Nickel is a political sociologist interested in critical theory and governing as it is manifest in spaces outside the formal boundaries of government. She has published in the areas of cultural production, including articles in Theory and Event, Fast Capitalism, and a forthcoming piece in Cultural Politics; governance, including articles in New Political Science and Administrative Theory and Praxis; philanthropy, including a recent article in Celebrity Studies; public sociology, including articles in Administration and Society and Current Perspectives in Social Theory; and the epistemological practices of non-governmental organizations, including articles in Current Sociology and Journal of Power. Many of these themes are addressed through the lens of critical theory in her book Public Sociology and Civil Society: Governance, Politics, and Power, published by Paradigm Publishers in 2012. She is also editor of the forthcoming volume North American Critical Theory after Postmodernism: Contemporary Dialogues to be published in 2012 by Palgrave.