Biographical Research and New Social Architectures

Lyudmila Nurse is Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Education at the University of Oxford, and Research Director of Oxford XXI think tank. Maggie O’Neill is Professor in Sociology and Criminology and Director of the Institute for Social Sciences in the 21st Century and UCC Futures: Collective Social Futures at University College Cork. Lisa Moran is Dean of Graduate Studies and Head of the Graduate School at the Technological University of the Shannon.

Overview: Theorising the New Social Futures through the Lens of the Past.





Part I Facing the New Turn in Biographical Research: Methodological Adaptations to the New Social Context





Chapter 1. Creative Applications of Biographical Research: Time–Space Interactions in Walking Biographical Methods – Maggie O’Neill and Lyudmila Nurse


Chapter 2. Touching from a Distance: Gaining Intimacy with Research Participants during the COVID-19 Pandemic – Ana Caetano, Magda Nico, Anabela Pereira and Sónia Bernardo Correia


Chapter 3. Collaborative (Auto)ethnography (CAE) for Researching (in) New Social Contexts: Reflections from COVID-19 Lockdown Times in Europe – Lisa Moran and Kateřina Sidiropulu-Janků


Chapter 4. Technological Mediation of Biographical Research and Its Risks – Jerzy Stachowiak





Part II Creative, Inter-disciplinary and Comparative Approaches





Chapter 5. Walking New Horizons for Critically Reflexive Pedagogy and Research- Jerry O’Neill


Chapter 6. The ‘New Normal’ for Oral History? Challenge and Opportunities of Interviewing During the Global Pandemic and Its Aftermath – Jakub Gałęziowski


Chapter 7. Relations Between Biographical Dispositions and Teaching Strategies of Computer Science Teachers During Lockdown: Application of Triangulation in Biographical Research – Andre Epp





Part III the Multidimensionality of Vulnerability and Risk in Biographical Research: Ethics, Vulnerabilities and Trauma





Chapter 8. Sharing Biographical Vulnerabilities in the Focus Group Setting: Building Solidarities, De-individualising Racism and Protective Silences-Tamsin Barber and Diana Yeh


Chapter 9. Revising the Researcher’s “Borders”: The Narrator Demands Expansion of the Researcher’s “Presence” in Storytelling – Oksana Žabko


Chapter 10. – Research Opportunities and Challenges During COVID-19 – The Case of Volunteer Firefighters – Fabienne Seifert (Germany)


Chapter 11. Challenging Inequalities with Critical Biographical Research Methods – Ciara Bradley & Lynsey Kavanagh





Epilogue: Biographical Futures: Responding to the New Challenges – Lyudmila Nurse, Maggie O’Neill & Lisa Moran