • British Sociological Association.

Other external roles

  • QAA Monitoring 'new providers'
  • QAA Institutional Assessor
  • External Examiner: PhD and undergraduate Sociology.

Research outputs

book

Mears, R (2001) Assessing sociologists in higher education. Ashgate, Aldershot. ISBN 9780754616450

book_section

Mears, R (2015) 'Sociology: involvement and detachment.' In: Twamley, K, Doidge, M and Scott, A, eds. Sociologists' tales: contemporary narratives on sociological thought and practice. Policy Press, Bristol, pp. 243-250. ISBN 9781447318675

book_section

Mears, R and Harrison, E (2014) 'Researching changes in higher education occupations.' In: Gornall, L, Cook, C and Daunton, L, eds. Academic working lives: experience, practice and change. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, London: New York, pp. 280-287. ISBN 9781441185341

book_section

Mears, R (2008) 'The social context of health and illness.' In: Brotherton, G and Parker, S, eds. Your foundation in health and social care : a guide for foundation degree studies. SAGE, London. ISBN 9781412920391

book_section

Mears, R (2001) 'Called to account: the last autonomous profession?' In: Mears, R and Harrison, E, eds. Assessing sociologists in higher education. Ashgate, Aldershot. ISBN 9780754616450

book_section

Mears, R (2001) 'Auguste Comte.' In: Michie, J, ed. Reader's guide to the social sciences. Fitzroy Dearborn, London. ISBN 9781579580919

conference_item

Mears, R (2016) "rude and Ignorant People": stigmatising minority language in the formation of the United Kingdom. In: 3rd ISA Forum of Sociology: The Futures We Want - Global Sociology and the Struggles for a Better World, 10 - 14 July 2016, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.

conference_item

Mears, R (2007) Learning outcomes and subject benchmarking. In: La pr脿ctica en el disseny de plans d'estudis en les titulacions de grau, 23 October 2007, Universitat de Lleida, Spain.

other

Mears, R (2002) The tyranny of health, doctors and the regulation of lifestyle [book review]. Medical Sociology News, 28 (2). pp. 44-45.