• Senior Lecturer (Sociology)
• Associate Academic (Institute of Health and Wellbeing)

telephone: +44 (0)141 330 4049
email: Matthew.Waites@glasgow.ac.uk

Research

Current research focuses on issues of human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity in international contexts, and on developing the sociology of human rights. 

Research interests: human rights and global sexual politics; sexualities; gender; sociological, political and cultural theory; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people; feminist and queer politics and theories; youth and childhood; activism, NGOs, social movements and citizenship; critical analysis in contexts of multi-dimensional inequalities. Interdisciplinary research has contributed to sociology, politics, law, socio-legal studies and history, and engages with cultural studies.

A central concern is the contested relationship of the Commonwealth of Nations to sexual orientation and gender identity issues, in a context where the British Empire criminalised same-sex sexual behaviour, explored in the first book on the topic: Corinne Lennox and Matthew Waites, eds. (2013) Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in the Commonwealth: Struggles for Decriminalisation and Change (published on a not-for-profit basis by School of Advanced Study, University of London, and available free online: http://events.sas.ac.uk/supportresearch/publications/989).  The book offers data on the 54 Commonwealth states, with detailed discussion of 16 states by activists and academics, and comparative analysis; it provides the most internationally extensive analysis to date of the global struggle for decriminalisation of same-sex sexual behaviour.   Since publication in June I have been engaged in dissemination and knowledge exchange activities developing from this; follow me on Twitter (https://twitter.com/MatthewWaites )and/or like the book's Facebook site  (https://www.facebook.com/#!/HumanRightsSOGICommonwealth) to assist dissemination and receive updates on debates. The UK book launch was hosted by Institute of Commonwealth Studies at Senate House in London on 5 July, with speakers including Adrian Jjuuko on Uganda and Philip Dayle & Conway Blake on Jamaica (Matthew Waites' opening introduction to the book:  http://www.sas.ac.uk/videos-and-podcasts/politics-development-human-rights/human-rights-sexual-orientation-gender-identit ). A Canadian book launch was held in Toronto on 26 June during Pride week, at the event 'Sexuality Repression and the Law' in partnership with the Envisioning Global LGBT Human Rights project led from York University, involving chapter authors speaking on Botswana and Canada (videos by Prof. Nancy Nicol of Matthew Waites' opening presentation and all speakers: Part 1 http://vimeo.com/70217990 ; Part 2 http://vimeo.com/70371903 ; Part 3 http://vimeo.com/70417403).  Further invited speaking engagements in Canada included at University of Guelph; on 'Sex City' on University of Toronto radio station CIUT; and at the Glad Day LGBTQ bookstore. More recently I have been presenting the book's concluding comparative analysis at the International Association for the Study of Sexuality, Culture and Society bi-annual conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina.  In the UK I have engaged in discussion with UK government Minister Lynne Featherstone MP from Department for International Development, and Alistair Stewart of Kaleidoscope Trust, at a fringe meeting of the Liberal Democrat Party conference on 'LGBT Rights Abroad and in the Commonwealth' - raising questions about how to change the politics of LGBT human rights in Commonwealth by bringing voices from the global South to the fore, as the book argues.  Academic dissemination in the UK has included a paper at the British Sociological Association conference, an invited keynote for the BSA Postgraduate Forum, and an invited presentation for the University of Edinburgh's Sociology Seminar Series (25th Sept 2013).  

My work on human rights in the Commonwealth has developed from research concerning change in India.  In January 2008 I was invited to be faculty member teaching at the Sexuality and Rights Alumni Institute, an advanced forum for sexual and reproductive rights practitioners for NGOs across India, organised at Northpoint Centre of Learning in Khandala (near Pune) by CREA (Creating Resources for Empowerment Action) and TARSHI (Talking About Reproductive and Sexual Health Issues).  Developing from this I published an analysis of the groundbreaking 2009 Delhi High Court ruling which decriminalised adult same-sex sexual behaviour: 'Human Rights, sexual orientation and the generation of childhoods: analysing the partial decriminalisation of "unnatural offences" in India', International Journal of Human Rights, Vol.14, no.6, November 2010. 

Relatedly over recent years I have been developing research on the sociology of human rights, associated with launching the British Sociological Association's Sociology of Rights Study Group, for which I became Co-Convenor from 2009 (with Patricia Hynes, Michele Lamb and Damien Short). In this role I have contributed to the institutionalisation of the sociology of rights through creation of a BSA conference stream addressing rights, a wiki-website for the study group(http://sociologyofrights.pbworks.com/w/page/26600622/Homepage), co-organisation of workshops and co-editing of three special issues of journals:  Sociology and Human Rights: New Engagements, special issue of International Journal of Human Rights in November 2010 (also published as a Routledge book, 2011); The Sociology of Human Rights, special issue of Sociology, October 2012; and New Directions in the Sociology of Human Rights, special issue of International Journal of Human Rights in 2012 (also published as a Routledge book, 2014; see'publications' for full details).   

My earlier book The Age of Consent: Young People, Sexuality and Citizenship (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005) has been cited in law reform debates in Canada as well as debated in the UK press. It was discussed by Professor Judith Butler in her Keynote Lecture at the Judith Butler Symposium in Columbia Law School, New York, on 5 March 2010: http://blogs.law.columbia.edu/genderandsexualitylawblog/2010/03/13/butler-symposium-video-now-available/           

My developing and future research will focus on deepening analysis of the global queer politics of human rights through further development of themes and theories in the sociology of human rights for that purpose.   

I also contribute to research on LGBT people's experiences in Scotland, for example through PhD supervision on issues such as transgender experience or LGBT psychological wellbeing and online experience in Scotland; and by co-hosting and co-organising the second one-day seminar in the Economic and Social Research Council 'LGBT Lives' Seminar Series in Scotland, on the theme 'Place/Space - Global Local' (University of Glasgow, 12 May 2009, co-organised with Ian Rivers, Richard Ward, Kelly Kollman and Jeff Meek).

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MatthewWaites

Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/matthew-waites/39/57b/497

Academia.edu: http://glasgow.academia.edu/MatthewWaites

List all by: Type | Date

Grants

'The Regulation of Sexuality: Autonomy, Protection and Consent', October 2001-August 2002. Research Grant £24,597 - South Bank University Research Development Fund (refereed).  The project analysed public and policy debates over the regulation of young people’s sexual behaviour surrounding the Home Office review of Sex Offences in England and Wales.

'LGBT Human Rights and Global Politics Conference',  2007. Grant £2000 - Chancellor's Fund, University of Glasgow (refereed). This project led to outputs including a journal special issue 'The Global Politics of Human Rights' co-edited by the conference organisers Kelly Kollman and Matthew Waites, in Contemporary Politics Vol. 15, no.1, March 2009.

Postgraduate Research Convenor, Sociology.

Current responsibility for 40 PhD students in Sociology subject area, including annual progress reviews. 

ESRC Doctoral Training Centre, Scotland - University of Glasgow Sociology Pathway representative. 

PhD Examinations

• External Examiner for Danny Beusch, Department of Sociology, University of Warwick, 11th December 2008.  Queering Nazism of Nazi Queers?  A Sociological Study of an Online Gay Nazi Fetish Group.
• External Examiner for Robert Rhodes-Kubiak, School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Leeds, 7 June 2013. Activist citizens: Social movement theory, citizenship and the development of LGBT activism in Serbia.
• Internal Examiner for Francesca Stella, Department of Central and Eastern European Studies, University of Glasgow, 11th November 2008.  Lesbian identities and everyday space in contemporary urban Russia.
• Internal Examiner for Sarah Vernon, Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Applied Social Sciences, University of Glasgow, 13th January 2010.  The Private, The Public and The Pubic: Naked Power in Scotland. 

PhD Successful completions

• Christine Rivers Interrogating Pathology: An Exploration of Mental Distress and Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Identity. 2006. London South Bank University. Second supervisor; Prof. Janet Holland Director of Studies, and Prof. Jeffrey Weeks.
• Jen Birks Newspaper Campaigns, Publics and Politics. 2009. University of Glasgow. First supervisor Prof. Greg Philo; second supervisor M. Waites).  Funded by Economic and Social Research Council, UK.
• Meghan Ferriter Changing the Game: Gender, Ethnicity and Age in Mediated Sport.  2011. University of Glasgow. First supervisor.
• Christian Holz The Public Spheres of Climate Change Advocacy Networks: An Ethnography of Climate Change Action International within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). 2012. University of Glasgow. First supervisor. Funded by Economic and Social Research Council, UK.
• Carin Runciman, Mobilisation and Insurgent Citizenship of the Anti-Privatisation Forum in South Africa: An Ethnographic Study. 2012.  University of Glasgow. Second supervisor with Prof. Satnam Virdee. Funded by University of Glasgow Postgraduate Scholarship.
• Lisa Curtice, Lessons for Inclusive Citizenship? Difference, Disability and Rights in the Lives of People with Learning Disabilities who have High Support Needs. 2010. University of Glasgow.  Second supervisor with Prof. N. Watson.

Current PhD and MPhil students

• Sylvia Morgan, Ber-dashing the binary, dealing with difference: a study of transgender phenomena in Scotland.  First supervisor, part-time, from 2009.
• Joseph Boyle, Human Rights and the End of Life Assistance Debate within the Scottish Context, selected for Economic and Social Research Council quota studentship by Sociology,  commenced September 2010. Second supervisor. 
• Jenny Speirs The Mental Health and Wellbeing of LGBT Young People Online.  First Supervisor, from September 2011.  School of Social and Political Sciences Scholarship.
• Andria Christofidou Male Dancer Identity in the Twenty-First Century: Dragging with Stereotypes?  First supervisor, commenced September 2012.
• René Wolfstellar, The Order of Human Rights. Second supervisor (with Prof. Chris Thornhill), commenced September 2012.
• Lyle Christine Processes of Recovery from Problem Gambling: A Qualitative Exploration, PhD commenced Oct 2010, second supervisor from Nov. 2012. MPhil.  Funded by Responsible Gambling Trust.
• Karen Cuthbert ‘Doing gender’ without sexuality: asexual masculinities and femininities, from September 2013. Funded by ESRC Sociology pathway, ESRC DTC Scotland.

For information on PhD students see: http://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/socialpolitical/research/currentpgrs/

Postgraduate

• Sexualities and Society course, semester 2 
• Lectures on Equality and Human Rights course, semester 1.

Honours

• Global Civil Society and Human Rights (from 2009)
• Sexualities
• Dissertation Supervisor
• Level 2 Sociology

Esteem

• Member of Equality and Human Rights Commission LGB Research Network
• Member of Editorial Board for Sexualities Journal, since 2006
• Member of Editorial Board of Journal of Gender Studies, since 2008
• Member of:
  • British Sociological Association
  • Socio-Legal Studies Association
  • Political Studies Association
  • International Association for the Study of Sexuality, Culture and Society
  • Higher Education Academy.
• Co-Convenor of the BSA Sociology of Rights Study Group, from 2009 
• Referee of research grant applications for Economic and Social Research Council, Arts and Humanities Research Council and Big Lottery Fund
• Referee of Journal Articles for British Journal of Sociology; Contemporary Politics; Society and Space - Environment and Planning D; Environment and Planning A; Sexualities; Sociology; Sociological Research Online; Sexualities, Evolution and Gender; Culture, Health and Sexuality; Men and Masculinities; Feminism and Psychology; Journal of Gender Studies; Journal of Youth Studies; Journal of LGBT Youth; Politics; Journal of the History of Sexuality
• Referee of Book Proposals/Books for Routledge, Palgrave Macmillan, Oxford University Press.
• Invited appearance on Radio 5 Live to discuss homophobia and hate crime (1 November 2009)
• Quotation/discussion of work on the age of consent in publications including Children and Young People Now, The Independent, The Scotsman, The Daily Telegraph, The West Australian.
• On 5th March 2010 Judith Butler discussed Matthew Waites' book The Age of Consent in her Keynote address at the Judith Butler Symposium at Columbia Law School, New York:

Invited Presentations in the United Kingdom

• Humanism and Human Rights, invited after dinner speech at the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) annual weekend conference, Newcastle, 5th September 2009 (Report 'Humanism and LGBT Human rights' in GALHA NEWS)
• The Global Politics of 'Sexual Orientation', 'Gender Identity' and Human Rights: Homonationalism and LGBT Critical Cosmopolitanism, opening keynote at ESRC Seminar Series 'LGBT Lives', Seminar 2 'Place/Space-Global/Local', University of Glasgow, 12 May 2009.
• Challenging Disciplinary Politics, Imagining Radical Pluralism at Making History Personal: Celebrating the Work and Contribution of Professor Jeffrey Weeks, The Morgan Centre for the Study of Relationships and Personal Life, Department of Sociology, University of Manchester, 28 Novemner 2008.
• Critique of "Sexual Orientation" and "Gender Identity" in Global LGBT Human Rights Discourse: The Exclusions of Global Civil Society, Sociology Seminar Series, Unversity of Newcastle, 16 January 2008.
• Bisexuality, 'Sexual Orientation' and Human Rights: The Global Politics of Sexual Identities, Critical Sexology Seminar Series: International Approaches to Bisexuality, London South Bank University, 7 November 2007.
• The Age of Consent: the Future of Research, Debates and Politics, Children and Young People Research Group Seminar, Faculty of Health and Social Care, Open University, 17 November 2007.
• Should the Age of Consent be Lowered? Young People, Sexual Citizenship and the Case for "Age-Span" Provisions, School of Sport and Education Seminar Series, Brunel University, Friday 9th March 2007.
• A Proposal for Reform of the Age of Consent, invited paper for the Department of Sociology seminar series, University of Nottingham, 29 November 2006
• The Fixity of Sexual Identities in the Public Sphere: Liberalism, Biomedical Knowledge and the Heterosexual/Homosexual Binary in Late Modernity, Department of Sociology Seminar Series, University of Surrey, April 2006
• Reconcetualising the Age of Consent: An Argument for Change.  ESRC Gender, Sexuality and Law:  Theory and Practice workshop series 'Sex in Criminal Justice' workshop, 18-19 March 2005, University of Westminster, London
• Narratives of Fixed Sexual Identity in the Public Sphere.  Invited paper for University of East London's Centre for Narrative Research, Narrative workshop VII, 'Narratives of/on Sexuality' at King's College, Cambridge, 28 October 2004
• Age of Consent Laws in the UK: Sexuality, Competence and Citizenship.  Invited paper to ESRC Beyond Boundaries: Borders, Bodies and Bonds seminar series, seminar 3: Child Labour and Child Prostitution.  University of Nottigham, 18 April 2002

Further International and UK Conference Papers (recent examples)

• Homocosmopolitanism: Beyond the queer critique of Homonationalism to analysis of Homocosmopolitanism in Global Politics and Sociology, British Sociological Association conference, University of Cardiff, 16-18 April 2009.
• Conflict, Citizenship and Civil Society, The European Sociological Association conference, Glasgow (September 2007)
• Gender Unbound: AHRC Centre for Law, Gender and Sexuality, international conference, University of Keele (July 2007)
• NGO: Non Governmental Organisations and  Politics in Contemporary Britain, University of Birmingham (July 2007)
• Dis/organised Pleasures: Changing Bodies, Rights and Cultures, International Association for the Study of Sexuality, Culture and Society (IASSCS). Lima, Peru (27-29 June 2007)
• Sexual Orientation, Human Rights and Global Politics, Political Studies Association Conference, Unversity of Bath, 11-13 April 2007
• Childhood and Youth: Choice and Participation, International Conference, Unviersity of Sheffield, 4-6 July 2006