Biography

After graduating from the University of Kent, Claire Wallace taught at Plymouth and Lancaster Universities. During the early 1990s, she helped to set up the Sociology Department at the Central European University Prague, before moving to the Institute for Advanced Studies in Vienna, where she became Head of Sociology.  She has been Professor of Sociology at the University of Aberdeen since 2005

Claire Wallace served as  President of the European Sociological Association, 2007-2009 and was editor of their flagship journal "European Societies". 

Within Aberdeen, she was Director of Research for the College of Arts and Social Sciences, 2008-2011 and then became Vice-Principal for Research and Knowledge Exchange for the University, 2011-2014.  

Research

Claire Wallace has been researching quality of life and was Director of the European Observatory on Social Cohesion and Trust,  2005-2006.   She spent many years working on transitions in Eastern Europe including projects on health in the former Soviet Union, national, regional and European identity as well as work, family and care across Europe. 

More recently, she was a co-investigator at the  Rural Digital Economy Hub (dot.rural) which was aimed at transforming rural areas in the UK using digital technology.  The project was funded by the RCUK, a joint UK research council initiative on the theme of Digital Economy.  As part of this research team she was also partner in the Cultures and Community Network Plus set of projects funded by the EPSRC. 

At present she is a Principal Investigator on an Horizon 2020 Project about Cultural Tourism (https://www.SPOTprojectH2020.eu) and a partner of the  ESRC-sponsored Research Centre DIGIT, focused on digital working (https://digit-research.org/),

Postgraduate Supervision

Claire Wallace would welcome postgraduate students in the following fields: work, care and welfare, quality of life, cultural tourism, digital working and the role of the digital economy in rural areas. 

Research Overview

Claire Wallace is currently Principal Investigator on two projects: Cultural Tourism and Digital Working.

The first is sponsored by Horizon 2020 of the European Union and is comparing cultural tourism in different parts of Europe (www.SPOTprojectH2020.eu).  The Aberdeen part of this is looking at media tourism - that is Tourism related to films, books, TV series

The second project is sponsored by the ESRC and is looking at the future frontiers in digital working (https:digit-research.org)

Teaching Responsibilities

Director of Fourth Year Option "European Societies"