Career History and Education
2007- : Research Associate at the Centre for Urban and Community Research, Goldsmiths College, working on two projects funded by the Rothschild Foundation: 'A Mapping Study of Efforts to Combat Antisemitism, Racism and Xenophobia at the Local, Communal and Grassroots Levels in Europe' (with Roger Hewitt) and 'From Security to Insecurity?: Jewish Communal Leadership in Changing Times' (with Ben Gidley).
2004- : Associate Lecturer at the Open University on the courses ‘An Introduction to the Social Sciences: Understanding Social Change’ (2004-2005) and ‘Research Methods Dissertation in the Social Sciences’ (2005-present).
2005 : Postdoctoral Fellow at the Advanced Cultural Studies Institute of Sweden, Campus Norrköping of Linköping University.
2001- : Research Consultant to various UK Jewish organisations.
2003 : Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Cultural History, Turku University, Finland. I taught a course entitled ‘Youth, Transgression and Popular Music’ during autumn term 2003-4.
2002 : Visiting Fellow at the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilization, Monash University, Melbourne. Whilst at the centre I was commissioned to conduct two pieces of research: 1) am interview-based study of Australia Jewish youth movements and their relationship to Israel during the current crisis. 2) an interview-based study of the organizers of summer camps run by Australian Jewish days schools.
2001-2 : ‘Jerusalem Fellow’ at the Mandel School for Advanced Educational Leadership in Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Fellows programme is a prestigious, international, cross-communal career development programme for Jewish educators from Diaspora communities.
1998-9 : Visiting Tutor in the Department of Sociology, Goldsmiths College. I led a first year seminar group on the course ‘Researching Society and Culture’.
1996 : Visiting Tutor in the Department of Media and Communications, Goldsmiths College. I led two third year seminar groups on the course ‘Music and the Masses’.
1995-8 : Research Officer for Jewish Continuity (an educational and research organisation). Duties included conducting survey research, data analysis, commissioning research and writing policy documents.
1994-5 : Research Assistant for SCPR (Social and Community Planning Research now called National Centre for Social Research). Involved in all stages of conducting large-scale qualitative and quantitative research projects.
1989-93 : Youth leader for Unity, a group that integrated young people with special needs and disabilities into play schemes. Duties included leading training sessions, leading activity sessions and working with individual children with challenging behaviours.
Other Academic and Academic-Related Positions:
2007 : External Examiner of Honours dissertation, Department of Communications, Monash University Malaysia
2004 : Editorial Board Member for the journal Sociological Research Online
2004 : External Examiner for the PhD thesis of Thomas Harrison, ‘Van Halen: Changes in Their Stylistic Development and a Critical Examination of Audience Reception, 1978-1986’, Department of Music, Salford University.
1999-01 : Treasurer/Membership Secretary of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM). Duties included organising the 2001 IASPM conference, collecting subscriptions from member branches and maintaining membership records.
1999 : Editor, Publisher and Organiser of ‘New Voices in Jewish Thought’ project: This involved editing, publishing, publicising and circulating the collection ‘New Voices in Jewish Thought: Volume Two’ and organising the monthly ‘New Voices’ seminar group for Jewish postgraduate students.
1997-99 : Secretary of the UK branch of IASPM. Duties included organising the 1998 IASPM UK conference, collecting subscriptions and maintaining membership records.
1991-94 : Robinson College, Cambridge
BA in Social and Political Sciences (2:1)
1995-01 : Goldsmiths College, London
1996 : MA in Sociology with special reference to qualitative research (Distinction)
Dissertation Title: ‘Constructing Death: A Discourse Analysis of the Interview Talk of Four Death Metal Fans’
1999 : MPhil in Sociology (p/t)
2001 : PhD in Sociology (f/t)
Thesis title: ‘Transgression and Mundanity: The Global Extreme Metal Music Scene.’ My thesis was based on interviews carried out with ‘Extreme Metal’ musicians and fans in Israel, Sweden and the UK.
