Dr Katie Higgins

My research examines social and spatial inequalities. Research interests include: families and wealth; global business elite cohesion; the classed, gendered and racialised processes of elite formation; privileged migration; and qualitative research methods. My work has been published in The Sociological Review, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, and Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, among other journals. I have previously contributed to radio features, blogs and podcasts, including BBC Radio 4 Thinking Allowed, The Conversation and Brexit Brits Abroad.  

As an ESRC New Investigator Research Fellow, my current project examines business elites on a transnational stage through studying the global organisations that facilitate executive peer advisory groups. Prior to this position, I was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Sociology of Elites at the University of Oxford and an Urban Studies Foundation International Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Sheffield.

I hold a PhD in Human Geography and an MSc in Social Research Methods from the University of Sussex, funded by the ESRC. I have been a visiting researcher at Queen’s University, Canada and the University of Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand.  

I’m a co-founder and co-convenor of the BSA Sociology of Elites Study Group, co-founder and co-convenor of the Elite Studies Working Group, and book reviews editor for The British Journal of Sociology.