Emma Uprichard BA MA PhD

Complexity theory, methodology, causality, realism, space, time, cities, childhood, food

I joined the department in January 2011, having held lectureships at Durham University (2004-2006) and the University of York (2007-2010).  I have a longstanding, passionate interest in the methodological challenge of applying complexity theory in the social sciences. The key questions driving my research are: Why do things change the way they change?  Assuming social dynamics resemble change and continuity in complex systems, how might we empirically capture change and continuity in the social world?  How might desired futures and projected futures interact together intergenerationally?  This has led me to empirically explore change and continuity in: cities, food and eating, childhood, time, social research methods and methodology, and sociology.

Teaching

I currently teach seminars on a second year undergraduate core course called 'Central Issues in Sociological Analysis', a third year core course called 'Issues in Contemporary Social Theory', and two MA research methods courses, called 'Modelling Social Data 1' and 'Modelling Social Data 2'.

Areas of supervision

Children and childhood; cities and urban regions (including cross-national research); methods and methodology (especially the history and future of methods and methodology); complexity theory and complex systems, and in particular the empirical application of complexity theory to sociological topics

Grants & awards

I am currently PI on the ESRC First Grants project, 'Food Matters', which uses complexity theory to understand changes that have taken place in York since 1945. The project examines how people's ideas about food and eating alter throughout their lives and in relation to local, regional and national trends. The overall aim is to gain an understanding of eating practices in the English city of York from the Second World War to the present day.

Other previous research includes the European Commission project COST Action 19 'Children's Welfare', specifically in relation to 'Children's access to space and use of time'; a participatory appraisal project on life-mapping young people's social exclusion; an NSPCC project investigating the links between child abuse and animal maltreatment; and a mixed methods approach to sociology students' experiences of learning introductory statistics.

Selected publications

• Byrne, D. and Uprichard, E. (in press 2012) Cluster Analysis (Four Volumes: ‘Logic and Classics’; ‘Useful Key Texts’; ‘Cluster Analysis in Practice’; Data Mining with Classification’.) London: Sage.
  
  
• Uprichard, E. (forthcoming 2012) ‘Being stuck in (live) time: The sticky sociological imagination’ in Sociological Review Monograph, Live Research Methods, Back, L. and Puwar, N. (eds)
  
  
• Uprichard, E. (in press 2012) 'Sampling: Bridging probability and non-probability designs' International Journal of Social Research Methodology.
  
  
• Byrne, D. and Uprichard, E. (in press) 'Useful complex causality', in the Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Social Science, Kinkard, H. (ed), Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  
  
• Uprichard, E. (in press) 'Dirty Data: Longitudinal classification systems', in Sociological Review - Special Review - Special Issue Monograph on Value and Measure, Adkins, L. and Lury, C. (eds).

• Nettleton, S. and Uprichard, E. (2011) 'A Slice of Life': Food Narratives and Menus from Mass-Observers in 1982 and 1945', Sociological Research Online, 16:2.

• Uprichard, E. (2011) 'Narratives of the Future: Complexity, time and temporality' in the Sage Handbook Innovation in the Social Research Methods, Williams, M. and Vogt, P. (eds), London: Sage, pp. 103-119.

• Uprichard, E., Burrows, R. and Parker, S. (2009) 'Geodemographic Code and the Production of Space', Environment and Planning A, 41(12): 2823-2835.

• Uprichard, E. , (2009) ' Introducing Cluster Analysis: What can it teach us about the case?' in Handbook of Case Based Methods, Ragin, C. and Byrne, D. (eds), London: Sage, pp.132-148.

• Uprichard, E. (2009) 'Questioning Research with Children: Discrepancy between theory and practice?' Children and Society, 24(1): 3 -13.

• Uprichard, E ., Burrows, R. and Byrne, D. (2008) 'SPSS as an 'Inscription Device': From causality to description?' Sociological Review: Anniversary Issue - From causality to description, 56(4): 606 - 622.

• Uprichard, E. (2008) 'Children as Being and Becomings: Children, Childhood and Temporality', Children and Society, 22(4): 303-313.

• Parker, S., Uprichard, E. and Burrows, R. (2007) ' Class Places and Place Classes: Geodemographics and the Spatialisation of Class', Information, Communication & Society, Special Issue: Urban Informatics: Software, Cities and the New Cartographies of Knowing Capitalism, 11(6): 901-920.

• Hackett, S. and Uprichard, E., Animal Abuse and Child Maltreatment, London, NSPCC, 2007.

• Byrne, D. and Uprichard, E., (2007) 'Crossing levels: The potential for numerical taxonomy and fuzzy set approaches to studying multi-level longitudinal change', Methodological Innovations Online, 2(1).

• Uprichard, E. (2006) 'Method, Methodology and Pedagogy in Social Research', Sociology, 40(6): 1201-1207.

• Uprichard, E. and Byrne, D., (2006)'Representing Complex Places: A narrative approach', Environment and Planning A , Special Issue: S pace, Place and Complexity Science , 38(4): 665-676.

• Mayhew, E., Uprichard, E., Beresford, B., Ridge, T. and Bradshaw, J. (2004) 'Children and Childhood in the United Kingdom' in Children's Welfare in Ageing Europe. Jensen, A.-M., Ben-Arieh, A., Contin, A., Kutsar, D., Phádraig, M., and Neilsen, H. (eds) Norwegian Centre for Child Research: 1, 410-457.