Maddie Breeze

Dr. Maddie Breeze is a Lecturer in Sociology & Social Policy at the University of Stirling's Department of Sociology, Social Policy & Criminology. She joined in March 2024 after holding academic roles at Queen Margaret University, the University of Strathclyde, Universidade de Lisboa, and the University of Edinburgh since 2010. Her research focuses on queer feminist sociology, particularly the sociology of education and emotions, addressing gender and sexuality inequalities through collaborative, creative methods.

Dr. Breeze holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Edinburgh (2014), with a creative ethnography of women's roller derby. Her monograph "Seriousness and Women's Roller Derby: Gender, Organization, and Ambivalence" won the 2016 British Sociological Association Phillip Abrams Memorial Prize. Current projects include the QUEER CARES research project exploring LGBTQ+ education workers' unpaid care responsibilities post-COVID-19, and ongoing work on imposter syndrome as a public feeling in higher education.

Her research interests span queer feminist approaches to academia, critical sociology of higher education, and the sociology of emotions. She is affiliated with the Gender Studies Research Group and the Education: Theory, Practice, Methodology research theme at Stirling.

• Key Awards: 2016 British Sociological Association Phillip Abrams Memorial Prize
• Supervision: Active in PhD supervision across gender/sexuality topics, currently guiding studies on free period product provision, gender-neutral parenting, and autistic/queer healthcare access.

Dr. Breeze advocates for transformative academic practices through collaborative methods and critical reflexivity, emphasizing queer feminist agency in institutional reform.