From 1989 - 2000 I worked as a disability rights campaigner and advocate of parents of deaf children. Having taught Sociology, research methods and a range of heath and care modules in FE (2000 - 2006), I went on to do a Masters degree then PhD in Sociology (2011) at the University of Manchester (UoM). My thesis critically examined the bodily and spoken narratives of middle-aged gay men and ageing in the context of Manchester's developed, differentiated gay (LGB&T) culture(s). I taught gender and sexuality, qualitative research methods, globalization, media and culture and Sociology of personal life for three years in the Sociology Department at UoM before arriving at Edge Hill. I have brought to Edge Hill a research project funded by the ESRC Transformative Research Initative that consulted with older residents and care home staff about the significance of doing research about needs relating to sexuality and intimacy in such settings. As Principal Investigator, I am working with colleagues who are lay members representing voluntary and local government agencies as well as colleagues in Psychology and Nursing Studies at the Universities of Manchester, Bradford and Queensland. We are currently drafting five articles based on narratives generated in fieldwork (May - August 2014. This research is linked to the OPUS initiative (Older People's Understandings of Sexuality) of which I am founder member. We are in the process of applying for funding to do national (possibly cross-national) research on older people 60+ (accommodated in various contexts) and sexuality and intimacy, which will involve putti8ng together a training resource for health and care staff. Publications Simpson P (2012) Perils, Precariousness and Pleasures: Middle-Aged Gay Men Negotiating Urban 'Heterospaces', Sociological Research Online Vol. 17(3). Simpson P (2013a) Differentiating the Self: the Kinship Practices of Middle-Aged Gay Men in Manchester, Families, Relationships and Societies, 2(1): 97-113. Simpson P (2013b) Alienation, Ambivalence, Agency: Middle-aged Gay Men and Ageism in Manchester’s Gay Village, Sexualities. 16(3-4): 283-299. Simpson P (2013c) Work that Body: Distinguishing an Authentic Middle-Aged Gay Self. Critical Studies in Fashion and Beauty 4(1-2): 147-171. Simpson P (2014) ‘Differentiating Selves: Middle-aged Gay Men in Manchester’s Less Visible ‘Homospaces.’ British Journal of Sociology, 65(1): 150–169. Simpson P (2013) Doing Ethnography: Research on Gay Men and Ageing, Sociology Review (A-level Sociology students) 23(2): 9-11. Simpson P (2014) Participant Observation and Interviews: Middle-aged Gay Men’s Responses to Ageing and Ageism. Methods in Action Case Study, Sage Online Publications. Simpson P (2014) Oppression, Acceptance or Civil Indifference? Middle-aged Gay Men’s Accounts of ‘Heterospaces,’ in Roberts S (Ed.) Debating Modern Masculinities: Change, Continuity, Crisis? Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Simpson P (2014) Making Sense Methodologically of Middle-aged Gay Men’s Stories of Ageing in Vanderbeck, R and Worth, N (Eds) Intergenerational Space. London: Routledge. Simpson P (2015) Gender, Sexuality and Ageing, in Barker M and Richards C (Eds) Psychology of Gender and Sexuality, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Simpson P (2015) Middle-aged Gay Men and Ageing: over the Rainbow? Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Simpson P, Horne M, Brown L, Brown Wilson C, Dickinson T and Torkington K (2015) Old/er Care Home Residents, intimacy and Sexuality, Ageing and Society. http://journals.cambridge.org/repo_A10TsJf2PY33ZI. DOI: 10.1017/S0144686X15001105 Simpson P (2016) Ageisms and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer Cultures, The SAGE Encyclopaedia of LGBTQ Studies, Sage: New York (NY)/London. Recent conferences: Simpson P, (on behalf of Horne, M., Brown Wilson, C., Brown L, Dickinson, T). (April 2015) ‘We’ve Had Our Sex Life Way Back’: Old(er) Care Home Residents and Sexual/Intimate Citizenship, British Sociological Association, Lifecourse Stream, Glasgow Caledonian University. Simpson P (April 2015) The Resources of Ageing: Middle-Aged Men’s Accounts of Manchester's Gay Voluntary Organizations (GVOs),British Sociological Association, Lifecourse Stream, Glasgow Caledonian University. Simpson P, (for Horne M, Brown L, Brown Wilson C and Dickinson T) (2015) Sexuality, Intimacy and Older Care Home Residents, European Sociological Association conference, Sexuality stream (Sexual Citizenship II), Technical University, Prague, Czech Republic, 25-28 August 2015. ‘We’ve Had Our Sex Life Way Back’: Older Care Home Residents and Sexuality. Co-presented with Laura Brown, (OPUS & Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester. CQC Inspectors Northern Regional Annual Conference. Mercure Hotel, Manchester, 25 November 2014.