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Professor Rebecca Jones
Profile summary
- Central Academic Staff
- Professor of Sociology, Sexuality and Ageing
- Faculty of Wellbeing, Education & Language Studies
- School of Health, Wellbeing & Social Care
- Health & Social Care
- rebecca.jones
Web links
Professional biography
I am Professor of Sociology, Sexuality and Ageing; my research and teaching interests centre on sociological approaches to later life, sexuality and especially sexuality in later life, often using creative methods. I specialise in producing high-quality distance learning materials, especially on challenging topics around sexuality, and in developing the skills of others in creating distance learning resources. I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
I keep a blog called 'Remembering My Hat', on which I reflect on my practice as an educator and a researcher, and you can follow me on X, where I am @remembermyhat.
Research interests
My research interests centre on ageing, sexuality, and sexuality in later life - there is a short video overviewing some of my research around ageing here. I deploy critical sociological theories and creative methods to challenge neo-liberal visions of successful ageing and rethink later life sexuality. I specialise in LGBTQ issues in later life, particularly ageing and bisexuality: I led the team that published the first empirical work focusing specifically on older bisexual people and used this empirical basis to advance key theoretical questions in sexualities research more widely.
My PhD (completed in 2003) used Critical Discursive Psychology and Conversation Analysis to interrogate older women’s talk about sex and ageing. Since then, I have used a variety of broadly creative, narrative and discursive approaches to investigate a range of topics including: age discrimination, how people imagine their own ageing and later life, normative and non-normative life courses, the ageing of LGBTQ+ people, LGBTQ+ issues in health and social care, and especially ageing and bisexuality. In recent years, I have been involved in a number of global development projects around reproductive and sexual health and rights, leading the development of learning resources to support the provision of better services for the most marginalised groups.
Between 2005 and 2015, I chaired the Centre for Ageing and Biographical Studies (CABS) at The Open University (OU), an active research group drawing together academics and postgraduates working on topics related to ageing. CABS has a long-running seminar and book series with the Centre for Policy on Ageing, focusing on methodological issues in ageing research, which I oversaw in my role as Chair.
I am a long-time member of the British Society of Gerontology, the national professional organisation for gerontologists. I am a Founder Member of BiUK and one of the authors of The Bisexuality Report.
I am an experienced supervisor of PhD students, currently supervising Elizabeth Ascroft's study of co-creating Comprehensive Sexuality Education resources. I would welcome applications from potential PhD students in any area related to my research interests. Please note that we do usually require candidates to have already had some Research Methods training at Masters level before they commence a doctorate.
Teaching interests
Since 2004, I have designed and created content for nine modues within the degree in Health and Social Care, and helped to present three. I have also authored and led the design of five courses on Open Learn and Open Learn Create, mostly for use by international development practitioners working on reproductive and sexual health and rights. I have particular expertise in the production (or course-writing) phase of creating distance teaching materials. I focus particularly on the pedagogical structure which underlies the explicit content and how this can best enable student learning. I run regular courses across the university on these topics, to support our Curriculum Design work. Some of the resources I have created to support this work can be found on my 'Remembering My Hat' blog under the tag 'course-writing resources'.
In 2019-21 I worked on a Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office funded consortium project led by the International Planned Parenthood Federation, which aimed to improve reproductive and sexual health services to the most marginalised and underserved populations in the world. I led the design and production of learning resources.
From 2015-2019 I was Qualifications Lead for the Health and Social Care discipline area, responsible for the quality assurance and day-to-day academic management of four degrees, including the BA(Hons) in Health and Social Care, and their nested qualifications. In 2020 I was awarded a commendation in the university's Recognition of Excellence in Teaching scheme for my work reshaping this degree to develop student potential. In 2022 I led the writing of the Self Evaulation Dcoument for the six-yearly Periodic Qualifications Review for the Health and Social Care Programme area.
International links
I am currently working with Spice FM and Reproductive Health Uganda on a project to explore trusted sources of information about reproductive and sexual health issues among young refugees with little formal education who live in Kyangwali Refugee Settlement.
Externally funded projects
End of Life Care (EOLC) in Care Homes
| Role | Start date | End date | Funding source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Co-investigator | 01 Oct 2022 | 30 Sep 2023 | ESRC Economic and Social Research Council |
The Fellowship disseminates the findings of a mixed-method study of palliative care in care homes and develops a new research project on supporting intimate and sexual relationship in older adults living in care homes. | |||
REact (Rights, Evidence Action): Implementing a human rights documentation and monitoring system
| Role | Start date | End date | Funding source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lead | 03 Jan 2022 | 31 Mar 2022 | Frontline AIDS |
REAct is a piece of work being undertaken as part of the ACCESS research project between the OU and consortium partner, Frontline Aids. The work involves the development of an e-learning version of Frontline Aid’s existing training course delivered, pre-pandemic, face-to-face. The end product will be a 6-hour course published on the OpenLearn Create platform. The work falls under the ‘Access to Justice’ mini-project which the OU is leading (Professor Peter Keogh). Evidence and data of human rights abuses, with a particular focus on Gender Based Violence, gathered by ‘REActors’ is/will be developed for advocacy purposes at both local, regional and national levels and be used to influence policy change - one of the key outputs of the ACCESS research programme. This AMS record covers the work that will fall outside the timeline of the ACCESS project which is being terminated ahead of schedule by FCDO at 31 December 2021. LDS are currently building the course and it is scheduled for presentation in w/c 22 January to a pilot cohort of Frontline Aid partner staff based in Uganda. The course will run over 3-weeks and it is expected that some final minor amendments will be made following feedback from the pilot cohort. This work, scheduled over January to end of March 2022 and estimated at £6000, will be paid for by Frontline Aids who will issue the OU with a service contract. | |||
ACCESS – Approaches in Complex and Challenging Environments for Sustainable SRHR-CO-CREATION PHASE
| Role | Start date | End date | Funding source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Co-investigator | 01 Feb 2019 | 31 Oct 2019 | FCDO Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office |
The ACCESS project will generate sustainable, scalable, rights-based approaches to deliver comprehensive SRHR to all, ensuring no one is left behind, even in the most complex and challenging settings. It will work in Ethiopia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sierra Leone, and Uganda. Three planned outcome changes: 1) Increased demand for and availability of quality, comprehensive SRH services and agency to claim and enjoy rights by the most marginalised populations in complex and challenging environments. (2) Strengthened SRHR capacity, preparedness and resilience of government, civil society and communities in complex and challenging environments, ensuring no one is left behind. (3) Improved national and global policy environment for an effective, coordinated, and evidence-based SRHR response in complex and challenging environments. There are six interlinked work streams, each led by one consortium partner: 1) Delivering comprehensive, quality sexual and reproductive health services: Led by the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) 2) Working with and for the most marginalised and underserved: Led by the International HIV/AIDS Alliance 3) Navigating complex and challenging environments: Led by the Women's Refugee Commission (WRC) 4) Generating high-quality research evidence: Led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) (5) Enhancing capacity-building and learning at scale: Led by the Open University (OU) 6) Influencing through advocacy, engagement and information: Led by Internews | |||
Aspirations of Older People with Sight Loss
| Role | Start date | End date | Funding source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Co-investigator | 01 Mar 2017 | 31 May 2017 | BSG British Society of Gerontology |
This event will be based on in-depth research with 50 older people with vision impairment living in a variety of domestic environments across England plus a smaller number of relatives and practitioners. | |||
Exploring the needs and aspirations of visually impaired older people (VIOP)
| Role | Start date | End date | Funding source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Co-investigator | 01 Oct 2014 | 30 Sep 2015 | TPT Thomas Pocklington Trust |
As we get older we are more likely to live with visual impairment. This is something more than Presbyopia (age-related long sight) and relates to conditions such as macular degeneration and other significant causes of sight loss such as glaucoma, cataracts and diabetic retinopathy. The research aims to enable older people with visual impairments living in the community to express preferences for where and with what kinds of support they would like to live. Through in-depth interviews guided by participants the research will focus on what helps or hinders everyday living and how people can achieve what they value most in life. | |||
Publications
Journal articles
“Courage to cobble something new”: Women's queer and creative narratives of bisexuality and ageing (2023-06)
Jones, Rebecca L.; Jen, Sarah and Reiter, Bea
Journal of Aging Studies, 65, Article 101133
Imagining feminist old age: Moving beyond ‘successful’ ageing? (2022-12)
Jones, Rebecca L.
Journal of Aging Studies, 63, Article 100950
Revisioning ageing futures: Feminist, queer, crip and decolonial visions of a good old age (2022-12)
Jones, Rebecca L.; Changfoot, Nadine and King, Andrew
Journal of Aging Studies, 63, Article 101083
Virtual roundtable discussion of ‘Revisioning ageing futures: Feminist, queer, crip and decolonial visions of a good old age’ (2022-12)
Jones, Rebecca L.; Marshall, Barbara and Sandberg, Linn
Journal of Aging Studies, 63, Article 101082
Imagining Queer Futures Beyond Boundaries: A Narrative Analysis of Creative Writing (2022-11)
Jen, Sarah and Jones, Rebecca
Innovation in Aging, 6(Supplement) (pp. 136-136)
Care in late life, end of life and in bereavement for the oldest LGBT generations around the globe (2022)
Almack, Kathryn; King, Andrew and Jones, Rebecca L
Sexualities, 25(1-2) (pp. 3-8)
Later life sex and Rubin’s ‘Charmed Circle' (2020)
Jones, Rebecca
Sexuality and Culture, 24 (pp. 1480-1498)
Courage to Cobble Something New: Creative Representations of Bisexuality and Aging (2020)
Jen, Sarah and Jones, Rebecca
Innovation in Aging, 4(Supplement) (pp. 611-611)
Life course perspectives on (bi)sexuality: Methodological tools to deprivilege current identities (2019-10-01)
Jones, Rebecca L.
Sexualities, 22(7-8) (pp. 1071-1093)
Bisexual Lives and Aging in Context: A Cross-National Comparison of the United Kingdom and the United States (2019-07-01)
Jen, Sarah and Jones, Rebecca
International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 89(1) (pp. 22-38)
Older Bisexual People: Implications For Social Work From The ‘Looking Both Ways’ Study (2018)
Jones, Rebecca; Almack, Kathryn and Scicluna, Rachael
Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 61(3) (pp. 334-347)
Guidelines for researching and writing about bisexuality (2012)
Barker, Meg; Yockney, Jen; Richards, Christina; Jones, Rebecca; Bowes-Catton, Helen and Plowman, Tracey
Journal of Bisexuality, 12(3) (pp. 376-392)
Imagining bisexual futures: positive, non-normative later life (2011-04)
Jones, Rebecca L.
Journal of Bisexuality, 11(2-3) (pp. 245-270)
BiReCon: An International Academic Conference on Bisexuality (2011-04)
Barker, Meg; Richards, Christina; Jones, Rebecca and Monro, Surya
Journal of Bisexuality, 11(2-3) (pp. 157-170)
'Older people' talking as if they are not older people: Positioning theory as an explanation (2006-01)
Jones, Rebecca L.
Journal of Aging Studies, 20(1) (pp. 79-91)
'That's very rude, I shouldn–t be telling you that': older women talking about sex (2002)
Jones, Rebecca
Narrative Inquiry, 12(1) (pp. 121-142)
Book chapters
Aging and Bisexuality (2024)
Jones, Rebecca L.
In: Goldberg, Abbie E. ed. The Sage Encyclopedia of LGBTQ Studies, 2nd Edition
ISBN : 9781071891421 | Publisher : SAGE Publications, Inc. | Published : California, USA
Bisexuell und Altern(n) (2020-06-08)
Jones, Rebecca and Lottman, Ralf
In: Zeyen, Tamara-Louise; Brunnett, Regina; Lottman, Ralf and Kegelmann, Mechthild eds. LSBTIQ* und Alter(n): Ein Lehrbuch für Pflege und Soziale Arbeit (pp. 103-110)
ISBN : 9783525702727 | Publisher : Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht | Published : Göttingen
Bisexual ageing: What do we know and why should we care? (2018-09-03)
Jones, Rebecca
In: King, Andrew; Almack, Kathryn; Suen, Yiu-Tung and Westwood, Sue eds. Older Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans People: Minding the knowledge gaps. (pp. 10-26)
ISBN : 9781138644939 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : Abingdon
Bisexuality and ageing: Why it matters for social work practice (2018-04-05)
Almack, Kathryn; Jones, Rebecca L. and Scicluna, Rachael
In: Dunk-West, Priscilla and Hafford-Letchfield, Trish eds. Sexuality, Sexual Identity and Intimacy Research in Social Work and Social Care: A Lifecourse Epistemology (pp. 142-154)
ISBN : 9781138225879 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : Abingdon
Aging and Bisexuality (2016-05-12)
Jones, Rebecca L.
In: Goldberg, Abbie E. ed. The SAGE Encyclopedia of LGBTQ Studies (pp. 57-61)
ISBN : 9781483371283 | Publisher : Sage
Sexual identity labels and their implications in later life: The case of bisexuality (2016-01-06)
Jones, Rebecca L.
In: Peel, Elizabeth and Harding, Rosie eds. Ageing and Sexualities: Interdisciplinary Perspectives
ISBN : 978-1-4724-3215-5 | Publisher : Routledge
Introduction: The Future as a Topic in Ageing Research (2014)
Bornat, Joanna and Jones, Rebecca L.
In: Bornat, Joanna and Jones, Rebeccca L. eds. Imagining Futures: Methodological Issues for Research into Ageing. The Representation of Older People in Ageing Research Series (13) (pp. 1-11)
ISBN : 978 0 90413 914 3 | Publisher : Centre for Policy on Ageing
Imagining the unimaginable: bisexual roadmaps for ageing (2012)
Jones, Rebecca L.
In: Ward, Richard; Rivers, Ian and Sutherland, Mike eds. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Ageing: Biographical Approaches for Inclusive Care and Support (pp. 21-38)
ISBN : 978-1-84905-257-3 | Publisher : Jessica Kingsley | Published : London
Imagining old age (2011-11-30)
Jones, Rebecca L.
In: Katz, Jeanne; Peace, Sheila and Spurr, Sue eds. Adult lives: A life course perspective (pp. 18-26)
ISBN : 9781447300441 | Publisher : Policy Press | Published : Bristol
Troubles with bisexuality in health and social care (2010)
Jones, Rebecca L.
In: Jones, Rebecca L. and Ward, Richard eds. LGBT Issues: Looking beyond Categories. Policy and Practice in Health and Social Care (10) (pp. 42-55)
ISBN : 978-1-906716-05-9 | Publisher : Dunedin Academic Press | Published : Edinburgh
Queerying care: Dissident Trans identities in health and social care settings (2010)
Alleyn, Chrissy and Jones, Rebecca L.
In: Jones, Rebecca L and Ward, Richard eds. LGBT Issues: Looking beyond categories. Policy and Practice in Health and Social Care (10) (pp. 56-68)
ISBN : 978-1-906716-05-9 | Publisher : Dunedin Academic Press | Published : Edinburgh
Intersections of Ageing and Sexuality: Accounts from Older People (2008)
Ward, Richard; Jones, Rebecca; Hughes, Jonathan; Humberstone, Nicola and Pearson, Rosalind
In: Ward, Richard and Bytheway, Bill eds. Researching age and multiple discrimination. The representation of older people in ageing research (8) (pp. 45-72)
ISBN : ISBN 978-1-901097-11-5 | Publisher : Centre for Policy on Ageing / The Open University | Published : London, UK
Editors' Introduction (2006)
Jones, Rebecca L. and Percival, John
In: Jones, Rebecca L. and Percival, John eds. Language and later life: issues methods and representations. The representation of older people in ageing research (7) (pp. 1-3)
ISBN : 9781901097061 | Publisher : Centre for Policy on Ageing / The Open University | Published : London, UK
Recruiting older women to talk about sex: some practical and theoretical reflection (2005)
Jones, Rebecca
In: Holland, Caroline ed. Recruitment and sampling: qualitative research with older people. The representation of older people in ageing research series (5) (pp. 44-56)
ISBN : 1901097951 | Publisher : Centre for Policy on Ageing | Published : London
Response to commentaries on “‘That's very rude, I shouldn't be telling you that’: older women talking about sex” (2004)
Jones, Rebecca
In: Bamberg, Michael and Andrews, Molly eds. Considering counter-narratives: narrating, resisting, making sense. Studies in narrative (4) (pp. 213-219)
ISBN : 902722644X | Publisher : John Benjamins | Published : Amsterdam, Netherlands
Edited books
Intersections of ageing, gender and sexualities: Multidisciplinary international perspectives (2019-03-21)
King, Andrew; Almack, Kathryn and Jones, Rebecca L. eds.
Ageing in a Global Context
ISBN : 978-1-4473-3302-9 | Publisher : Policy Press | Published : Bristol
Imagining Futures: Methodological Issues for Research into Ageing (2014)
Bornat, Joanna and Jones, Rebecca eds.
The Representation of Older People in Ageing Research
ISBN : 978-0-90413-914-3 | Publisher : Centre for Policy on Ageing | Published : London
LGBT Issues: Looking beyond categories (2010)
Jones, Rebecca L. and Ward, Richard eds.
Policy and Practice in Health and Social Care
ISBN : 978-1-906716-05-9 | Publisher : Dunedin Academic Press | Published : Edinburgh
Language and later life: Issues, methods and representations (2006)
Jones, Rebecca L. and Percival, John eds.
The representation of older people in ageing research
ISBN : 1 901097 06 4 | Publisher : Centre for Policy on Ageing / The Open University | Published : London, UK
Conference items
Life or Death Decisions: online engagement using films to explore advance care planning (2020-03-19)
Borgstrom, Erica; Lucassen, Mathijs; Jones, Rebecca; Amoah, Sas; Axtell-Powell, Georgia and Cooke, Georgie
In : Palliative Care Congress (19-20 Mar 2020, Telford, England)
Other
Knowledge, resources and access to sexual and reproductive health and rights: The views and experiences of young refugees living in Kyangwali refugee settlement, Western Uganda (2023-06)
Jones, Rebecca L.; Bbaale, Leilah; Charitonos, Koula; Alla-Mensah, Joyceline; Hewitt, Jenny; Matova, Quraish; Daira Marylyn, Fanta; Ireen, Munyandinda; Blessing, Miskat Mariata and Pross, Ninsiima
The Open University, Milton Keynes.
Principles in practice. Co-creation of Learning in complex and challenging environments. Discussion Guide and Toolkit. (2021-12)
Charitonos, Koula; Hoggart, Lesley; Jones, Rebecca; Keogh, Peter and Scott, Ellen
The Open University and the ACCESS consortium
The impact of dance and movement on learning, health, wellbeing and quality of life of older adults living with or without dementia and/or Parkinson's in the community: a systematic review protocol. (2019)
Gracia, Rosaria; Vseteckova, Jitka and Jones, Rebecca
PROSPERO CRD42019127953
The Bisexuality Report: Bisexual inclusion in LGBT equality and diversity (2012)
Barker, Meg; Richards, Christina; Jones, Rebecca; Bowes-Catton, Helen; Plowman, Tracey; Yockney, Jen and Morgan, Marcus
Centre for Citizenship, Identity and Governance. The Open University
How can adult social care services become more accessible and appropriate to LGBT people? (2010-03)
Ward, Richard and Jones, Rebecca
Research in Practice for Adults, Dartington, Totnes.
