Dr Aura Lehtonen BA (Hons), MSc, PhD, FHEA

• Senior Lecturer in Sociology
• Programme Leader for BA Sociology, BSc Sociology and Criminology, and BSc Sociology and Psychology
• Steering Group member, Centre for Communities and Social Justice
• Faculty Co-Representative for Pedagogical Research, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences (FLAS)
• Inclusive Pedagogies’ Group Lead, Pedagogic Research Special Interest Group
• Review Board & Steering Group member and Mentor, University of Greenwich Advance HE recognition scheme (GOLD)
• Module Leader for SOCI1128 Sociology of Gender and Sexuality, SOCI1156 Sociology in Practice, SOCI1093 Self in Society
• Supervisor for postgraduate research students, undergraduate dissertations and work placements

• Fellow, Advance HE
• Recognised Practitioner in Advising, UK Advising and Tutoring Association (UKAT)
• External Examiner, Social Sciences, Centre for Open Learning, University of Edinburgh
• External Examiner, BA Sociology and BA Criminology & Sociology, Leeds Trinity University
• Member of Editorial Board, MAI: Feminism & Visual Culture (2020-23)
• Member, British Sociological Association (BSA)

Aura’s research can be divided into three main strands:

1. One strand focuses on how inequalities are understood and justified in contemporary UK politics, and particularly how sexuality, intimacy and families feature in these understandings. This work involves textual analysis of policy texts and political and media discourses, and has most recently been published in The Sexual Logics of Neoliberalism in Britain: Sexual Politics in Exceptional Times (Routledge, 2023).
2. The second strand explores representations and narratives of sexuality, sex and diversity in contemporary media, combining insights from cultural studies and queer theory. This work has appeared in Feminist Media Studies and Feminist Review, and in an upcoming book on representations of ‘bad sex’, co-written with Dr Jacqueline Gibbs (City, University of London) and Dr Billy Holzberg (King’s College London).
3. The final strand employs critical, feminist and queer approaches to the narratives, practices and cultures of Higher Education, published previously in Teaching in Higher Education and MAI: Feminism & Visual Culture. This work includes two current funded projects:

• Beyond the “Usual Suspects”: Exploring the Adoption of Good Practice Recommendations for Closing the BAME/GEM Attainment and Continuation Gaps’, with Dr Siobhan Dytham (University of Northampton) and Dr Carl Mallett (Coventry University)
• ‘Practice-Based Learning in Sociology’, with Dr Peter Jones and Franca Roeschert (University of Greenwich)

Research students:

• John Pendleton, ‘The experiences of men who work as midwives in the United Kingdom: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis’, University of Northampton
• Franca Roeschert, ‘Migrants’ participation in urban sanctuary practices in two London boroughs: What is the role of City of Sanctuary?’, University of Greenwich

Associated Research Groups:

• Centre for Communities and Social Justice (Primary Member)
• Centre for Inequalities (Affiliate Member)

Aura welcomes enquiries from prospective PhD students in the above and related areas.

Key funded projects

• Practice-Based Learning in Sociology’, Institute for Inclusive Communities and Environments (ICE) Pedagogic Research Development Fund (2023-24, with Dr Peter Jones)
• Beyond the “Usual Suspects”: Exploring the Adoption of Good Practice Recommendations for Closing the BAME/GEM Attainment and Continuation Gaps’, University of Northampton Learning Enhancement and Innovation Fund (2021-23, with Dr Siobhan Dytham)

BOOKS

• Gibbs, J., Holzberg, B. & Lehtonen A. (forthcoming) Bad Sex: Sexuality, Gender and Affect in Contemporary TV. London: Bloomsbury (Library of Gender and Popular Culture).
• Lehtonen, A. (2023) The Sexual Logics of Neoliberalism in Britain: Sexual Politics in Exceptional Times. Abingdon: Routledge (Social Justice).

JOURNAL ARTICLES

• Holzberg, B. & Lehtonen, A. (2022) The Affective Life of Heterosexuality: Heteropessimism and Postfeminism in Fleabag. Feminist Media Studies, 22(8): 1902-17.
• Gibbs, J., Hartviksen, J., Lehtonen, A. & E. Spruce (2021) Pedagogies of Inclusion: A Critical Exploration of Small-Group Teaching Practice in Higher Education. Teaching in Higher Education, 26(5): 696-711.
• Gibbs, J. & Lehtonen, A. (2020) Teaching to Resistance and Refusal: Feminist Pedagogical Engagements in the UK Higher Education Classroom. MAI: Feminism & Visual Culture, 5.
• Gibbs, J. & Lehtonen, A. (2019) I, Daniel Blake (2016): Vulnerability, Care, and Citizenship in Austerity Politics. Feminist Review, 122(2): 49-63.
• Lehtonen, A. (2018) ‘Helping Workless Families’: Cultural Poverty and the Family in Austerity and Anti-Welfare Discourse. Sociological Research Online, 23(1): 84-99.

BOOK CHAPTERS

• Lehtonen, A. (2022) Queering the Binary: The Politics of the Pre/Post-1992 Division in UK Higher Education. In: C. Mahn, M. Brim and Y. Taylor (eds), Queer Sharing in the Marketized University. Abingdon: Routledge.
• Lehtonen, A. & Breslow, J. (2021) Infantilised Parents and Criminalised Children: The Frame of Childhood in UK Poverty Discourse. In: J. Horton, H. Pimlott-Wilson and S. M. Hall (eds), Growing Up and Getting By: International Perspectives on Childhood and Youth in Hard Times. Bristol: Policy Press.

REVIEWS & COMMENTARY

• Gibbs, J. & Lehtonen, A. (2021) Who Can Tell a Working-Class Story? Examining the Representational Limits of Class in I, Daniel Blake (2016) and Beyond. The Sociological Review, April 16.
• Lehtonen, A. (2018) Youth Marginality in Britain: Contemporary Studies of Austerity. Children’s Geographies, 16(6): 667-669.

INVITED TALKS

• ‘Inclusive Education: Myths and Realities’, Closing Panel at SHIFT Teaching and Learning Conference, University of Greenwich (2024)
• ‘The Sexual Politics of Neoliberalism in Britain’
  *Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR), King’s College London (2023), *Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC), Middlesex University London (2023)
• ‘Cultural Representation and Social Inequalities: Stories about Social Welfare in I, Daniel Blake (2016) and “Poverty Porn”’, Diversity, Community and Identity Research Group (DCI) research showcase, University of Northampton (2021)

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

• ‘The Politics of Good Sex and Queer Solidarities in Feel Good and Work in Progress’, Lesbian Lives Conference, University of Brighton (2024)
• ‘How Can Practice-Based Learning Contribute to More Inclusive Higher Education? A Case Study from Sociology’, SHIFT Teaching and Learning Conference, University of Greenwich (2024)
• ‘Resistances to Inclusion Work: Reflections and Strategies’, SHIFT Teaching and Learning Conference, University of Greenwich (2024)
• ‘The Cultural Politics of Crisis: Domesticity, Familial Intimacy and Nostalgia in British Crisis Narratives’, Sociological Voices in Public Discourse – BSA Conference, University of Manchester (2023)
• ‘Beyond the “Usual Suspects”: Exploring the Adoption of “Good Practice” Recommendations for Closing BAME/GEM Attainment and Continuation Gaps in UK HE’
  *Shaping the Future of HE – Advance HE Teaching and Learning Conference, Keele University (2023)
  *Library and Learning Services seminar, University of Northampton (2023)
  *Learning and Teaching Conference, University of Northampton (2022)
• 'The UK’s Housing Benefit Cuts, the Bedroom Tax, and a Spatial Logic of Violence’, On Violence – Gender Studies Conference, University of Helsinki, Finland (2019)
• ‘Neoliberal Penalisation and Intimate Disruptions’, Summer School for Sexualities, Cultures and Politics (SSSCP), Research Center for Cultures, Politics and Identities (IPAK), Serbia (2017)
• ‘Geographies of Inequality and the Contested Space of Childhood: Changing Definitions of Child Poverty in UK Austerity Politics’, 7th Annual Nordic Geographers’ Meeting (NGM), University of Stockholm, Sweden (2017)
• ‘Reimagining Sexual Citizenship: UK Welfare Policy as Sexual Governance’, Sex and Capital – European Feminist Research Conference (EFRC), University of Lapland, Finland (2015)
• ‘“The Benefit Scrounger”: Racialisation and Sexualisation of the Welfare Recipient in Austerity Britain’, Doing Justice to Figures and Figuration – Graduate Research Symposium, Department of Gender Studies, LSE (2015)