Dr Herminder Kaur joined the Department of Criminology and Sociology at Middlesex University in September 2017. Since her appointment she has held the position of Programme Leader for BA Sociology and BA Sociology with Criminology programmes (2019-2020) and has been a co-Director of Learning, Teaching and Quality for the School of Business and Law (2020-2021). She is Director of Criminology and Sociology Programmes from September 2021.
Prior to joining Middlesex University, she has held teaching positions at Loughborough University and Bishop Grosseteste University. She has a PhD in Social Sciences from Loughborough University funded by Loughborough University's Doctoral College studentship. Masters in Social Research from the University of Warwick, undergraduate in Sociology from Loughborough University and a Level 1 qualification in British Sign Language from University of Leicester. Presently, she is undertaking a MBA Senior Leader Apprenticeship Programme.
Herminder is a member of European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA) and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). She is Vice-Chair of ECREA Children, Youth and Media Section. She has held a number of content analyst positions for research projects led by the Centre for Research in Communication and Culture, and a Research Assistant position for a project on digital storytelling and de-radicalisation of young people for the School of English, Arts and Drama at Loughborough University.
Herminder is External Examiner for BA Social Science programmes for the School of Applied Sciences at Edinburgh Napier University.
Office Hours:
Herminder offers office hours online and on campus during term time.
On campus: Please email.
Virtual: Please email.
Academic Social Media Profiles:
Twitter handle for ECREA Children, Youth & Media
Herminder teaches on the following modules:
SOC2275 Digital Media and the Social World
SOC3273 Digital and Visual Methods
SOC3280 Life course, Health and Disability
CRM4629 Research Strategies in Social Sciences
Doctoral Supervision:
Herminder is currently co-supervising (with Professor Helen Allan) Meghan Luton whose PhD focuses on experiences of deaf women in maternity services; and David Ring whose PhD focuses on a ethnographic study of Muslims studying nursing.
Herminder is available for doctoral supervision on projects in digital sociology, digital access, use and inequalities among young people, ethnic minorities and older people, use of visual and digital methodologies.
Kaur, H. & Saukko, P. (2022) Social Access: Role of Digital Media in Social Relations of Young People With Disabilities. New Media & Society. Special issue: Digital inclusion of vulnerable people: factors, significance, intersectionality, and policy changes.
Luton, M., Allan, H.T. & Kaur, H. (2021) Deaf women's experiences of maternity in primary care: an integrative review. Midwifery. Online first.
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
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 from the Higher Education Initiative Fund. The funded project 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 currently working on a project titled: Evaluating the refugee crisis response in Greece and Italy: a roundtable bringing together governmental, NGO and academic representatives led by Dr Myrna Papadouka and Dr Giuseppe Serrantino, funded by the HEIF 2021-22 call.
Herminder has held the position of representative for the ECREA Young Scholars Network for the Section: Children, Youth and Media. She has represented 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 proposals for the Association of Internet Researchers Conference. Herminder has reviewed journal papers for journals such as 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.
Winner of MDXSU Awards 2021 in university-wide category for 'Champion of Students'.
Kaur, H. & Valantinaviciute, B. (2021, 14th Oct) Methodological challenges researching digital inequalities with ethnic minorities during covid pandemic. BaDAS: Bourdieu and Data Analysis Seminar, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK.
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.
Race, Ethnicity and Postcolonial Network Roundtable on 'overlooked voices in media audience studies'. The roundtable focused on South Asian women as a media audience and examined how they have been overlooked in audience studies. Participants: Rittika Dasgupta, Herminder Kaur and Hanna Klien Thomas. Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association Conference, Aberdeen, Scotland (2022) on Silenced Voices.
Kaur, H. (2022, October) Impact of Using Digital Media for Social Relations By Young People with Disabilities. Paper presented at the 9th European Communication Conference (ECREA) at Aarhus, Denmark.
Kaur, H. (2022, September) Social access: the role of digital media in social relations of young people with disabilities. Paper presented at the Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association Conference, Aberdeen, Scotland.
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.
