Research at Leeds Beckett
Dr Chris Till
Dr Chris Till
Senior Lecturer
School Of Social Sciences
0113 81 21886 C.Till@leedsbeckett.ac.ukAbout Dr Chris Till
Chris is a sociologist who has a focus on health, digital technologies and social theory.
Chris conducts theoretical and empirical investigations into digital technologies and health. His recent work has critiqued the ways in which health and work have been merged through the "datafication" and quantification of everyday life. Other projects are looking at how this "datafication" can help to better inform public health interventions and understanding of health inequalities.
He is a co-editor of "Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine", on the associate editorial board of the journal "Sociological Research Online" and, a contributing editor to the "Cost of Living" blog.
Current Teaching
Chris currently teaches a Sociology, Capitalism and Modernity, a core module which introduces new students to some of the key theoretical debates in the discipline. He also teaches a module on the impacts of the internet, social media and other digital technologies called Digital Societies. The module Technologies, Health and Bodies also explores how medical and scientific technologies, techniques and innovations affect and intersect with social practices.
Research Interests
Chris has recently investigated digital self-tracking of health and workplaces wellness initiatives analysing both as a intersections of technologies, health, work and capitalism. Recent work has suggested self-tracking devices transform exercise into labour and considered their impact on notions of human subjectivity. He is also a co-investigator on an ESRC funded project using big data analysis to investigate the impact of digital self-tracking devices and obesity intervention programs on health behaviour change and inequalities.
Chris is interested in supervising PhD projects in areas related to digital sociology and the sociology of health and illness. He is particularly interested in projects focused on digital health technologies and/or investigating the use of "digital labour".
Selected Publications
Journal articles (7)
- Till CH (2019), Creating "automatic subjects": corporate wellness and self-tracking. Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine
https://doi.org/10.1177/1363459319829957
View Repository Record - Kerr A; Hill RL; Till C (2017), The Limits of Responsible Innovation: Exploring Care, Vulnerability and Precision Medicine. Technology in Society, vol. 52
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2017.03.004
View Repository Record - Till CH (2014), Exercise as Labour: Quantified Self and the Transformation of Exercise into Labour. Societies, vol. 4 (3), p. 446-462.
https://doi.org/10.3390/soc4030446
View Repository Record - Till CH (2014), Responsible innovation across borders: tensions, paradoxes and possibilities. Journal of Responsible Innovation, vol. 1 (2)
View Repository Record - Till C (2013), Becoming dislocated: On Bauman's subjective culture. Thesis Eleven: critical theory and historical sociology, vol. 118 (1), p. 116-124.
View Repository Record - Till C (2013), Architects of time: Labouring on digital futures. Thesis Eleven, vol. 118 (1), p. 33-47.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0725513613500270
View Repository Record - Till C (2011), The Quantification of Gender: Anorexia Nervosa and Femininity. Health Sociology Review, vol. 20 (4), p. 437-449.
https://doi.org/10.5172/hesr.2011.20.4.437
View Repository Record
Chapters (3)
- Till C (2018) Commercialising Bodies: Action, Subjectivity and the New Corporate Health Ethic. In: Till C Quantified Lives and Vital Data Exploring Health and Technology through Personal Medical Devices. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 229-249.
View Repository Record - Till CH (2018) Self-Tracking as the Mobilisation of the Social for Capital Accumulation. In: Till CH Self-Tracking Empirical and Philosophical Investigations. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 77-91.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65379-2_6 - Campbell T; Till C (2010) Resistance Towards Ethics. In: Campbell T; Till C Bauman's Challenge: Sociological Issues for the 21st Century. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 172-188.
