Liam Wignall

Liam Wignall is a senior lecturer in Psychology at the University of Brighton. He is a member of the British Psychology Society and committee member for the BPS Sexualities Section, a Fellow of the International Academy of Sex Researchers, and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He is a senior member of the Research Action Group for the charity The Loop, and a research affiliate for the Centre of Positve Sexuality. Prior to Brighton, he was a senior lecturer in Psychology at Bournemouth University.

Liam's work primarily focuses on the impact of the internet and the role of community participation for non-heterosexual individuals who engage in kink practices. Specfically, he has published on how the internet is used by kinky gay and bisexual men as a way of generating kink identities, connecting with others, and forging communities online and offline. He has also documented the development of the kink subculture of pup play, demonstrating how the internet is embedded into origin narratives and serves as a tool for connectivity.

His work also explores sexual consent, non-exclusive sexualities, consumption of pornography, sexul risk behaviours, social deviance and the interface of sexuality with illicit drug use, and the social impact of COVID-19, with a focus on sexual practices and sexual cultures. 

He has published on these areas in leading international journals, including Archives of Sexual Behaviour, Journal of Sex Research, Psychology & Sexuality, Sexual Medicine, Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, British Journal of Sociology, and Culture, Health and Sexuality. His sole-authored monograph, Kinky in the Digital Age, was published with Oxford University Press in 2022. His edited book, The Power of BDSM, was also published with Oxford University Press in 2023.

Liam is currently editor for the journal Psychology of Sexualities Review, associate editor for Psychology & Sexuality, and the Journal of Positive Sexuality, and sits on the editorial board for the Journal of Sex Research. He is also co-editor for the Oxford University Press book series on Sexuality, Identity and Society. He is currently guest editing a special issue in Current Opinion in Psychology on Sexual and Gender Diversity in the 21st Century. 

Liam is interested in supervising students in the following areas: kink/BDSM identities/practices/behaviours (especially in relation to non-heterosexual populations); sexual health and well-being; sexual identities/behvaiours/subcultures and cross-overs with the internet.

Liam has a longstanding collaboration with the charity The Loop. The Loop provides drug safety testing, welfare and harm reduction services at nightclubs, festivals and other leisure events. It also provides staff training on drugs awareness, in-house welfare service delivery, the prevention of drug related harm at events, and the delivery of ethical 'front of house' drug safety testing services. He is a senior researcher on the Research Action Group of The Loop and supports all aspects of research activity, including data collection and analysis, ethics, staff training and publications. He has published on this strand of research in Contemporary Drug Problems, with other articles under review and in development.