Research Profile
Prof Ralph Fevre
Career Profile
Ralph Fevre has a B.A. in Sociology and Economics from the University of Durham and a PhD in Sociology from the University of Aberdeen. Ralph came to Cardiff in 1995 after holding teaching and research posts in the University of Wales since 1982. He has served a number of terms as Director of Undergraduate Studies and Director of Teaching and Learning and, between 2003 and 2005, he served as Deputy Director of the School. He served for several years as an external examiner at the University Leicester and the University of Liverpool. He is married with three daughters.
Memberships / External Activities
Ralph Fevre has served on the ESRC College and is a regular referee for ESRC research proposals. He has been a consultant to the ESRC and is Associate Research Fellow in the ESRC Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance.
Ralph has had two spells, one as review editor, on the journal Work, Employment and Society. In 2002 he became Founding Editor of the Politics and Society in Wales Series published by the University of Wales Press.
Ralph has written a Guardian feature article on Mothers’ Day and a piece on ‘Lucia Di Lammermoor’ in the Royal Opera House programme notes.
Presentations
In 2002, Ralph Fevre hosted an international conference on demoralization, with support from the think-tank IPPR, which aimed to draw lessons for politics and public policy from social theory. Since 2002 he has given invited papers at Hong Kong University, University of California Berkeley, University of British Columbia and Nanjing University.
Teaching Profile
His current teaching includes a first-year module on key ideas in social science; a second year module on inequality and the division of labour, a third year module on new frontiers in sociological theory and a masters module on contemporary social theory.
Since coming to Cardiff, Ralph has supervised ten PhD students through to successful completion of their doctorates. The great majority of these former students now hold prestigious posts in UK and international universities. They include Duncan Lewis Rob Huggins Angus Bancroft Marcela Katz Armoza Huan Li Claire Smetherham and David Evans. Current students include Simon Brooks and David Frayne.
Applications from prospective PhD students in any of the following areas are encouraged: systems of knowledge and belief in popular culture, particularly those with moral significance; critiques of markets and economic rationality; the sociology of economic behaviour and particularly the sociology of labour markets; civil society, social capital, social movements and new social priorities.