Maurice Roche  (B.Sc.(Econ), Ph.D.) has taught at the L.S.E. and McMaster University and is currently Reader in Sociology at the University of Sheffield. His main interests are in  the sociology of  popular culture and of social policy, particularly in relation to citizenship and in a European context.  As Director of Journalism Development 1992-4 he led the establishment of Sheffield University’s Department of Journalism Studies. He was coordinator of the international SEDEC research network on European citizenship and social inclusion 1995-2000, coordinator of an EU funded network on this theme 1998-2001, and Director of Sheffield University’s  European Social and Cultural Studies centre project 2003-6. He is the author of Rethinking Citizenship: Ideology, Welfare and Change in Modern Society, (1992, Polity Press) and of Mega-Events and Modernity: Olympics and Expos in the Growth of Global Culture, (2000 Routledge); and is co-editor of European Citizenship and Social Exclusion, (1997, Ashgate, with Rik van Berkel). His most recent book is Exploring the Sociology of Europe (2009, Sage, forthcoming).