Dr Chris Till

About 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".

Blog Articles

• Intro to Social Structures Sample Lecture
• Online misinformation and propaganda. Are we all involved?