About Abbie Riley
I joined the University in 2021 as an Academic Tutor, teaching across social sciences, including the Integrated Foundation Year (IFY). In 2023, I was given a lectureship for IFY/SA/CAS and I am now the current Programme Leader for the IFY Social Sciences Pathway.
Prior to my academic roles, I achieved a BSc in Criminology in 2020 and a PGCE in 2021 from the University. I later completed an MRes in Social Research at University College London in 2022.
My research is primarily focused on Race, Ethnicities and Racism(s), particularly within the context of marginalised groups and intersectionality; these are the areas I am deeply passionate about. This interest extends to my involvement outside academia, where I actively volunteer with ReportOUT, a human rights organisation that documents the lived experiences of sexual and gender minorities across the globe. I have held various roles in this organisation, including a year of paid work in training campaigners, teaching, and podcasting.
Alongside my lecture role, from October 2024, I was awarded a fully-funded PhD at Northumbria University.
Teaching and supervision
I am Programme Leader for the IFY Social Sciences pathway and module leader for Foundations of Social Sciences, Global Rights and Wrongs. I teach other Integrated Foundation Degrees.
Research
In my MRes I focused on the experiences of heterosexual interracial couples with regards to racism in everyday life. This focused on their experiences of racism as well as how their own identities played a role when considering their positionality and considering their partners thoughts when discussing these encounters.
In 2023, Drew Dalton and I worked with Legebrita, an LGBTQI+ rights organisation in Ljubljana, Slovenia, to develop PhotoVoice training sessions. We aimed to empower staff, volunteers, and service users to document social issues affecting LGBTQI+ communities in Slovenia. The sessions were a success, and now the participants use PhotoVoice to address locally agreed-upon issues, culminating in an exhibition of their photographs and stories at Legebrita.
We then went on to develop a training pack with video and physical resources to support LGBTQI+ organisations globally in facilitating their own PhotoVoice sessions.
This was funded by the UK Research and Innovation Participatory Research Fund(opens in new tab).
Dalton, Andrew(opens in new tab) and Riley, Abbie(opens in new tab) (2023) Creating an LGBTQI+ PhotoVoice Project in Slovenia. In: LGBTQI+ PhotoVoice Training with Legebitra in Slovenia, 03-06 Jun 2023, Legebitra, Slovenia. (unpublished).
Areas of expertise
- Race and Racism(s)
- Radicalisation
- Social Inequalities
- Identities and Hybridity
- Qualitative Research Methods