Professor Justin Waring

PhD (University of Nottingham)

  • Dean of Social Sciences and Humanities
  • Professor of Sociology

Justin is Dean of Social Sciences and Humanities, providing strategic leadership across the School’s six academic departments. He also contributes to university-wide initiatives in areas such as health and care research, civic engagement, and people and culture.


Justin is an accomplished university leader, having held leadership positions at the Health Services Management Centre, University of Birmingham; Director of the NIHR BRACE Rapid Evaluation Centre; Associate Dean for Research at Nottingham University Business School; and Implementation Lead for NIHR Applied Research Collaboration East Midlands. He was the Founding Director of the Centre for Health Innovation, Leadership and Learning, at the University of Nottingham. 

Justin is a distinguished medical sociologist whose research deals with the changing organisation and governance of health care services. His work is defined by a commitment to inter-disciplinary scholarship, especially through bringing together ideas and debates found across social and policy sciences, health sciences, and business and management. He has published extensively in world leading journals that reflect his interdisciplinary approach, such as Social Science and Medicine, Public Administration, Organization Studies, and BMJ Quality and Safety.


Justin completed a BA(Hons) in Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Liverpool, followed by a MSc in Healthcare Policy and Management at the University of Birmingham, and a PhD in Sociology at the University of Nottingham that focused the governance of medical mistakes. He has held visiting positions at University of Manchester, University of Gothenburg, and University of Cambridge. He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and Academy of Social Sciences.