Emily Nicholls

Emily joined the University of York in 2021 as a lecturer in Sociology, after working as a lecturer/senior lecturer at the University of Portsmouth since 2015. She has previously worked as a Research Associate (RA) on a collaborative ESRC-funded project ‘If the Shoe Fits: Enabling Patient-Centred Podiatry’ around footwear and identity with the University of Sheffield and Podiatry Services, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals. Prior to this, Emily worked as a Teaching Assistant whilst undertaking her PhD thesis at Newcastle University. Emily also completed an MA in Gender Research at Newcastle University, and a BA in Politics and Philosophy at the University of Leeds.

Her main research interests are in the sociology of consumption and non-consumption, particularly in relation to alcohol, sobriety and veganism. For the past decade her work has focused primarily on (non)drinking, including the links between gender, identity and (non)drinking and drinking practices during lockdown. More recently, her work has explored the marketing and consumption of no and low alcohol drinks. Her current research explores the consumption of plant-based meat substitute products.

Emily has published a full-length monograph on negotiations of femininity on a 'girls' night out' with Palgrave Macmillan. She has also published journal articles around no and low drinks, drinking during the COVID-19 pandemic and women's experiences of early sobriety.