Dr Herminder Kaur joined the Department of Criminology and Sociology in 2017, and has held the position of a Programme Leader of BA Sociology and BA Sociology with Criminology programmes from 2019-2020. From September 2020 she has taken on the role of a co-Director of Learning, Teaching and Quality for the School of Law. As of February 2021 Herminder has been appointed as a external examiner in the School of Applied Sciences at Edinburgh Napier University.
Prior to joining Middlesex University, Herminder has taught on undergraduate sociology programmes at Loughborough University and Bishop Grosseteste University. She obtained her doctorate from Loughborough University, which was funded by Loughborough University's Doctoral College studentship. Whilst at Loughborough University, Herminder has been a co-convenor for the Culture and Media Analysis Research Group and has worked as a content analyst for the 2017 General Election, 2015 General Election and 2016 Referendum projects led by the Centre for Research in Communication and Culture. She also worked as a research assistant for a project on digital storytelling and de-radicalisation of young people for the School of English, Arts and Drama.
Postgraduate Teaching Certification (PGCert) in Higher Education, Middlesex University London
Level 1 in British Sign Language, Awarded by Institute of British Sign Lanuage, University of Leicester
Doctorate in Digital Sociology, Loughborough University
Masters in Social Research, The University of Warwick
Undergraduate in Sociology, Loughborough University
Room: WG26 (Ground Floor, Williams Building)
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Twitter: @HerminderKaur
Dr Kaur explains her research into how young people with disabilities move within and between social media and websites.
Doctoral Supervision
Meghan Luton (2020-) Dissertation topic: Experiences of Deaf Women in Maternity Services. Co-supervised with Professor Helen T Allan.
Herminder has research interests on how young people with physical disabilities access and use the Internet. She develops and uses ethnographic and visual methods. Four key themes emerge from her current research: rhythms and movements of internet use, online relationships, stigma and exclusion, internet regulation by teachers and parents, and the enactment of disability.
Kaur, H. & Saukko, P. (under review) Social Access: How digital media hinder and facilitate social inclusion of young people with disabilities. New Media & Society.
Kaur, H., Saukko, P. and Lumsden, K. (2018) Rhythms of moving in and between digital media: a study on video diaries by young people with physical disabilities. Mobilities. 13, 3: 397-410. DOI: 10.1080/17450101.2017.1355349
(2017) Announcement of doctoral thesis. Disability & Society, 32 (6) 939-943.
Kaur, H. (2019) Young men with physical disabilities struggle for digital sex(uality). In Lumsden, K. & Harmer, E. (eds.) Online Othering. Palgrave Studies in Cybercrime and Cybersecuirty. Palgrave Macmillan.
Kaur, H. (2016) It's like they're looking inside your body or inside your brain.' Internet surveillance practices in a special school, pp. 73-84 in Kramp, L., Carpentier, N., Hepp, A., Kilborn, R., Kunelius, R., Nieminen, H., Olsson, T., Pruulmann-Vengerfeldt, P., Tomanic Trivundza, I., Tosoni, S. (Eds.) Politics, Civil Society and Participation: Media and Communications in a Transforming Environment. Bremen: edition lumiere.
Kaur, H. (2017) Not All Young People Move Rapidly in and Between Digital Media. Discover Society, DS48.
Herminder has been a PI awarded with a small research grant (£5000) from the Higher Education Initiative Fund. The project being funded is titled: Exploring Digital Media Access, Use and Skills Among South Asians in England, and is being co-led with Dr Myrna Papadouka, Dr Rima Saini and Research Assistant Brigita Valantinaviciute.
Herminder is a representative for the ECREA Young Scholars Network for the temporary working group: Children, Youth and Media. She will be representing the group at the 2021 Braga conference. She has previously represented the group on at the ICA (2018) Pre-Conference on Trust, control and privacy: Mediatisation of childhood and adolescence in the digital age. Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
Herminder is a Committtee Member for the International Conference Social Media and Society Conferences since November 2019.
She has also reviewed journal papers for New Media & Society and Journal of Adolescence.
2019-2020: As part of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport Member of Digital Skills and Inclusion Research Working Group, Herminder has worked on a project team to update national toolkit titled ‘What Works’
2018-2020: As a Associate Member of the Digital Participation Group for the East Midlands Later Life Forum. Herminder has worked on a project team to compile a resource pack that encourages older people to recognise potential of using digital technologies and to attend local library services to develop digital skills.
Invited Seminars
Kaur, H. (2019, 15th May) Journeys and politics of digital media use by young people with physical disabilities. Department of Educational Research Seminar. Lancaster University. UK.
Kaur, H. (2017, May) Using Visual Methods. Paper presented for Liquid Lab, Loughborough University. Loughborough, UK.
Kaur, H. (2021, April) Social Access: How digital media hinder and facilitate social inclusion of young people disabilities. British Sociological Association Annual Conference, 2021.
Kaur, H., Valantinaviciute, B., Papadouka, M. & Saini, R. (2021, April) A snapshot of British South Asians Encountering Misinformation Online During Covid-19 lockdown. British Sociological Association Annual Conference, 2021.
Kaur, H. (2018, Nov) Rhythms of moving in and out of digital media: a study on video diaries of young people with physical disabilities. Paper presented at the 7th European Communication Conference, Lugano, Switzerland.
Kaur, H. (2018, 19th July) Social Access. Young People with Physical Disabilities Seek Acceptance through Digital Media. Presented at the 9th International Conference on Social Media and Society, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Kaur, H. (2018, 1st June) Struggles to Overcome Bodily Stigma on Social Networking Sites. Paper presented at the Instagram Conference 2018. Middlesex University, UK.
Kaur, H. (2018, 9th May) Struggles for Social Access. Young People with Physical Disabilities in Online Relationships. Paper presented at the Interdisciplinary Conference on Disability, UCL, London, UK.
Kaur, H. (2017, June) Unravelling the Rhythms of Moving in and out of the Internet. Paper presented at Connected Life 2017, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Kaur, H. (2016, November) Teenagers with a Physical Disability and their Online Relationships. Paper presented at 6th European Communication Conference (ECREA). Prague, Czech Republic.
Kaur, H. (2015, April) Internet Use by Physically Dis-Abled Young People. Paper presented at British Sociological Association Annual Conference 2015. Glasgow, Scotland.
Kaur, H. (2014, September) Disability and Physically Dis-Abled Teenagers. Paper presented at Disability Studies Conference 2014. Lancaster, England.
