Faculty Member, Earth and Environment
Reader in Environment and Development; Co-Director, Sustainability Research Institute
About
My research is interdisciplinary and uses theories and methods from both the natural and social sciences to understand environmental change and livelihood dynamics. I have field experience in Africa (South Africa, Swaziland, Ghana, Malawi), UK and Eastern Europe (Romania). I have published numerous peer-reviewed articles in leading international journals, as well as book chapters, working papers, book reviews, magazine articles and policy reports. I have also presented my work at international conferences across the world.
I am the reviews editor for the journal Land Degradation and Development, an associate editor for the journal Food Security and am a member of the Steering Committee of Desertnet International. In addition, I have undertaken commissioned work on several occasions for the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification Secretariat, as well as for the UK Government's Department for International Development and other agencies and organisations.
My first degree was a BSc in Physical Geography and I went on to study for an MSc in Environmental Monitoring and Assessment in Drylands. My PhD, awarded by the University of Sheffield, focused on the implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Africa and considered the framing of land degradation within Swaziland from policy, scientific and local land user perspectives.
I have recently been involved in projects funded by bodies such as the UK's Joint Research Councils (NERC, ESRC, BBSRC) under the Rural Economy and Land Use Programme, the European Commission (Framework Programmes 6 and 7), the British Academy, and DFID/NERC/ESRC under the Ecosystem Services and Poverty Alleviation Programme. My current research projects include:
* Desertification Mitigation and Remediation of Degraded Land (DESIRE- funded through EU FP6). This project examines alternative strategies for the use, protection and rehabilitation of 18 international desertification 'hotspots' and brings together 28 research institutions, non-governmental organisations and policy makers from all over the world.
* Managing land for carbon in southern Africa: Relationships between carbon, livelihoods and ecosystem services (Funded through the DFID/NERC/ESRC Ecosystem Services and Poverty Alleviation programme, part of the Living with Environmental Change Programme). This project considers carbon stores and fluxes relating to soil and vegetation along a transect through Namibia-Botswana-Zambia-Malawi, examining tradeoffs between land use shifts, the continued provision of ecosystem services and the ways they link to livelihoods of the poor.
* Involved: What makes stakeholder participation work? (Funded by the British Academy). This project investigates what makes stakeholder participation in environmental management work. By understanding why different approaches work in different contexts, more appropriate participatory processes can be designed.
* Sustainable Uplands: Transforming Knowledge for Upland Change (Funded through the Joint Research Councils' Rural Economy and Land Use programme). This project develops new approaches that can stimulate knowledge exchange, learning and innovation between researchers, policy makers, businesses, local stakeholders and the wider public with an interest in Upland Sustainability.
* Sustainable Liquid Biofuels from Biomass Biorefining (SUNLIBB). SUNLIBB is funded through EU FP7 and brings together researchers and industrial innovators to overcome technical barriers for second generation bioethanol production. The project aims to ensure that the new processes developed fulfil sustainability requirements across environmental, social and economic dimensions and is working in cooperation with CEProBIO, Brazil.
* Sustainable delivery of pollination services for African food production. (Funded through the DFID/NERC/ESRC Ecosystem Services and Poverty Alleviation programme). This project aims to identify the knowledge gaps and scientific challenges currently hampering the sustainable delivery of crop pollination and honey production services to rural Sub-Saharan Africa.
Contact Information
| Homepage: |
