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Dr Gareth Thomas
Dr Gareth M. Thomas
thomasg23@cardiff.ac.uk
2.35, Glamorgan Building, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3WA
Media commentator
I am a Senior Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences. I am a sociologist interested in disability, medicine, health/illness, and reproduction. My PhD was an ethnography of screening for Down's syndrome in two UK prenatal clinics. This research forms the basis of my first monograph Down's Syndrome Screening and Reproductive Politics: Care, Choice, and Disability in the Prenatal Clinic (2017, see here). I have also co-authored, with Dikaios Sakellariou, the edited collection Disability, Normalcy, and the Everyday (2018, see here).
I am Associate Editor of the journal New Genetics and Society, an editorial board member of the journal Sociology of Health and Illness, and co-founder and co-convenor of the Medicine, Science and Culture Research Group (MeSC) and Cardiff Interdisciplinary Network on Disability (CIND) at Cardiff University.
Previous Appointments
Senior Lecturer, Cardiff University, 2019-
Lecturer, Cardiff University, 2015-2019
Research Associate, Cardiff University, 2014-2015
Ph.D. Sociology, Cardiff University, 2010-2014
M.Sc. Social Science Research Methods (Distinction), Cardiff University, 2009-2010
Econ Sociology (First Class Honours), Cardiff University, 2006-2009
Thomas, G. 2023. Unfinished business: a reflection on leaving the field. In: Smith, R. and Delamont, S. eds. Leaving the Field. Manchester: Manchester University Press
Boardman, F. and Thomas, G. 2022. Expressivist objections to prenatal screening and testing: perceptions of people living with disability. Sociology of Health & Illness (10.1111/1467-9566.13559)
Thomas, G. 2022. 'We wouldn't change him for the world, but we'd change the world for him': parents, disability, and the cultivation of a positive imaginary. Current Anthropology
Thomas, G. M. 2022. A legacy of silence: the inter-sections of medical sociology and disability studies. Medical Humanities 48(1), pp. 123-132. (10.1136/medhum-2021-012198)
Navon, D. and Thomas, G. 2021. Screening before we know: radical uncertainties in expanded prenatal genetics. OBM Genetics 5(4), article number: 12. (10.21926/obm.genet.2104140)
Thomas, G. M. 2021. 'The media love the artificial versions of what's going on': media (mis)representations of Down's syndrome. British Journal of Sociology 72(3), pp. 693-706. (10.1111/1468-4446.12807)
Thomas, G. M., Rothman, B. K., Strange, H. and Latimer, J. 2021. Testing times: the social life of non-invasive prenatal testing. Science Technology and Society 26(1), pp. 81-97. (10.1177/0971721820960262)
Thomas, G. M. 2021. Dis-mantling stigma: parenting disabled children in an age of 'Neoliberal-Ableism'. The Sociological Review 69(2), pp. 451-467. (10.1177/0038026120963481)
Dimond, R., Lewis, J. and Thomas, G. 2021. Editorial: Themed issue: Understanding the technical and social landscape of gene editing. New Genetics and Society 40(4), pp. 361-366. (10.1080/14636778.2021.2004032)
Thomas, G. 2020. Dennis, F., Injecting Bodies in More‐Than‐Human Worlds. London: Routledge. 2019. 248pp £120.00 (hbk) ISBN 978‐1138609556 [Book Review]. Sociology of Health and Illness 42(7), pp. 1765-1766. (10.1111/1467-9566.13168)
Elliott, E., Thomas, G. M. and Byrne, E. 2020. Stigma, class, and 'respect': Young people's articulation and management of place in a post-industrial estate in south Wales. People, Place and Policy Online 14(2), pp. 157-152. (10.3351/ppp.2020.4953299286)
Renold, E., Ivinson, G., Thomas, G. and Elliott, E. 2020. The making, mapping and mobilising in Merthyr project: young people, research and arts-activism in a post-industrial place. In: McDermont, M. et al. eds. Imagining Regulation Differently: Co-Creating Regulation for Engagement. Bristol: Policy Press, pp. 127-144.
Thomas, G. 2018. The zero trimester: pre-pregnancy care and the politics of reproductive risk, by Miranda R. Waggoner [Book Review]. American Journal of Sociology 124(3), pp. 932-934.
Thomas, G. M., Elliott, E., Exley, E., Ivinson, G. and Renold, E. 2018. Light, connectivity, and place: young people living in a post-industrial town. cultural geographies 25(4), pp. 537-551. (10.1177/1474474018762811)
Thomas, G. and Sakellariou, D. 2018. Introduction: Disability, normalcy and the everyday. In: , . ed. Disability, Normalcy, and the Everyday. Routledge
Thomas, G. and Sakellariou, D. eds. 2018. Disability, normalcy, and the everyday. Routledge.
Thomas, G., Lupton, D. and Pedersen, S. 2018. 'The appy for a happy pappy': Expectant fatherhood and pregnancy apps. Journal of Gender Studies 27(7), pp. 759-770. (10.1080/09589236.2017.1301813)
Thomas, G. M., Roberts, J. and Griffiths, F. E. 2017. Ultrasound as a technology of reassurance? How pregnant women and health care professionals articulate ultrasound reassurance and its limitations. Sociology of Health and Illness 39(6), pp. 893-907. (10.1111/1467-9566.12554)
Latimer, J. and Thomas, G. 2017. Editorial: The politics of reproduction and parenting cultures: procreation, pregnancy, childbirth, and childrearing. Sociology of Health and Illness 39(6), pp. 811-815. (10.1111/1467-9566.12603)
Thomas, G. M. 2017. Picture perfect: '4D' ultrasound and the commoditisation of the private prenatal clinic. Journal of Consumer Culture 17(2), pp. 359-377. (10.1177/1469540515602300)
Thomas, G. 2017. Doing gender in a hospital setting: reflections of a male researcher. Sociological Research Online 22(2), pp. 1-14. (10.5153/sro.4307)
Thomas, G. 2017. Down's Syndrome screening and reproductive politics: care, choice, and disability in the prenatal clinic. Routledge Studies in the Sociology of Health and Illness. London: Routledge.
Thomas, G. 2017. Decision-making by expectant parents: NIPT, NIPD, and current methods of prenatal screening for Down's Syndrome (Evidence Review). Project Report. [Online]. Nuffield Council on Bioethics. Available at: http://nuffieldbioethics.org/wp-content/uploads/Gareth-Thomas-evidence-review-decision-making-NIPT.pdf
Gale, N., Thomas, G., Thwaites, R., Greenfield, S. and Brown, P. 2016. Towards a sociology of risk work: a narrative review and synthesis. Sociology Compass 10(11), pp. 1046-1071. (10.1111/soc4.12416)
Lupton, D., Pedersen, S. and Thomas, G. 2016. Parenting and digital media: from the early web to contemporary digital society. Sociology Compass 10(8), pp. 730-743., article number: 10.1111/soc4.12398.
Thomas, G. M. 2016. An elephant in the consultation room? Configuring Down Syndrome in British antenatal care. Medical Anthropology Quarterly 30(2), pp. 238-258. (10.1111/maq.12222)
Thomas, G. M. and Rothman, B. K. 2016. Keeping the backdoor to eugenics ajar?: Disability and the future of prenatal screening. AMA Journal of Ethics 18(4), pp. 406-415. (10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.04.stas1-1604)
Thomas, G. M. 2016. 'It's not that bad': stigma, health, and place in a post-industrial community. Health & Place 38, pp. 1-7. (10.1016/j.healthplace.2015.12.001)
Thomas, G. M. and Lupton, D. 2016. Threats and thrills: pregnancy apps, risk, and consumption. Health, Risk & Society 17(7-8), pp. 495-509. (10.1080/13698575.2015.1127333)
Sakellariou, D. and Thomas, G. 2016. Disability and everyday worlds. Presented at: 76th annual meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology, Vancouver, Canada, 29 March- 2 April 2016.
Thomas, G. M. and Lupton, D. 2015. Playing pregnancy: the ludification and gamification of expectant motherhood in Smartphone apps. M/C Journal 18(5)
Thomas, G. M. and Latimer, J. 2015. In/exclusion in the clinic: Down's syndrome, dysmorphology and the ethics of everyday medical work. Sociology 49(5), pp. 937-954. (10.1177/0038038515588470)
Thomas, G. M. 2015. Un/inhabitable worlds: the curious case of Down's syndrome. Somatosphere 2015(29 Jul)
Thomas, G. M. 2014. Prenatal screening for down's syndrome: parent and healthcare practitioner experiences. Sociology Compass 8(6), pp. 837-850. (10.1111/soc4.12185)
Thomas, G. M. 2014. Cooling the mother out: revisiting and revising Goffman's account. Symbolic Interaction 37(2), pp. 283-299. (10.1002/SYMB.91)
Thomas, G. M. 2014. The everyday work of healthcare professionals: an ethnography of screening for down's syndrome in UK antenatal care. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University.
Thomas, G. M. 2013. The continuing value of Erving Goffman: you follow?. [Online]. Cardiff Ethnography. Available at: http://cardiffethnography.blogspot.co.uk/
Thomas, G. M. and Banks, T. 2013. 'We aren't racing a fair race': Rawls, Sen, and the Paralympic Games. Sociological Research Online 18(3), article number: 14. (10.5153/sro.3123)
Thomas, G. M. 2013. Fat chances? The obesity problem in Tamworth. [Online]. Cost of Living Blog. Available at: http://www.cost-ofliving.net/fat-chances-the-obesity-problem-in-tamworth/
Thomas, G. M. 2012. Rethinking Disability: Bodies, Senses, and Things, by Michael Schillmeier [Book Review]. The Sociological Review 60(3), pp. 575-577. (10.1111/j.1467-954X.2012.02108.x)
Thomas, G. M. 2012. Beyond tagging, poking, and throwing sheep: Using Facebook in social research. Qualitative Researcher(14), pp. 8-10.
Davies, S., Thomas, G. M. and Rucinska, K. 2012. Review: The House of Beasts' Symposium: Enquiries into the human and the animal. Darwin Festival, Shropshire Wildlife Trust, Shrewsbury, 18th February 2012. Humanimalia: A Journal of Human/Animal Interface Studies 4(1), pp. 136-143.
Book sections
In the last few years, I have convened and taught on the modules 'Contemporary Inequalities', 'Sociology of Stigma', 'Live Theory', and 'Advanced Concepts in Contemporary Sociology'. I have also taught on various other undergraduate and postgraduate modules including 'Introduction to Sociology', 'Social Research Methods', 'Ethnography', 'Digital Society', and 'Community, Sustainable Health, and Wellbeing'. I also taught for several years in the Cardiff University School of Medicine, where I introduced undergraduate medical students to key ideas located within the sociology of health, medicine, and illness.
I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
My broad research interests are disability, medicine, health/illness, and reproduction.
I was employed as a Research Associate on the ESRC-funded 'Productive Margins: Regulating for Engagement' project (February 2014-May 2015). This involved working collaboratively with academics, artists, and community organisers/members to map young peoples' experiences of health and wellbeing, regulation, and place. In June 2015, I was a Visiting Fellow at the University of Canberra where I carried out a study with Professor Deborah Lupton on pregnancy and parenting 'apps'.
In 2018, I was awarded a small grant from The Sociological Review as part of their Kick Start Grant scheme. This work explored how parents of disabled children reflected upon their lives within a context of both austerity and a growing presence of positive disability imaginaries enacted through popular media.
In 2022, I was awarded a British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship for the project 'A World of Indifference? Living with Learning Disability in the UK' (grant MCFSS22\220015). The project is based on a qualitative study exploring how adults with learning disability cultivate alternate, and affirmative, identities which celebrate and recognise their worth and humanity. It begins in January 2023 and ends in December 2023.
I have also recently been undertaking a study on older people's involvement in walking football.
Current PhD/PD Students
- Amani Alnamnakani (PhD, 2018-): A qualitative study exploring the lives of disabled Muslim women in the UK
- Patricia Jimenez (PhD, 2018-): A digital competence framework in the making: perceptions, cultures, and practices [co-supervised with Dr Jamie Lewis]
- Kristina Addis (PD, 2020-): An investigation into the support provision of Higher Education students with diagnosed disabilities
- Melissa Martin (PhD, 2020-): An examination of the social implications of hypermobility spectrum disorder and hybermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome as new diagnostic catergories [co-supervised with Dr Rebecca Dimond]
- Mitchell Jones (PD, 2020-): Education engagement with teenagers with cancer: education practitioners' perspectives [co-supervised with Dr Jemma Hawkins]
- Katy Benson (PhD, 2021-): Rethinking stigma: living with a learning disability in the era of 'neoliberal-ableism' [co-supervised with Dr Katy Greenland]
- Jack Hogton (PhD, 2021-): A discussion of the experiences and navigations of students of colour within higher education institutions [co-supervised with Dr Esther Muddiman]
- Joey Toogood (PhD, 2022-): Against all odds: the gambling experiences of young men in the UK
- Rachael Walker (PhD, 2022-): A qualitative study of gambling harms in the UK
Former PhD/PD Students (Awarded)
- Lydia Harper (PhD, 2015-2019): Living with Leber Hereditary Optic Neuropathy: exploring experiences and perspectives of a disruptive mitochondrial condition. [co-supervised with Professor Adam Hedgecoe]
- Kim Dearing (PhD, 2017-2021): The (un)intended consequences of employment policy for people with learning disabilities [co-supervised with Professor Phil Brown]
- Wright, Heather (PD, 2014-2022): What are the experiences of English NHS managers, clinicians and patients of the National cancer waiting times targets? [co-supervised with Professor Alison Bullock]
Prenatal screening for Down's syndrome seen as "routine practice"
Graphic Moves: dynamic exhibition is the next step in the Productive Margins programme
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We are driven by creativity and curiosity to push the frontiers of knowledge.
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Telephone: +44 (0)29 2087 4000
Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF10 3AT