Sara Lynne Arber (born 19 March 1949) is a British sociologist and Professor at

University of Surrey The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its royal charter in 1966, along with a number of other institutions following recommendations in the Robbins Report. The institu ...

. Arber has previously held the position of President of the

British Sociological Association The British Sociological Association (BSA) is a scholarly and professional society for sociologists in the United Kingdom, and was founded in 1951. It publishes the academic journals ''Sociology'', '' Work, Employment and Society, Sociological Re ...

(1999–2001) and Vice-President of the

European Sociological Association The European Sociological Association (ESA) is an academic association of European sociologists with over 2800 members. It is a member of the Initiative for Science in Europe and the International Sociological Association. History ESA was establi ...

(2005–07). She is well known for her work on

gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures us ...

and

ageing Ageing ( BE) or aging ( AE) is the process of becoming older. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi, whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentially biologically immortal. In ...

, inequalities in

health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

and has pioneered research in the new field of sociology of sleep.

Career

Arber was born on 19 March 1949 in

Chingford Chingford is a town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. The town is approximately north-east of Charing Cross, with Waltham Abbey to the north, Woodford Green and Buckhurst Hill to the east, Walthamstow ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, England, and raised in

Thames Ditton Thames Ditton is a suburban village on the River Thames, in the Elmbridge borough of Surrey, England. Apart from a large inhabited island in the river, it lies on the southern bank, centred 12.2 miles (19.6 km) southwest of Charing Cro ...

, Surrey. She graduated from the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 mill ...

with a

First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

in Sociology 1972. She went onto postgraduate study at

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degre ...

and

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

before joining the Sociology Department of the University of Surrey as a Lecturer in 1974. She obtained her PhD by publications from the

in 1991. She was made a Professor there in 1994, she acted as Head of Department (1996–2002) and Head of the School of Human Sciences (2001–04). She has served on various committees of the

Economic and Social Research Council The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), formerly the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). UKRI is a non-departmental public body (NDPB) funded by the UK government. ESRC provides fund ...

(ESRC) since 1984 and was a member of the Grants Assessment Panel (2008–12). As well as presidency of the

, she has also acted as President of the

International Sociological Association The International Sociological Association (ISA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to scientific purposes in the field of sociology and social sciences. It is an international sociological body, gathering both individuals and national sociolo ...

Research Committee on Sociology of Ageing (2006–10). She was a member of the 2014 REF (

Research Excellence Framework The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is a research impact evaluation of British higher education institutions. It is the successor to the Research Assessment Exercise and it was first used in 2014 to assess the period 2008–2013. REF is under ...

) Panel for Sociology.

Work

Ageing and gender

One of Arber's main areas of research has been in the field of the Sociology of Ageing and how gender inequalities develop in later life. Much of the seminal work in this discipline was developed together with Jay Ginn, such as ''Connecting Gender and Ageing'' in 1995 which won the

Age Concern Age Concern is the banner title used by a number of charitable organizations (NGOs) specifically concerned with the needs and interests of all older people (defined as those over the age of 50) based chiefly in the four countries of the United King ...

prize for best book on Ageing in 1996 and ''Gender and Ageing: Changing Roles and Relationships''. In 2000 she established and is Co-Director of the '' Centre for Research on Ageing and Gender'' (CRAG) at University of Surrey. She is co-editor of ''Contemporary Grandparenting: Changing Family Relationships in Global Contexts''.

Sleep

Sara has been pioneering empirical research on the sociology of sleep since 2001. Recent research was done through SomnIA (Sleep in Ageing), a four-year collaborative research project including researchers from sociology,

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

neuroendocrinology Neuroendocrinology is the branch of biology (specifically of physiology) which studies the interaction between the nervous system and the endocrine system; i.e. how the brain regulates the hormonal activity in the body. The nervous and endocrine ...

, engineering,

nursing Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ...

and medicine. The SomnIA research covered various aspects of quality of sleep including amongst older people in care homes. Professor Arber has analysed survey data on the sleeping habits of 14,000 households finding that one in 10 people are using medication to assist in getting to sleep, and women have more problems getting to sleep than men. She has also researched "The biomedical and sociological effects of sleep restriction" for an EU

Marie Curie Marie Salomea Skłodowska–Curie ( , , ; born Maria Salomea Skłodowska, ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first ...

research project focused on the effects of lack of sleep on health and wellbeing.

Honours

In 2000, Arber was elected into Academician of the Academy of the Social Science (AcSS): in 2014, after a change in name, she became a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Science (FAcSS). In 2008, she was elected a

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in the United Kingdom # C ...

(FBA), the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and social sciences. In 2012, she was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

(FRSA). Sara was awarded the British Society of Gerontology Outstanding Achievement Award 2011 for her research on ageing. In 2017, Arber received the

Distinguished Service to British Sociology award, given annually to an "outstanding individual who has contributed most to the discipline by leading an extraordinary life as a sociologist".

Selected works

* * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arber, Sara 1949 births Living people British sociologists Alumni of the London School of Economics Alumni of the University of London Alumni of the University of Surrey Academics of the University of Surrey People from Chingford Presidents of the British Sociological Association University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of the Academy of Social Sciences British women sociologists Medical sociologists