Dr Helen Holmes

Biography

I am an interdisciplinary social scientist with expertise in the sociology of consumption, materiality and diverse economies, particularly circular economy.

Having completed a Geography BA at Durham University in 2002, I went on to carve out a career in marketing working for Yell PLC and The Co-operative Bank.  

In 2005 I returned to academia and gained my MA in Human Geography Research at Sheffield University.  I remained at Sheffield for the next nine years, undertaking an ESRC funded PhD exploring hair, hairdressing and the practices of women’s haircare (supervised by Prof Nicky Gregson),  followed by two post-doctoral positions investigating interdisciplinary collaborations between material science and social science.

I joined Manchester in 2015 as a Hallsworth Fellow based at the Sustainable Consumption Institute (SCI), undertaking a project exploring contemporary forms of thrift.  I was made a research fellow of the SCI in 2018, followed by my appointment as Lecturer of Sociology in 2020.  I am also a member of the Morgan Centre for Research into Everyday Lives.

I am the UoM Sustainable Futures champion lead for Inclusive and Prosperous Growth, a member of the Sustainable Consumption Institute Management Group and sit on the University Research Ethics Committee (UREC 5). I am former Editor and Co-editor-in-Chief of the Sage journal Sociology (2018-22)).