• Sociology, Social Policy & Criminology
• Scottish Addiction Studies

I joined the department from the University of Edinburgh in October 2007.

I was awarded my PhD Managing Everyday Life: Social Service Use by Mothers with HIV Infection by the University of Edinburgh in 2003.  This work cemented a strong interest in the experience of chronic illness and qualitative research methods.  I was Research Fellow on the Joseph Rowntree Foundation funded project Risk and Resilience: the Experience of Older Children of Parents with Substance Use Problems based at the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships (CRFR; www.crfr.ac.uk) to which I remain affiliated.  This project led to subsequent work on parental substance use including an ESRC Seminar Series, The Impact of Parental Substance Use: Research, Practice and Policy .  I have recently completed a further project The Family Life Project: A Qualitative Longitudinal Study of Children's Experiences of Family LIfe in the Context of Parental Drug Use with Professor Tim Rhodes, Sarah Bernays and Kathrin Houmoller at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.  In November 2010 commenced work with EJ Milne on an ESRC-funded project entitled Young People Creating Belonging: Spaces, Sounds and Sights which combines theoretical interests in the sociology of family and relationships with developing sensory (primarily visual and audio) methods. Please see www.spacesightandsound.weebly.com for further details.

I am also a qualified solicitor with experience of criminal, social assistance, family and medical law which has led to an interest in socio-legal issues. 

I particularly welcome inquiries regarding PhD Supervision in relation to childhoods, family and personal relationships and the sociology of health and illness.

• Sociology of health and illness, particularly chronic illness and substance use in family contexts
• Sociology of childhood
• Qualitative research methods
• Biographical narratives

• Crime and Justice
• Governance, Participation and Inclusion
• Childhoods, Families and Relationships
• Scottish Addiction Studies

• SOC9SE-Sociology of Childhood (Co-ordinator)
• SPC911-Social Differentiation (Contributing Lecturer)
• SPC912-Social Problems (Co-ordinator)
• SPC913-Understanding Social Policy (Contributing Lecturer)
• SPC9CH-Honours Seminar (Contributing Lecturer)
• SPC9CZ-Honours Dissertation (Dissertation Supervisor)

Books

Journal Papers

• Wilson, S., Houmøller, K., Bernays, S. (2012) ‘It just feels nice to go home to a nice home, and not, some house’: Taking account of the sensory construction of difficult family relationships in domestic spaces, Children’s Geographies, 12(1): 101-113.

• Wilson, S.,Cunningham-Burley, S., Bancroft, A. and Backett-Milburn, K. (2012) 'The consequences of love: Young people and family practices in difficult circumstances', Sociological Review, (forthcoming).

• Wilson, S., Cunningham-Burley, S., Bancroft, A., and Backett-Milburn, K. (2008) ‘’Joined up’ thinking? Unsupported ‘fast-track’ transitions in the context of parental substance use’, Journal of Youth Studies, 11, 3, 293-300.

• Backett-Milburn, K., Wilson, S., Bancroft, A. and Cunningham-Burley, S. (2008) 'Challenging childhoods: Young people's accounts of 'getting by' in families with substance use problems', Childhood, 15(4): 461-479.

• Wilson, S. (2007) 'When you have children you're obliged to live': Motherhood, Chronic Illness and Biographical Disruption', Sociology of Health and Illness 29(4): 610-26

• Wilson, S., Cunningham-Burley, S., Bancroft, A., Backett-Milburn, K. and Masters, H. (2007) 'Young people, biographical narratives and the life grid: Young people's accounts of parental substance use', Qualitative Research 7(1): 137-53.

• Bancroft, A. and Wilson S. ‘The ‘Risk Gradient’ in policy on children of drug and alcohol users: Framing young people as risky’ Health, Risk and Society, 9, 3, 311-322.

• Somerville, M. and Wilson, S. (1998) 'Crossing boundaries: Travel, Immigration, Human Rights and AIDS' McGill Law Journal 43: 781-834.

• Wilson, S. (1997) 'Identity, genealogy and the social family: The Case of Donor insemination' International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family 11: 270.

Book Chapters

• Wilson, S. (2011)  'Losing (My) Autonomy Under the Ethics Committee's Gaze'. In Jamieson, L., Simpson, R. and Lewis, R. (eds.) (forthcoming) Researching Families and Relationships: Reflections on Process, Palgrave Studies in Family and Intimate Life, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

• Bancroft, A., Wilson, S., Cunningham-Burley, S., Backett-Milburn, K. and Masters, H. (2005) 'Children managing parental drug and alcohol misuse: Challenging parent-child boundaries', in Mckie, L. and Cunningham-Burley, S. (eds.) Families in Society: Boundaries and Relationships Bristol: The Policy Press, pp. 111-26.

Research Reports

• Houmøller, K., Bernays, S. Wilson, S. and Rhodes, T. (2011) Juggling Harms: Coping with Parental Substance Misuse London: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (for Department of Health).
  
  Link to Text
• Houmøller, K., Bernays, S. Wilson, S. and Rhodes, T. (2011) ‘See Me Not Just the Problem: Hiding, Telling and Coping with a Difficult Family Life’ London: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (for Department of Health).
• Bancroft, A., Wilson, S., Cunningham-Burley, S., Backett-Milburn, K. and Masters, H.(2004) Parental Drug and Alcohol Misuse: Resilience and Transition Among Young People. York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Edited Books

• No Edited Books in our records

• The Family Life Project: A Qualitative Longitudinal Study of Children's Experiences of Family Life in the Context of Parental Drug Use
• Improving Outcomes for Children of Parents with Problem Substance Misuse for Aberlour Child care Trust 2008-11
• Young People Creating Belonging: Spaces, Sounds and Sights