Research Interests

My research is broadly concerned with the role of food and farming in the economy, and how food systems are both influenced by, and influence, economic thought. I'm interested in understanding what kind of economic organisation we need for flourishing agroecological systems and sustainable farms and fisheries. I engage with this through the study of two research areas.

First, I am interested in understanding how economic organisation evolved from agrarian origins in England, and what agricultural history tells us both about British society (and British colonialism) and British economic theory. Here, I use postcolonial theory to understand the origins of our agrarian economy, and the way food production was built into the development of orthodox economic thought. As we look at transitioning towards more sustainable agriculture and fisheries, this research queries how current economic structures are built on older agricultural systems, and what needs to change to make ecological sustainability possible.

As part of this, I am currently interested in how changing agricultural technologies, particularly the use of organic chemicals for fertilisation, have influenced economic organization and theories of political economy in Britain. My research aims to understand how our relationships with, and access to, nitrogen and phosphorous are built into both heterodox and orthodox economic thought, and the influence this has on how we understand the economy. Or, more basically: how farming, soil health and agronomy are central to our economic wellbeing. My earlier research in this field explored the ecological, economic and social consequences of the application of new economic theories to fisheries management, and the political struggle of the UK's small-scale fleet in the face of a scientific theory that did not recognise their heterodox forms of economic organization, and the myriad benefits these brought.

Secondly, I'm keen to see how we can imagine and engage otherwise with agriculture, land and economic thought through radical approaches to pedagogy. To this end, I am actively engaged in land-based and alternative approaches to education, both within and beyond the university.

I'm interested in what sub-altern and post-colonial theory can tell us about the 'colonial core'. As such, I conduct research primarily in the UK, but work closely with Majority World academics, theories and movements, particularly in Brazil (the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra, MST) and Mexico (La Via Campesina). With colleagues across Latin America, I am currently working on the UK strand of the project "Socioterritorial Movements in Comparative Perspective" comparing agrarian movements around the world.

I am part of the LEC Political Ecology research cluster and a founding member of the Political Ecology of Agrarian Transitions (PEAT) research group.

Current Teaching

I am course convenor of the level 2 Economic Geography module in LEC, which teaches economic geography from feminist and postcolonial standpoints, and level 1 Society and Space, which is an overview of the key themes in human geography. I co-convene Food and Agriculture in the 21st Century with James Fraser.

I am particuarly interested in the expansion of education and creative educational methods. As such, I also contribute to the Sustainable Agriculture and Responding to Environmental Challenges modules of the JWL BA in Sustainable Development: this is a free online degree designed for and delivered to students in refugee camps across the world. I have delivered pedagogic sessions at Black Mountains College, The MST's Florestan Fernandes National School, The Apricot Centre, Food Futures' The Plot, The Kindling Trust, and have collaborated with Universidad de la Tierra in Oaxaca. I am currently working with the Landworkers' Alliance to develop socioeconomic and political education for agroecology.

Career Details

I joined Lancaster Environment Centre in 2022 as a Lecturer in Economic Geography. Before this, I was a Lecturer in Human Geography in Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences at Nottingham Trent University from 2020 to 2022, where I led the human geography content of the geography degrees, and a Lecturer in Environmental Geography at the University of Glasgow from 2018 to 2020, where I led teaching on food systems and natural resource management, and designed and co-convened the Earth Futures MSc.

I studied a DPhil in Economic Geography at the University of Oxford, an MSc in Nature, Society and Environmental Policy also at Oxford, and a BSc in Environmental Policy at the London School of Economics.

I grew up on a small livestock farm in Yorkshire. Before joining academia, I had a number of jobs that have influenced my academic trajectory, including farm labour, horse care, and working in the public library system. I am a qualified Playworker, and have worked with children in a range of play settings. This includes out of school clubs for 5-16 year-olds in South and East Yorkshire; free youth schemes in Edmonton, North London; the family-run Love Kids children's home in Nkoranza, Ghana; the Toybox charity for children of inmates at Barlinnie Prison, Glasgow; and Global Link in Lancaster, working with the children of refugees and asylum seekers. I am very interested in haptic, experiential and non-traditional learning, for both children and adults, particularly in outdoor settings.

PhD Supervision Interests

I am available to supervise PhD students interested in working on land, economics, farming, fisheries and food production from feminist or postcolonial standpoints.