Professor of Development Geography and Director of External Engagement, School of Life Sciences and Environment
Themes: Greener futures
Expertise: Development–environment relations in theory, policy and practice; cities and climate change; transdisciplinarity; participatory and co-production methods
My abiding concerns focus on understanding the complex interplay between development and environment in diverse contexts and scales, from the global to the local. This is necessarily both interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary. I have always been passionate about making a positive difference through applications of research ideas and results to policy and practice. Concerns over the limitations of conventional academic research in meeting practical needs, I have in recent years – and especially during and since my period as Director of Mistra Urban Futures (2014-19) – explored the potential of transdisciplinary research teams to engage the beneficiary groups and institutions actively in the research so that it becomes tailored to needs and thus easier to implement the results.