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Leeds Beckett Professor announced as Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences
Karl Spracklen, Professor of Music, Leisure and Culture within the School of Film, Music and Performing Arts at Leeds Beckett University, is one of 69 leading social scientists awarded the Fellowship this year.
The new Fellows are drawn from academics, practitioners and policymakers across the social sciences. They have been recognised after an extensive peer review process for the excellence and impact of their work through the use of social science for public benefit. This includes substantial contributions and leadership in various fields, including higher education, social, economic and environmental policy, government, law, charitable foundations and think tanks.
Announcing the conferment, Professor Roger Goodman FAcSS, Chair of the Academy said: “Each new distinguished Fellow has been recognised for their outstanding and impactful contributions in their respective fields, and will prove invaluable additions to the range of expertise within the Academy.
“This speaks not only to the power and scope of the social sciences to address the big issues of our time, but also to the growing depth and breadth of representation within the Academy as the voice of the social science community as a whole.”
Professor Spracklen is the founder and principal editor of the journal Metal Music Studies, and an Ambassador for the International Society for Metal Music Studies. He has written extensively on music, subcultures, identity and leisure and culture, with interests in alternativity and marginalisation, and social inclusion and exclusion.
As well as popular music studies, Karl's research is based in the subject fields of leisure studies and leisure theory. He is a former Chair of the Leisure Studies Association, and a current Ambassador for them. He is the Secretary of Research Committee 13 (Sociology of Leisure) of the International Sociological Association. He is the co-editor of a book series for Palgrave called Leisure Studies in a Global Era, and the author of a number of key monographs and textbooks on leisure.
Speaking about the announcement, Professor Spracklen said: “I am delighted to be nominated by the Leisure Studies Association for the work I have done in leisure studies and in popular music studies (metal music studies to be precise), and to be elected by the AcSS to be a Fellow. I am excited to be a part of the AcSS, and hope to be able to contribute to its activities and campaigns.”
Karl’s current research interests include digital leisure, music and leisure and diaspora, heritage and tourism, nationalism and identity in music, goth sub-culture, extreme metal and extreme music, and music and leisure and cultural theory.