Professor Iain Wilkinson

In his role as Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor, Iain Wilkinson leads the University of Kent’s flagship civic missions on the Right of Food and Sanctuary at Kent. He also oversees some of the University of Kent’s teach-out operations. He is also a Professor of Sociology, and in this capacity is perhaps best known for his contributions to studies of social suffering and his explorations of the interrelationship between the acquisition of social understanding and practices of humanitarian social care.

In his sociological work, Professor Wilkinson has been interested to explain how people’s experiences of, and responses to, ‘the problem of suffering’ change through history and between societies. He has attended to the ways in which human suffering operates as a force of social, cultural and political change. This has involved him in explorations of the impact of modern humanitarianism upon the culture and practice of sociology. His publications have contributed to debates in sociological theory, medical sociology, the sociology of emotions and historical sociology. In recent years he has developed an interest in how the Age of Enlightenment and its ideals have influenced the development and mission of sociology. He has also been committed to promote and develop Jane Addams’ approach to “doing sociology” and this informs his engagements with the University of Kent’s civic mission agendas.

Professor Wilkinson has taught a range of core undergraduate modules on classical and contemporary social theory. He has provided an optional module the history of the relationship between the age of enlightenment and sociology. He has provided graduate modules that survey contemporary debates relating to problems of social suffering and modern humanitarianism. 

Professor Wilkinson has supervised projects on Norbert Elias’ theory of the civilizing process, social practices of compassion in everyday life, the sociology of utopia in relation to intergenerational developments in leftist politics,  the social experience of isolation in remote island communities, the impact of experiences of  volunteering on young people’s notions of citizenship,  new forms of on-line humanitarian activism, and the impact of chronic pain conditions on the experience of academic identity. 

Honorary positions

• Visiting Professor at the Institute for Culture and Society, University of Navarra 2016-20
  
• Visiting scholar to the Department of Anthropology, Harvard University 2008-9. 
  
• Visiting scholar to the Department of Anthropology, Monash University, 2009. 

Professional activities 

• Member of the Centres of Excellent Selection Committee for the Research Council of Norway, 2021
• Member of the International Assessment Board (IAB) of the Irish Research Council for Humanities and Social Sciences (IRCHSS) 2011, 2012 and 2013 
  
• Member of the Executive Committee of the British Sociological Association 2003-7.
  
• Member of the Editorial Board of Health Risk and Society 2006- 
  
• Member of the Editorial Board of Sociology 2002-6 
  
• Member of the International Advisory Board of European Journal of Social Theory 2007- 
  
• Member of the Editorial board of Blackwell Sociology Compass 2007- 
  
• Founder and convenor of the British Sociological Association study group on Risk and Society 2001-2007