Personal profile

Academic Background

I have a PhD from the Centre for Development Studies in Swansea, a Masters in Development Studies from UEA and a BA in Social and Political Science from Cambridge University

My policy research and consultancy has focused on issues relating to poverty, gender, livelihood strategies, community organisations, local institutions, and public administration in the sectors of natural resource management, especially agriculture and forestry, reproductive health and rights, migration, ageing, and social policy.

My current research focuses on the linkages between reproduction, wellbeing and migration. Additionally I am commited to building research capacity in gender analysis in a variety of sectors, including fisheries, environment, and sustainable agriculture. 
 

 

 

Biography

I have 25 years experience in research, consultancy and training. After 20 years in a permanent research position (moving from Lecturer, to Senior Lecturer, and to Reader), I now work more flexibly as a self-employed academic whilst also maintaining a close research association with the School of Development Studies.

I have a special interest in gender and draw on sociology, anthropology and political science discplines. My recent work has been organised around the themes of social inclusion, reproduction, migration and gender analysis. My research on the reproductive lives of male and female migrants in Vietnam has been funded by the ESRC and DFID.

I am commited to capacity building for researchers, working particularly with those seeking to strengthen their capacity for gender research or qualitative research in ongoing projects. My approach to capacity building includes collaboration, training through interactive workshops, and mentoring. Clients include IIED, World Fish and the DfID-funded Global Adolescence: Gathering Evidence (GAGE) project. 

I served as editor-in-chief for Progress in Development Studies, as well as a co-editor for the Palgrave Book Series Anthropology, Change and Development.

Career

I worked as an Associate Professional Officer for the UK’s Overseas Development Administration (now DFID), then as a free-lance consultant, before joining the School of International Development in 1995. After 20 years working with the School as a Lecturer, then Senior Lecturer and finally Reader, I chose to become a self-employed academic in 2016. Although I now work more flexibly, I remain affiliated with the School and retain close working relationships with its research community. 

Key Research Interests

Gender and social analysis; livelihoods, reproduction and well-being; migration, including internal migration, asylum seekers and refugees; gendered lives, social reproduction and social policy; social inclusion; community-based natural resource management. Vietnam, SE and S Asia, East and Southern Africa.

Research Activities

INCREASE Social Value

I worked with Zografia Bika (NBS) on the academic evaluation of the INCREASE project on social inclusion in deprived neighbourhoords of the France-Channel-England region. Our research focused on how people furthest from the market experience integrated micro-enterprise and employment-support services offered by local housing associations.  

REDD+: The greatest forest grab of all time?

I worked with Roger Few and Dr Cam Hoang at the Institute of Cultural Studies in Hanoi on meso-level negotiations around the implementation of REDD+ in Vietnam and its impact on ethnic minority people. Our work was part of a collaboraiton with the University of Copenhagen and Roskilde University in Denmark and the University of Bogor in Indonesia, and was funded by Danida. 

Migration, (social) reproduction and social protection
I worked with Janet Seeley (DEV) and Nitya Rao (DEV) and other members of the Social Protection and Mobile Livelihoods research group on an international conference for 2-3rd April 2012. The conference  asked: how can we understand and investigate the social protection needs and strategies of poor migrants and their families with respect to their marital, parenting and caring roles and relationships? Selected papers from the conference were published as a symposium in Third World Quarterly

The linkages between reproduction, wellbeing and migration in Vietnam
I worked with Nguyen Thi Ngan Hoa of The Centre for Gender and Family Studies in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and Nguyen Thi Thanh Tam of the Institute of Family and Gender Studies in Hanoi. Our research focused on Linking Migration, Reproduction and Wellbeing: Exploring the Reproductive Strategies of Low-Income Rural-Urban Migrants in Vietnam and was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Department for International Development (DFID) between 2008-2010. Our full dataset is lodged with the ESDS of the UK for the use of other researchers.

The economic empowerment of youth in Zambia
I worked with Arjan Verschoor (DEV) and Nora Dudwick (World Bank) to interpret the life histories of 60 young Zambians. This work was funded by the World Bank and explored the barriers and supports that young people experience in Zambia as they attempted to build economically successful lives. I worked with Dolf De Lintelo (IDS, Sussex) on academic outputs including conference presentations and a paper published in the Journal of International Development.

Past work was organised around the themes of reproductive history, reproductive rights, migration and gender analysis:

  • Together with Peter Lloyd-Sherlock (DEV), I explored the influence of reproductive history on older women’s wellbeing in a low income neighbourhood of Buenos Aires.
  • From 1999-2001, I received funding from DFID's Economic and Social Research (ESCOR) fund for a research project on ‘Wellbeing, Rights and Reproduction’.
  • From 1999-2002, together with Neil Adger and Mick Kelly in the School of Environmental Sciences and Nguyen Huu Ninh at CERED in Hanoi, Vietnam, I received funding from the MacArthur Foundation’s Population, Consumption and Environment Initiative for research into ‘Migration and Social Resilience in Coastal Vietnam’.
  • From 1997-1999, together with Christine Okali, I received funding from DFID’s Socio-Economics Methodologies Component of the Renewable Natural Resources Research Strategy to look at ‘Analysing Changing Gender Relations’.

Areas of Expertise

Gender and development; poverty and livelihoods; reproductive lives; migrant lives; social inclusion; Vietnam; India; Nepal; East Africa.

Teaching Interests

My core interest is in research skills, qualitative methodologies and life course methodologies.  

I have previously supervised: 

Hao Phan 'Gendered Access to Resources in teh Context of REDD+: The Case of the Central Highlands, Vietnam

Lan Hoang; ‘Gender relations, intra-household power hierarchies and social norms in migration decision-making in rural Vietnam’

Emile Dauncey 'Getting Married and the Making of Manhoods in Ghanain Zongo'

Carole White 'Social Resilience, Place and Identity in the Small-scale North Norfolk 'Cromer Crab' Fishery, UK'

Emmanuel Nyamekye; ‘An Analysis of Water Vending by Women and Children in Northern Ghana and its Implications on Household Care’

Minh Nguyen: 'Servants of the Socialist Economy'

Geraldine Terry; 'Gender Aspects of Climate Change Adaptation in the Global South'

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 1 - No Poverty
  • SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy
  • SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities
  • SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
  • SDG 13 - Climate Action
  • SDG 14 - Life Below Water

Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

Recent external collaboration on country/territory level. Dive into details by clicking on the dots or