DR SILVIA FALCETTA

Profile

Biography

• BA (Università degli studi di Milano)
• MA (Università degli studi di Milano)
• PhD (Università degli studi di Milano)

Silvia is a Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the University of York. Her background is at the intersection of Sociology of law and Social and political sciences, with an interest in sexuality, human rights, crime and social control. Silvia convenes and teaches across a range of undergraduate and postgraduate modules and is passionate about sustaining a sense of belonging among students.

After studying social and political sciences and sociology of law at the Università degli Studi di Milano, Silvia joined the Department of Sociology on a research contract focusing on sexual orientation, human rights and non-discrimination. She then transitioned to a teaching and scholarship position, which enabled her to pursue her pedagogic interests. She is Fellow with the Higher Education Academy.

Silvia is currently the Chair of the Board of Examiners (2025-). She was the Deputy Chair of the Board of Examiners with responsibility for postgraduate assessments (2022-2025) and in recognition of her work, she was awarded the Making the Difference Award in 2023 and 2024.

Departmental Roles

Chair of Board of Examiners 

Teaching

Overview

Silvia’s pedagogical interests develop across three strands:

• fostering a sense of belonging among students, especially those from marginalised and underrepresented groups in HE
• applying problem-based learning to sociological and criminological teaching
• promoting socio-legal approaches among sociology and criminology students

Silvia has experience of presenting her scholarship work at departmental, university level and external events. 

She obtained a Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice in 2025 and is Fellow with the Higher Education Academy. Silvia has experience of supervising undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations on a range of topics and using methods that include interviews, surveys, socio-legal analysis and news media analysis.

Silvia’s teaching expertise focuses on crime, gender and sexualities, law and social control. She was part of the team that designed and developed the first module in the department that adopts problem-based learning (Investigating social problems). Silvia currently leads on and contributes to the following undergraduate and postgraduate modules:

• Crime, gender and sexuality - module convener
• Law and social control - module convener
• Crime, media and culture
• Understanding contemporary crime

Publications

Selected publications

Silvia's recent publications with a T&S focus include:

Books

• Penfold-Mounce, R. and S. Falcetta (eds) (2026) Innovative Qualitative Methods for Criminology: An Introduction to Dissertation Research, Routledge.
• Facchi, A., S. Falcetta and N Riva (2022) Fundamental Rights in Europe: History, Theories, Cases, Edward Elgar Publishing.

Journal Articles

• Coleman-Fountain, E., Falcetta, S., Hamilton, P., Tutton, R., Campos, R., Gilbourne, J., Molina, P., & Murphy, P. (2025) 'Cultivating Collaboration: Reflections on Introducing Problem-Based Learning in the ‘Wicked World’ of Contemporary Higher Education', Sociology, 0(0), online first.

Other publications

• Falcetta, S. (2026) ‘Gender and students’ sense of belonging in non-STEM disciplines: a scoping literature review’ York Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Journal 8(6) 34-48.