Charlotte Sefton
Area and Development Studies
PhD Researcher in Area and Development Studies (ESRC 1+3)
University of Exeter, College of Social Sciences and International StudiesStart date: September 2014
Research topic: Gender, ritual and transnationalism in Sudanese migrant communities
Research supervisors: Dr James Onley
Email: ces218@exeter.ac.uk
Chris Cox
Area and Development Studies
PhD Researcher in Area and Development Studies (ESRC 1+3)
University of Exeter, Institute of Arab & Islamic Studies (Social Sciences & International Studies)Start date: September 2016
Research topic: Social movements and politics in post-‘Arab Spring’ Morocco and Jordan
My PhD research intends to examine political activism at the grassroots level on two Middle Eastern and North African case studies. The comparative analysis will approach the topic from a Social Movements Theory perspective to identify, explore and evaluate the performances of major grassroot movements that took part in mass-protests in the 2011 ‘Arab Spring’. Crucially, it will assess how effective they have been in invoking socio-political and socio-economic changes since. The examination of transformations of such movements from 2011 to present will help inform understanding of political developments in these countries, especially on issues like democratisation and authoritarian resilience.
Research supervisors: Dr Eleanor Gao, Dr Lise Storm
Professional memberships/Positions held:
Member of BRISMES (British Society for Middle Eastern Studies)
Email: cjc233@exeter.ac.uk
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/christopher-cox-79a14498
Clare Hawkes
Area and Development Studies
PhD Researcher in Area and Development Studies (ESRC 1+3)
University of Bath, School of Social and Policy SciencesStart date: October 2019
Research topic: Children at work: what working children in Dhaka say about child labour
My PhD is an ethnographic study, conducted in a slum area in Dhaka, Bangladesh. I aim to generate accounts of working children’s lives from their perspectives and an understanding of the web of relations that shapes their lives. My study explores children’s understanding of terms such as ‘freedom’ and ‘decent work,’ terms which frame child labour policy. My project is nested in an FCDO-funded research programme, Child Labour Action Research Innovation in South and South East Asia (clarissa.global) which seeks to reduce the most exploitative forms of child labour. I work closely with consortium partners in the UK and Bangladesh.
Research supervisors: Professor Joe Devine, Dr Neil Howard
Email: mcmh20@bath.ac.uk
LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/clare-hawkes-3bb16123
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HawkesClare
George Gumisiriza
Area and Development Studies
PhD Researcher in Area and Development Studies (ESRC 1+3)
University of Bath, Centre for Death and Society (CDAS) / School of Social and Policy SciencesStart date: October 2020
Research topic: Repatriationscapes: death and repatriation of human remains among African diaspora. A study into selected cases in London (UK)
Moving away from Western / Eurocentric perspectives and focusing on Afrocentric death perspectives. My PhD research aims to draw to the mainstream; foster understanding of Afrocentric perspectives on death, funerary rituals, and practices; their role within multi-cultural structures in shaping social cultural attitudes; policy, and regulations within the dominant discourse in the UK. I argue that Western narratives and models of theorising death matters have pigeonholed Afrocentric deaths, grief, bereavement and losses in the UK. The gap in academic literature has perpetuated power, authority, and marginalization by creating homogenized attitudes towards migrant communities in death matters in the UK.
George’s most recent blog piece can be found here.
Research supervisors: Dr. John Troyer ( University of Bath) , Professor Bridget Anderson (University of Bristol), Emeritus Professor Tony Walter (University of Bath)
Professional memberships/Positions held:
Member of The Collective for Radical Death Studies (CRDS)
Email: gwg25@bath.ac.uk
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GeorgeGumisiriza
Geors Richards
Area and Development Studies
PhD Researcher in Area and Development Studies (ESRC 1+3)
University of Bath, School of Social and Policy SciencesStart date: September 2019
Research topic: The role of community volunteering in promoting accountability in the development and humanitarian sector
My MRes year will include ethnographic research in Frome looking community volunteering for well being models. My PhD will continue to look at community level volunteering; community well-being; measuring change; connecting communities; accountability to communities; INGO legitimacy; co-production and participation
Research supervisors: James Copestake, Oliver Walton
Email: ggr27@bath.ac.uk
Isobel Kingscott
Area and Development Studies
PhD Researcher in Area and Development Studies (ESRC 1+3)
University of Exeter, Institute of Arab and Islamic StudiesStart date: September 2016
Research topic: The Gendered Experiences of Newly Arrived Syrian and Iraqi Refugees in Europe
My research focuses on the gendered experiences of Syrian and Iraqi refugees living in Europe. As such, it explores ways in which gender intersects with the changing economic and social roles that refugees experience. Ultimately, I hope to establish how gender affects refugees’ abilities to come to terms with, and adapt to, their new daily realities – whether negotiating changing familial relationships and managing new family responsibilities, living with uncertain legal statuses, affirming national and religious identities, being isolated from established Muslim communities, the adaptation of refugee children into mainstream education, or countless other obstacles that refugees may encounter.
Research supervisors: Dr Jonathan Githens-Mazer
Professional memberships/Positions held:
Great Ideas Start With Discussion (GISWD)
Email: i.kingscott2@exeter.ac.uk
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/isobel-kingscott-0664a012b?trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile
Jamal Abu Eisheh
Area and Development Studies
PhD Researcher in Area and Development Studies (ESRC 1+3)
University of Exeter, Institute of Arab and Islamic StudiesStart date: October 2020
Research topic: Family reunification for foreign spouses of Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem: a case of permanent temporariness
I aim to explore the functioning of the family reunification process for married couples where one spouse is a Palestinian residing in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the other spouse is a foreign national. The state of Israel, as an occupying power, governs the process of family reunifications. In Jerusalem, it is possible, yet difficult, to obtain a family reunification where the foreign spouse obtains a residency status. In the West Bank, foreign spouses can only obtain temporary spouse visas. In both cases, the state of Israel creates a legal border between Palestinian and foreign spouses, aiming at preventing foreign spouses from living in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Research supervisors: Dr Nadia Naser-Najjab, Professor Ilan Pappé
Email: ja642@exeter.ac.uk
LinkedIn: Jamal Abu Eisheh
Jeanine Hourani
Area and Development Studies
ESRC +3
University of Exeter, institue of Arab and Islamic StudiesStart date: September 2022
Research topic: Women, Resistance & Mental Health in Palestine
My research adopts participatory methods to investigate how Palestinian women engage in resistance and how they perceive settler colonial violence and acts of resistance to impact their mental health. In understanding the intersections between resistance, settler colonial violence and mental health from the perspectives of Palestinian women, my research challenges Western, biomedical notions of mental health and, instead, centre resistance and Indigenous sovereignty as central tenants to the attainment of wellbeing.
Research supervisors: Dr Katie Natanel, Dr Sabiha Allouche
Email: jh1463@exeter.ac.uk
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jeaninehourani
Website/Blog: www.jeaninehourani.com
Lucy Barkley
Area and Development Studies
PhD Researcher in Area and Development Studies (ESRC 1+3)
University of Exeter, Institute of Arab and Islamic StudiesStart date: September 2014
Research topic: Food and the construction of community among the Palestinian diaspora in the UK
My research utilises ethnographic methods to explore how food is used as a tool for community building by Palestinians living in the UK. Theoretically, the PhD engages with anthropological literature concerning commonality, kinship and relatedness. These concepts are applied to the ethnographic data to better understand how food and food practice can be read as an instance of resistance to diasporic living, and as a performance of banal nationalism.
Research supervisors: Professor Ilan Pappé, Dr Jason Hart, Dr Sophie Richter-Devroe
Professional memberships/Positions held:
Teaching assistant: Gender, Identity and Modernity in the Middle East; Ethnography of the Middle East
Email: lvb201@exeter.ac.uk
Maria Jose Ventura Alfaro
Area and Development Studies
PhD Researcher in Area and Development Studies (ESRC +3)
University of Bath, School of Social and Policy SciencesStart date: September 2018
Research topic: “Ni una más”: An exploration on how social movements against gender-based violence in Mexico influence policy development and community culture.
Research supervisors: Ana Dinerstein, Severine Deneulin (TBC), Theo Papadouplos
Email: m.j.ventura.alfaro@bath.ac.uk
Mark Bracher
Area and Development Studies
PhD Researcher in Area and Development Studies (ESRC 1+3)
University of Exeter, Institute of Arab and Islamic StudiesStart date: September 2015
Research topic: Tracking ideological shifts: the surprising rise of Sunni Islamic Extremism in Lebanon
My thesis explores the phenomenon of Radicalisation into Violent Extremism [RVE], with a specific focus on why certain ideologies become more or less accessible and appealing to a community as the socio-political circumstances of that community change. I have chosen the Lebanese Sunni community as my case-study for this research, as their recent history has dramatically demonstrated the propensity for preferred ideologies to change as circumstances change. Of particular interest here is how and why extremist religious ideologies have become increasingly accessible and appealing to communities traditionally supportive of secular ideologies; over a relatively short time period.
Research supervisors: Dr Omar Ashour, Dr Eleanor Gao
Email: mab230@exeter.ac.uk
Muhammed Faisal Sharif
Area and Development Studies
ESRC 1+3
University of Bath, Social and Policy SciencesStart date: October 2022
Research topic: Political Economies of Clean Energy Transition in Pakistan
Pakistan has made pledge of clean energy transition (CET) targeting (i) 60% share of renewable energy, 30% of electricity vehicles, doubling energy efficiency, 50% reduction in projected emissions by 2030 (ii) electricity market transformation from “Single Buyer” to “Multiple Buyers Wholesale Market” to promote efficiency in electricity delivery services. Being energy sector practitioner, under my research project, I will endeavour to address multifaceted macro-economic, market compatibility, grid infrastructure, socioeconomic, institutional, and regulatory challenges which may hinder implementation of pledge and come up with suitable combination of policies, regulatory incentive frameworks and technological interventions for successful implementation of CET in Pakistan.
Research supervisors: Dr Yixian Sun, Dr Aurelie Charles
Professional memberships/Positions held:
- Associate Fellow at Durham Energy Institute (DEI), Durham University, UK
- CSC Alumni Advisory Panel Member CSC Alumni Advisory Panel Member Commonwealth Scholarship Commission, United Kingdom
https://cscuk.fcdo.gov.uk/meet-the-cscs-alumni-advisory-panel-2021-2023/
Email: mfs54@bath.ac.uk
LinkedIn: : https://www.linkedin.com/in/muhammad-faisal-sharif-922a707/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/faisalwattoo465?s=08
Nicholas Langridge
Area and Development Studies
PhD Researcher in Area and Development Studies (ESRC 1+3)
University of Bath, Department for Social and Policy StudiesStart date: October 2020
Research topic: Examining the environmental implications of Universal Basic Income (UBI)
Universal Basic Income has been gaining prominence in political and policy circles, including as a response to the Covid-19 crisis. Multiple trials have been commissioned around the world, with many others being planned or requested.
The social and economic benefits (and challenges) or UBI have been widely written about and researched. However, a dearth of knowledge exists on the environmental implications. I propose to fill this gap by examining how UBI could contribute to both mitigating and adapting to environmental crises.
Research supervisors: Dr Neil Howard, Professor James Copestake, Dr Milena Buchs
Email: nrl29@bath.ac.uk
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholaslangridge/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nicklangridge
Richard Wilson
Area and Development Studies
PhD Researcher in Area and Development Studies (ESRC 1+3)
University of Exeter, College of Social Sciences and International StudiesStart date: September 2013
Research topic: Exploring the nexus between Islamist violence and the foreign fighter phenomenon in Western Europe (using social movement and post-anarchist theories)
Research supervisors: Associate Professor Jonathan Githens-Mazer
Email: rjw231@exeter.ac.uk
Riya Mary Al’Sanah
Area and Development Studies
ESRC +3
University of Exeter, The Institute of Arab and Islamic StudiesStart date: October 2022
Research topic: Predatory Inclusion: Financial Markets, Debt, and Palestinian citizens of Israel
The last decade has witnessed a concentrated Israeli strategy to increase the financial inclusion of its two million Palestinian citizens. Policies implemented as part of this strategy include the doubling of granted mortgages and increasing access to credit and microcredit loans through newly established funds. Official documents discursively frame financial inclusion as a means of elevating the socio-economic status of Palestinian Citizens Israel (PCI) and weaken the role of organised Palestinian criminal institutions.
In this research project I will inquire into the Israeli state’s financial inclusion strategies and policies targeting PCI, to understand their history, character and implications for the Palestinian housing sector and class formations, as well as their relationship to the ongoing practices of Israeli settler-colonialism.
Research supervisors: Prof. Adam Hanieh, Prof. Ilan Pappe
Email: ra630@exeter.ac.uk
South West Doctoral Training Partnership
