I am a social and cultural theorist specialising in critical sociology, critical theory, and continental philosophy. I have a BA in Sociology (2009, First Class Hons., Lancaster University), an MA in Social and Cultural Theory (2010, Distinction, Lancaster University) and a PhD in Sociology (2016, Lancaster University). I also hold a Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PGCAP) from the Department of Organisation and Educational Development at Lancaster University (2015) and I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy Advance HE (2021). Prior to joining University of Galway, I worked in the UK as a Lecturer in Sociology at Liverpool Hope University (2016-2021), a Visiting Lecturer at University of Chester (2015-2016), and an Associate Lecturer at Lancaster University (2010-2016).

My current research covers three interrelated areas. First of all, I am interested in the politics of contemporary critique (understood as both a cultural phenomenon and an academic method). Specifically, my research in this area focuses on two interrelated questions: What are the implications of todays culture of critique for politics and social change?; How do the academic problematizations of critique affect the understanding of critical theory and its potential impact on social transformation? My first monograph On the Genealogy of Critique: Or How We Have Become Decadently Indignant (2020, Routledge) intervenes into both contemporary academic debates on critique, and todays mainstream criticism, by reflecting upon the relationship between criticality and social change in the age of post-politics. Secondly, I am interested in the sociology of theology, endeavouring to highlight the significance of this rather neglected field of study for social, cultural and political theory, with special emphasis on the questions of governmentality, subjectivity, counter-conduct, ethics, and alternative visions of the social. As part of this project, I am co-editing, with Dr Andrea Rossi, a Special Issue Pastoral Power Today for Theory, Culture amp; Society . This volume aims to explore the defining traits and the continuing theoretical, political and social relevance of the formation of power that Michel Foucault analysed under the label of the pastorate. It examines the relevance of pastoral power today by elaborating upon two interrelated problematiques: the relation between truth and subjectivity as a constitutive element of modern power relations; and, the theological subtexts of modern governmentality. Finally, my concerns with the contemporary problematique of critique and the sociology of theology find a productive convergence in my most recent research project: Digitalization and the Social. My main point of focus here concerns the social implications of digital technologies, which I explore placing special emphasis on subjectivity, social relations, ethics and social change. My latest book Social Media, Truth and the Care of the Self: On the Digital Technologies of the Subject (2022, Palgrave Macmillan) examines the ways in which different digital practices such as influencing, trolling and digital activism operate as technologies of the subject, shaping how we relate to ourselves, others and the world. At present, I am researching the digitalization of agitation and its impact on social relations and social change. I am happy to supervise students working in the following areas, broadly conceived: cultural and critical sociology; critical theory (especially the first generation of the Frankfurt School); continental philosophy; media theory; aesthetics; and the sociology of theology. More specifically, I am interested in collaborating with individuals whose research concerns: the politics of critique and criticality; construction of subjectivity; new social and cultural theories; social media and affect; contemporary political activism; new fascism(s) and despotism(s); and performativity.