School of Social and Political Sciences

Dr Roona Simpson

  • University Teacher (Sociology)

telephone: 01413303088
email: Roona.Simpson@glasgow.ac.uk


Biography

I joined the university in 2011. I received my MA (Hons) Sociology and Philosophy from Glasgow University (1997) and my MSc Gender Relations (1999) and PhD (2005) from London School of Economics.   Prior to joining Glasgow University, I worked on a range of research projects addressing various aspects of family and household change, specifically contemporary spinsterhood, solo-living, and delayed childbirth and increasing childlessness.

Research Interests

  • Sociology of personal life
  • Family and household change
  • Partnership and parental status
  • Gender identities
  • Methods of social research, narrative  analysis, mixed methodologies.
Jump to: 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2006
Number of items: 10.

2012

Simpson, R. (2012) Households and families. In: Smith, S.J., Elsinga, M., Ong, S.E. and Wachter, S. (eds.) International Encyclopedia of Housing and Home. Elsevier. ISBN 9780080471631

2011

Jamieson, L., Simpson, R. and Lewis, R., (Eds.) (2011) Researching Families and Relationships: Reflections on Process. Series: Palgrave Macmillan studies in family and intimate life. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, UK. ISBN 9780230252448

Simpson, R. (2011) "Singletons"/single by choice. In: Stange, M.Z., Oyster, C.K. and Sloan, J.E. (eds.) Multimedia Encyclopedia of Women in Today's World. Sage, London, UK.

2010

Jamieson, L., Milburn, K.B., Simpson, R. , and Wasoff, F. (2010) Fertility and social change: the neglected contribution of men's approaches to becoming partners and parents. Sociological Review, 58 (3). pp. 463-485. ISSN 0038-0261 (doi:10.1111/j.1467-954X.2010.01924.x)

2009

Jamieson, L., Wasoff, F., and Simpson, R. (2009) Solo-living, demographic and family change: the need to know more about men. Sociological Research Online, 11 (3). (doi:10.5153/sro.1888)

Simpson, R. (2009) Bachelors and spinsters. In: O'Brien, J. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Gender and Society. Sage, London, UK. ISBN 9781412909167

Simpson, R. (2009) Contemporary Spinsterhood in Britain: Gender, Partnership Status and Social Change. VDM Verlag, Saarbrücken, Germany. ISBN 9783639096873

Simpson, R. (2009) Delayed childbearing and childlessness in Britain. In: Stillwell, J., Coast, E. and Kneale, D (eds.) Fertility, Living Arrangements, Care and Mobility. Series: Understanding Population Trends and Processes (1). Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands. ISBN 9781402096815

Simpson, R. (2009) The married women's property act. In: O'Brien, J. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Gender and Society. Sage, London, UK. ISBN 9781412909167

2006

Simpson, R. (2006) The intimate relationships of contemporary spinsters. Sociological Research Online, 11 (3).

This list was generated on Sat May 26 17:16:19 2012 BST.

Research Projects

  • 2011, ‘Development of online annotated demonstration analyses to support researcher in selecting, applying and interpreting multivariate methods of analysis of longitudinal data’, Dr Pamela Warner and Professor Sarah Cunningham-Burley, University of Edinburgh with Dr Paul Bradshaw, Scottish Centre for Social Research and Ms Lesley Kelly University of Edinburgh. AQMen Small Grant, £2900
  • 2009: ‘Constructing Narratives from Numbers To Explore Demographic Trajectories: A Pilot Study’ British Academy Small Research Grant, £6,610
  • 2005/6: ‘Delayed Childbearing and Childlessness in Britain: the 1958 and 1970 cohorts
  • compared’, ESCR Postdoctoral Fellowship funded under the Understanding Population
  • Trends and Processes (UPTAP) programme. http://www.uptap.net
  • 2004: Stipend, Rutgers Centre for Historical Analysis, Rutgers University, to participate in ‘Gendered Passages in Historical Perspective: Single Women’ programme.

Undergraduate Teaching

  • Convenor: Level 2B Sociology and Anthropology (Semester 2)
  • Honours:  Sociology of Intimacy, Family and Relationships
  • Honours: Sociology of Gender Relations
  • Honours: Dissertation Supervisor

Postgraduate Teaching

  • Convenor:  Methods of Social Research, MSc in Equality and Human Rights

Additional Information

Member of the British Sociological Association, the Feminist and Women’s Studies Association, and an Associate Researcher of the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships. 

  • Referee of Journal Articles for Current Sociology; Social Science History; Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology;  Qualitative Sociology;  Methodological Innovations Online
  • Referee of Book Proposals/Books for Policy Press.
  • Invited contribution to BBC Radio 4  ‘Thinking Allowed’ to discuss Solo-Living  (August 2011)
  • Invited contribution to BBC Radio Scotland ‘Single Girls’,  to discuss the increase in and lifestyles of  single women (9  May 2009) .
  • Quotation/discussion of work on the increase in singleness in media publications including the Sunday Times, The Observer, The Daily Mail,  The  Guardian, The Independent on Sunday. http://www2.lse.ac.uk/newsAndMedia/news/archives/2005/Living_LikeBridgetJones.aspx#generated-subheading1

Invited Presentations

2007 'Defying Nature’?: Contemporary Discourses around Delayed Childbearing and Childlessness in Britain’, GeNet Seminar: Low Fertility in Industrialised Countries, London School of Economics. http://www.genet.ac.uk/Events/Fertility/low_fertility_seminar.htm

International and UK Conference Papers (recent examples)

  •  ‘Solo-Living and Familial Change’, Sociology Seminar series, Flinders University, Adelaide 2011
  •  ‘Single Subjects: Representations of Autonomy and Agency in discourses on singleness and childlessness’, CRFR International Conference, Edinburgh 2010.
  • ‘Solo-Living: Trends in Living Alone Amongst Adults of Working Age’, Roona Simpson, Lynn Jamieson, Fran Wasoff, Understanding European Living Arrangements EAPS workshop, London 2009.
  • ‘Rural and Urban Solo Living:  the Role of Place in the Social Integration, Quality of Life and Future Orientations of Working Age Adults Living Alone’,  Roona Simpson, Lynn Jamieson, Fran Wasoff,  Family Migration and Housing Conference, Amsterdam 2009.
  • ‘Solo-Living In Early Adulthood: Challenging Family and Household Boundaries’, Roona Simpson, Lynn Jamieson, Fran Wasoff,  Sociology of Family and Intimate Lives Resarch Network,   European Sociological Association,  Helsinki 2008
  • ‘Men's orientations to partnering, having children and parenting’|,  Lynn Jamieson, Kathryn Backett Milburn, Roona Simpson, Fran Wasoff, British Society of Population Studies Conference, Manchester 2008