Tina Skinner

Dr. Skinner received her PhD from the University of Sheffield in 1998; she then became a Lecturer in Criminology first at the University of Teesside and then the University of Leicester. She was appointed Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Bath in 2002, and Associate Professor in 2012. She is one of the founders of the Criminology Degree at the University of Bath; and a founder of the Special Interest Group on Disability, Work, Family and Care within the Work and Families Researcher Network. In 2020 she was invited to give evidence to the Women and Equalities Committee of the House of Commons inquiry ‘Unequal Impact: Coronavirus and the Impact on People with Protected Characteristic', to assist them in understanding the economic inequalities for disabled people in particular both prior to and during the pandemic, and whether there is a different impact on disabled men as compared with women. 

Dr Skinner’s research is concerned with gender. There are two areas where she focuses her research: (i) sexual violence and domestic abuse, and (ii) the intersection of work, mothering and dis-ability.

In relation to the former, Dr Skinner is known for her research on survivors of rape and their experiences of SARCs (Sexual Assault Referral Centres), the police and courts. She undertook a Home Office funded project on young survivors’ experiences in the criminal justice system including an evaluation of a SARC. She also edited the book Researching Gender Violence which brought together work of the British Sociological Association’s Violence Against Women Study Group. With Olivia Smith she has published on court responses to rape survivors. More recently she is leading a Home Office evaluation of domestic abuse services in Bath and North East Somerset, alongside participating in a Great Wester 4 project to develop a strategic response to gender based violence at University.

In relation to the latter, her most recent research is on dis-ability[i] and employment. This includes qualitative work on dis-ability, work, the impacts of motherhood and Access to Work (Skinner, 2011 and 2013; Skinner and MacGill, 2015); and large scale quantitative work on the economic well-being of disabled men and women (Kim, Parish and Skinner, 2019), and gender, dis-ability and employment (Kim, Skinner and Parish, 2020). The key findings of the latter two studies are that whilst the dis-ability employment gap may be reducing between disabled and non-disabled people, the gap in economic wellbeing is widening, and disabled women continue to be the most marginalized. She is currently working with Dr. Matt Dickson and Prof Rachel Forester-Jones on an analysis of the effects of becoming disabled and policy on work, wages and wellbeing. This study will be the largest of its kind in the UK, spanning 1991 to 2015 and the first to explore the intersection of gender, ethnicity, education and dis-ability. Dr. Skinner is herself disabled (long-term pain, mental health and dyslexia), and has spoken publically about not only her research but also the implications of dis-ability in her own work/life.

Awards:

• ‘Personal Tutor of the Year’ by the University and Students' Union (2008/9)
• ‘Merit Award’ for the excellence of her lecturing, dissertation supervision and tutoring, by the University of Bath (2010)
• ‘Higher Merit Award’ primarily for her supervision of PhD students (2011)
• 'Contribution Award' for leadership and management (2012)

Research interests:

• Mothering and identity
• Dis-ability and dyslexia
• Dis-ability, employment and well-being
• Sexual violence, the police and courts
• Domestic abuse

Dr Tina Skinner primarily supervises undergraduate and postgraduate students in three areas of research:

• Identity and mothering
• Dyslexia
• Sexual and domestic violence