Erica Southgate is a Senior Lecturer and researcher in the School of Education at the University of Newcastle (UoN). For over two decades she has conducted qualitative social research in the areas of education and health, with a focus social disadvantage and marginalisation. Erica is interested in applying feminist poststructural and Foucauldian social theory to complex social issues. Erica’s recent publications have focused on the role of emotion and sociality in qualitative research, deconstructing widening participation policy in Australian higher education, and social class, schooling and educational aspiration and pathways.