Dr Mark Cieslik

Assistant Professor

Department: Social Sciences

Mark Cieslik has been teaching sociology and conducting research since the 1990s, initially at the University of Teesside and from 2009 at Northumbria University. He has worked on projects exploring youth transitions; the role of literacy in identities and life chances and several projects exploring everyday experiences of happiness and wellbeing. He has published mongraphs and textbooks and edited books around young people, biographies, ageing and wellbeing. Mark has taught across the undergraduate sociology curriculum including social theory, offering specialist options in education; young people; and happiness/wellbeing. Mark has been programme leader for sociology at various points since he 1990s; been convenor for British Sociological Association Youth Study Group and also the Happiness Study Group, organising various seminars and conferences around these areas of research.

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Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

Mark has undertaken research into the life course and biographies since the 1990s, initially around young people and education, then basic skills and literacies and more recently focusing on wellbeing and happiness. Mark's recent projects involve everyday experiences of wellbeing as well research into mindfulness and also a comparative qualitative study of wellbeing in the Netherlands and the UK.

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Developing a Biographical Approach to Happiness and Wellbeing, Cieslik, M. 25 May 2021, Researching Happiness, Bristol, Bristol University Press
Developing qualitative, biographical research into happiness and wellbeing a sociological perspective, Cieslik, M. 15 Jun 2021, A Modern Guide to Wellbeing Research, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar
Researching Happiness: Qualitative, Biographical and Critical Perspectives, Cieslik, M. 25 May 2021
Sociology, biographical research, and the development of critical happiness studies, Cieslik, M. 5 Dec 2019, Critical Happiness Studies, London, Taylor & Francis
The Happiness Riddle and the Quest for a Good Life, Cieslik, M. 2017
The influence of basic skills and literacy practices on youth transitions and identities, Cieslik, M., Simpson, D. 14 Oct 2016, Routledge Handbook of Youth and Young Adulthood (Second Edition), Abingdon, Taylor & Francis
Youth Studies: Fundamental Issues and Debates, Cieslik, M. 1 Mar 2016, In: Cultural Sociology
Basic skills, literacy practices and the 'Hidden Injuries of Class', Cieslik, M., Simpson, D. 28 Feb 2015, In: Sociological Research Online
'Not Smiling but Frowning': Sociology and the 'Problem of Happiness', Cieslik, M. Jun 2015, In: Sociology
Introduction: Happiness Studies [Editorial], Cieslik, M. 30 May 2014, In: Sociological Research Online

PGR Supervision

Tania Thomas (In)compatible with life: making sense of happiness in adults with complex congenital heart disease Start Date: 01/10/2022
George Stobbart Refugee and asylum-seeking children and their families: exploring processes of ‘integration’ within a dispersal area. Start Date: 23/10/2013 End Date: 01/07/2022
Deborah Booth Narratives of Bonded Labour Start Date: 01/10/2019 End Date: 17/05/2022
Richard Gibbons Happiness and the Body: Wellbeing through an Embodiment Lens Start Date: 08/02/2018 End Date: 19/11/2022

Qualifications

Sociology PhD June 30 1997

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