MSc Student Spotlight: J Betts
J joined St Cross College, Oxford, in 2025 as an MSc student, after completing a BSc in Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience at the University of Michigan. While at Michigan, they were the first collegiate wheelchair tennis player to win the Arthur Ashe award with the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
Why do you study sociology?
I love learning about the social world around me and finding ways to investigate and be critical of the seemingly simple ways people relate to one another.
What first attracted you to the Department?
I knew I wanted to study somewhere that prioritised intellectual diversity and differences in opinion, and thought the Department at Oxford provided a great training ground for navigating that kind of environment.
What do you enjoy most about being a student at Oxford?
I love how social the community is, my cohort has been a massive source of inspiration and comfort especially as a partially-international student!
I also really enjoy the college system at Oxford, it makes for a great balance between having a home base and places to explore as much or as little as you'd like.
I was surprised by how many traditions and cultural quirks were new to me - as someone who spent a lot of time in the UK with my British family growing up, it quickly became clear that Oxford is a rich cultural enclave.
What are your research interests?
Sociology of the body, violence, and differential proximities to power.
My thesis is a qualitative, interview-based study on the sex-based rights movement in the UK. My goal is to understand what motivates people to join organisations supporting sex-based rights, and what their involvement looks like and means to them.
I primarily want to explore the contemporary politicisation of women's rights, especially as it manifests in narratives defining vulnerabilities and proclivities to violence along specific identity boundaries. My research will navigate theories of gender and the body while also referring heavily to conflict narratives about fractionalisation and identity-based violence.
Who is your academic hero?
I really admire Jasbir K. Puar's work on biopolitics and bodies as contextualised by conflict - I think it exemplifies the idea that sociology is relevant in any discipline.
What do you hope to do when you finish your MSc?
I'm planning on spending a gap year exploring opportunities for human rights research (both in NGO and governmental contexts) before jumping back into academia for my PhD!
What piece of advice would you give to prospective students?
I'd suggest exploring as many topics as you can, even if you think you're completely settled in your field, and paying attention to what makes you excited to learn more!
It's okay not to have a straight path through academics or your career, there's so much to learn about the world and yourself each step of the way.
Sociology is unique in its ability to encompass such a wide variety of concepts and perspectives, and taking full advantage of that will open so many doors.
What interests do you have outside of sociology?
I row with my college, and play wheelchair tennis and wheelchair basketball when I'm free! I also love taking the train around the UK to escape the Oxford bubble from time to time :)
You can get in touch with J via email.
