Dr Julie Walsh (she/her)

PhD, MSc, BA (Hons)

School of Sociological Studies, Politics and International Relations

Senior Lecturer in Sociology

School Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Lead

Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Institute

Co-editor and Special Issues Editor, Families Relationships and Societies

Dr Julie Walsh
Profile picture of Dr Julie Walsh
j.c.walsh@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 6418
The Wave

Full contact details

Dr Julie Walsh
School of Sociological Studies, Politics and International Relations
The Wave
2 Whitham Road
Sheffield
S10 2AH
Profile

Julie joined 爆料TV in 2016, as a Lecturer in Sociology. Before moving to Sheffield, Julie taught on the BA Youth and Community Work programme at The University of Hull, where she completed her funded PhD in 2015, focusing on the role of 鈥榝amily鈥, 'migrant family display', and everyday multiculturalism in a post-industrial northern English city.

Julie鈥檚 academic interests grew out of her previous career in youth work & community development, where she specialised in the management of user-led provision, working with marginalised communities.

Qualifications
  • BA (Hons) International English (Hull)
  • MSc Applied Social Research (Hull)
  • PhD Sociology, Anthropology & Gender Studies (Hull)
Research interests

Julie鈥檚 research interests include family, migration, personal life, young people, childhood and the influence of prevalent narratives on everyday life. Her research has included working with migrant and settled communities to understand transnational family making and care practices, relationality, and culturally located perceptions of 鈥榯he family鈥. She also focuses on how these perceptions impact on relationships within and between diverse families and their interactions with state and voluntary sector support services, particularly in northern UK post-industrial communities.

Julie鈥檚 work is consistently collaborative, participatory and co-produced and prioritises impact and knowledge exchange. She was most recently the PI for the ESRC funded New Investigator project (2020-23), 鈥溾  

Julie also has a broader interest in social constructions of 'family', relatedness, belonging and personal life. She was a Co-convenor of the BSA Families and Relationships Study Group between 2019 鈥 2024, and is currently Co-editor and Special Issues Editor of
 


Research areas:

鈥        Family relationships, youth studies, childhood and social change
鈥        Cross-cultural constructions of 'family鈥
鈥        Relationships between service providers and the 鈥榝amily鈥
鈥        Ethnicity, multiculture, migration and superdiversity
鈥        Care circulation
鈥        Qualitative methodologies
鈥        University-community collaboration

Publications

Journal articles

  • Walsh J & Ferazzoli MT (2025) . Journal of Social Policy.
  • Churchill H, Davies K, Kilkey M, Anitha S, Carter A & Walsh J (2025) . Families, Relationships and Societies, 14(2), 153-157.
  • Walsh J & Ferazzoli MT (2023) . Social Sciences, 12(7).
  • Walsh J, Khan A & Ferazzoli MT (2023) . Sociology, 57(1), 243-252.
  • Walsh J, Khoo E & Nygren K (2022) . Journal of International Migration and Integration, 23(1), 363-364.
  • Walsh J, Khoo E & Nygren K (2022) . Journal of International Migration and Integration, 23(1), 343-361.
  • Nygren K, Walsh J, Ellingson I & Christie A (2021) . British Journal of Social Work, 51(6), 2116-2133.
  • Walsh J, McNamee S & Seymour J (2020) . Families, Relationships and Societies, 9(3), 345-360.
  • Walsh J, White S, Morris K & Doherty P (2019) . European Journal of Social Work, 22(6), 1050-1061.
  • Nygren K, Walsh J, Ellingsen IT & Christie A (2019) . Child & Family Social Work, 24(1), 148-155.
  • Walsh J & Mason W (2018) . Social Policy and Society, 17(4), 603-618.
  • Walsh J & Mason W (2018) . Social Policy and Society, 17(4), 599-602.
  • Walsh J & Mason W (2018) . Social Policy and Society, 17(4), 679-681.
  • Walsh J (2018) . Sociological Research Online, 23(1), 67-83.
  • Seymour J & Walsh J (2013) . Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 44(6), 689-698.

Book chapters

  • Walsh J (2019) , Contextualizing Childhoods (pp. 99-105). Springer International Publishing
  • Walsh J (2015) Displaying Across Borders: The Role of Family Display in Maintaining Transnational Intergenerational Relations In Juozeliuniene I & Seymour J (Ed.), Family Change in Times of the De-bordering of Europe and Global Mobility: Resources, Processes and Practices (pp. 340-358). Vilnius, Lithuania: Vilnius University Press.

Digital content

  • Ferazzoli MT & Walsh J Migrant families, Covid-19 travel restrictions, and everyday bordering.
  • Walsh J & Ferrazoli MT COVID travel restrictions have created new borders for migrants who want to visit home.
  • Walsh J & Khan A Collaborative research: the potential of COVID contingencies..
  • Mason W & Walsh J 鈥楻eproducing the Stereotypes鈥: Family Complexity, Resource Scarcity and Social Work Decision-Making..
  • Lewis H, Kilkey M, Walsh J & Ryan L 'Not one of you any longer': EU Nationals' Brexit uncertainty and mistrust..

Other

  • Walsh J (2024) Doing ethnography online: A lockdown research case study.
  • Walsh J, Ferazzoli MT, Chilypep , Goodwin Development Trust , The University of Hull & Humber Coast and Vale Commissioning Partnership (2022) Working with Migrant Communities: a resource for practitioners.
  • Walsh J, Rudman H & Burton R (2019) Evaluation: New Beginnings Greater Manchester Pilot Project. 爆料TV.
  • Walsh J & Mason W (2018) (Eds) Themed Section: 鈥楩amilies, Social Work and the Welfare State: Where contemporary 鈥渇amily鈥, meets policy and practice鈥. Journal of Social Policy and Society..
Research group

Member of the Migration Research Group
 

Grants

2024-2025, ESRC (IAA - Knowledge Exchange) 拢37,362. Title: Working with Migrant Communities: Upscaling and Embedding. PI: Julie Walsh

2022, ESRC (HEIF 鈥 Knowledge Exchange) 拢19,661.00. Title: Supporting Migrant Communities: Understanding and addressing the limitations of training resources available to practitioners鈥. PI: Julie Walsh

2020-23, ESRC (New Investigator ES/S015833/1) 拢 297,995. Title: 鈥楨veryday Bordering in the UK: The impact on social care practitioners and the migrant families with whom they work鈥 PI: Julie Walsh 

Teaching activities

Julie currently teaches and supervises students at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. All of Julie's teaching is closely linked to her research activities and she encourages students on her courses to develop critical reflection by drawing on their own life observations and real-world examples. Julie is committed to inclusive teaching practices and working with students to develop approaches that work for them.

Julie's teaching includes:

鈥        The Sociology of Family: Continuity and Change (Undergraduate)
鈥        The Value of Sociology (Undergraduate)

Julie also supervises undergraduate and postgraduate students taking extended essays and dissertations in Sociology, Social Policy and Social Research.

Postgraduate Supervision

Topics previously and currently supervised include: transnational families and care networks; UK hostile environment policy and migrant families; everyday multiculturalism in post-industrial contexts; home school relationships in diverse communities; disabled people's experiences as family carers in the UK; impacts of family and fertility policy on women in China; and black women's experiences of gynaecological care in the UK. Julie is interested in supervising PhDs relating to the research areas noted on her research page.

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