Utsa Mukherjee

Dr. Utsa Mukherjee is a Senior Lecturer in Education at Brunel University London and serves as the Director of Equality and Diversity within the Department of Education. Previously, she held academic positions at the University of Southampton, Birkbeck University of London, and the University of Roehampton. Her research integrates Sociology and Social Geography to examine childhood/youth studies, social inequality, leisure, and migration through a social justice lens.

• Qualifications: PhD in Sociology (Royal Holloway, University of London), BA in English with Sociology and History (Presidency University Kolkata)

Her work focuses on how structural inequalities shape the lived experiences of minoritized groups, particularly racialized minority children in the UK and sexual minority youth in India. She explores topics such as leisure practices, parenting cultures, childhood agency, and critical race/sexuality theories. Her research spans South Asia and its diaspora, employing ethnographic and critical methodologies.

Recent publications analyze childhood masculinities, decolonizing leisure rights, and the intersection of race, class, and parenting. Awards include the British Sociological Association’s Philip Abrams Memorial Prize runner-up (2024). She supervises PhD/EdD researchers in education-related projects and holds editorial roles in journals like Journal of Family Studies and Schole.

• Grants:
  • Centring Families in Iceland’s Just Transition (Brunel University London, 2023-2024)
  • Childhood Inequalities and Leisure (Froebel Trust, 2022-2024)
  • Research and Development Fund (Leisure Studies Association, 2022-2023)

Professional memberships include the British Sociological Association, American Sociological Association, and the Royal Geographical Society’s Geographies of Children, Youth and Families Research Group. Her outreach includes co-founding the Academy of Social Sciences and serving on the Leisure Studies Association executive committee.