Human Geography

Adam Flitton

PhD Researcher in Human Geography (ESRC 1+3)
University of Exeter, College of Life and Environmental Sciences

Start date: September 2014

Research topic: The evolution of cooperation

Email: af395@exeter.ac.uk

Alistair Anderson

PhD Researcher in Human Geography (ESRC 1+3)
University of Bristol, Geographical Sciences

Start date: September 2015

Research topic: Antimicrobial Resistance

My PhD research focuses on the multispecies nature of the problem of antimicrobial resistance. The main focus of my research is on exploring whether there is a link between caring for companion animals and peoples’ attitudes and behaviours relating to antibiotic use. Understanding any such relationship has implications understanding the scope of the issue of antimicrobial resistance in some community settings, and for interventions aimed at making antibiotic use more responsible by both prescribers and patients. I further wish to continue my work on biopolitics in this area from my Masters thesis, specifically with regards to the role of animals in healthcare, the assumptions made by a ‘One Health’ approach to anitmicrobial resistance, and how understanding the biopolitics of antibiotic use may help with addressing the human causes of the problem.

Research supervisors: Dr Maria Fannin, Professor Richard Harris, Professor Helen Lambert

Professional memberships/Positions held: School of Geographical Sciences – Teaching Support Assistant Social Research Association – Member

Email: aa12938@bristol.ac.uk

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/alistair-anderson-4a64b214b

Amanda Schmid-Scott

PhD Researcher in Human Geography (ESRC +3)
University of Exeter, College of Life and Environmental Sciences

Start date: September 2015

Research topic: The government of life in immigration detention.

My PhD is exploring forms of estrangement and structural violence in immigration detention centres. I am especially interested in the ways in which different forms of power interact within spaces of detention and how visual approaches to research allow abstract and theoretical ideas to be communicated. It is funded through the ESRC.

Research supervisors: Dr. Nick Gill (Human Geography, University of Exeter), Dr. Karen Tucker (Political Science, University of Bristol), Dr. Bice Maiguashca (Politics, University of Exeter)

Email: as862@exeter.ac.uk

Twitter: https://twitter.com/amandargscott

Amy Hornsby

PhD Researcher in Human Geography (ESRC 1+3)
University of Bristol, Department of Geographical Sciences

Start date: September 2018

Research topic: Carceral Companions: deconstructing masculinity and criminality through companion animal relationships in the dwelt world

I am interested in ‘more-than-human’ research methods in human geography and unpacking the everyday through an affective politics as a form of meaning-making. I am currently studying Society and Space MSc to gain new insights into methodologies and theory before beginning my PhD research. My research shall look at dog training programmes in prisons and why they are so effectively transformative: decreasing reoffending rates dramatically. I shall investigate the genealogy of constituting both the incarcerated human and non-human. Such research will aid the interdisciplinary need to reconfigure hegemonic understandings and materialities of criminality, gender and the more-than-human affective lived experience.

Research supervisors: Dr Franklin Ginn, Dr Julie MacLeavy

Email: ah15756@my.bristol.ac.uk

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-hornsby-498106132/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AmyHornsby5

Carlotta Molfese

PhD Researcher in Human Geography (ESRC 1+3)
Plymouth University, Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Start date: October 2017

Research topic: The Back-To-The-Land movement and nature in the Anthropocene: a personal journey through “haptic geographies”

My PhD will be looking at one particular social movement – the back-to-the-land movement (BTL) – and its engagement with the non-human world. Through an auto-ethnographical methodology that will pay particular attention to sensorial experience with the non-human world, I aim to investigate counter-culturenature ontologies as practiced on the ground by BTLs to highlight the diversity of relationships to and performances of nature within the presumed homogeneous Western society. Finally, through the lenses of anarchist theory I will attempt to respond to some of the philosophical and practical challenges presented by the emergence of the Anthropocene concept.

Research supervisors: Dr Kim Ward, Professor Geoff Wilson

Email: carlotta.molfese@postgrad.plymouth.ac.uk

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/carlotta-molfese-676860151

Catherine Midwood

PhD Researcher in Human Geography (ESRC 1+3)
University of Bristol, Geographical Sciences

Start date: September 2015

Research topic: Temporary Urban Interventions: A Bodily and Sensory Approach

This project explores temporary interventions in urban spaces with a focus on ephemeral bodily and sensory intensities, as understood through an affective and non-representational approach. I have three case studies to explore over the next couple of years. They are: an institutional endeavour to intervene with playful technological experiments (Bristol’s Playable City), my own participatory interventions (chalk art drawing events), and a more short-lived, ineffable experiment which will emphasise sensory encounters. This research will contribute to the growing field of literature on temporary interventions, geographical work on the body, sensuous geographies, and discussions about the use of creative methods in geography

Research supervisors: Dr JD Dewsbury, Dr Merle Patchett

Email: catherine.midwood@bristol.ac.uk

Twitter: https://twitter.com/cjmidwood

Chloe Asker

PhD Researcher in Human Geography (ESRC +3)
University of Exeter, Department of Geography, College of Life and Environmental Sciences

Start date: September 2017

Research topic: Mindful geographies? Towards the therapeutic geographies of mindfulness

Mindfulness has grown in popularity since the millennium, however the practice has been neglected from geographical literature concerning health and wellbeing. This is surprising since a recently published ‘Mindful Nation UK’ (2015) report by the Mindfulness All-Party Parliamentary Group (MAPPG) identified the practice as key to remedying mental health difficulties. My project aims to understand the geographies of mindfulness, and in doing so, expand the concept of therapeutic geographies using mindfulness practice. Practically, I will carry out ethnographic fieldwork with charities and/or organisations that use mindfulness as a therapeutic device.

Research supervisors: Dr Jennifer Lea, Professor John Wylie

Professional memberships/Positions held: Human Geography student rep for College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter  

Email: ca409@exeter.ac.uk

Twitter: https://twitter.com/chloeasker

Chris Manktelow

PhD Researcher in Human Geography (ESRC 1+3)
University of Exeter, College of Life and Environmental Sciences

Start date: September 2016

Research topic: Following the forecast: risk, uncertainty and the life of seasonal and decadal climate forecasts

Improvements in supercomputing and advances in our understanding of how climatic fluctuations operate have now made it possible to produce seasonal and decadal climate forecasts. However, as forecasting extends into seasonal and decadal prediction, the amount of uncertainty increases, resulting in highly contingent projections of the future. This makes it difficult for scientists to communicate seasonal and decadal forecasts to end-users. My research will therefore explore how scientists at the Met Office and forecast users negotiate uncertainty, with the aim of improving the communication of seasonal and decadal climate forecasts.

Research supervisors: Dr Saffron O'Neill, Dr Karen Bickerstaff, Professor Richard Betts

Email: cjm236@exeter.ac.uk

Ciara Merrick

PhD Researcher in Human Geography (ESRC 1+3)
University of Bristol, School of Geographical Science

Start date: September 2014

Research topic: Breathing Shared Worlds: Northern Ireland, Territory and Peace

My PhD project is concerned with everyday peace building in post-conflict Belfast, Northern Ireland. By tracing the flow, movement and silences of breath, I seek to explore the spatial and embodied materialities that shape how the self, the other, and community relationships are both imagined and created. To move with encounters happening in-between a sharing of breath, is to advance an alternative politics of sharing, which finds its origin within difference rather than sameness.

Research supervisors: Dr Mark Jackson, Dr Maria Fannin

Professional memberships/Positions held: Member of the Royal Geographic Society MSc Society and Space Mentor

Email: cm14280@my.bristol.ac.uk

Daisy Curtis

PhD Researcher in Human Geography (ESRC 1+3)
University of Exeter, Department of Geography, College of Life and Environmental Sciences

Start date: September 2017

Research topic: Provisional title: 'Digital Geographies of the 5G mobile network: An exploration of the narratives and experiences of increasing interconnectivity.'

5G technology is the next generation of wireless mobile network, and my PhD research seeks to engage with proponents of 5G technology as well as potential users to provide an insight into how people make sense of, and engage with, this developing technology. The PhD research aims to critically explore some of the major themes bound up with the development of this new technology. These three main themes include: the materiality of the 5G network regarding infrastructural requirements, challenges and concerns; geopolitical and security issues related to the development of the network; as well as the narratives that 5G will be ‘transformative’ by enabling new capabilities, and will act as a foundation for further technological development.

Research supervisors: Dr Pepe Romanillos, Dr Sean Carter

Professional memberships/Positions held: Exeter Geography PGR Inclusivity and Wellbeing Rep

Email: derc201@exeter.ac.uk

Twitter: https://twitter.com/der_curtis

Dominic Ader

PhD Researcher in Human Geography (ESRC +3)
University of Bristol, School of Geographical Science

Start date: September 2016

Research topic: A Deleuzian account of illness experience: habit, memory and open futures

Research supervisors: Dr John David Drewsbury, Dr Maria Fannin

Email: da15354@bristol.ac.uk

Dr Tim Walker

University of Exeter, College of Life and Environmental Sciences

Start date:

Research topic: Geographies of Risk, Uncertainty and Ambiguity in Catchment Management

Email: t.w.walker@exeter.ac.uk

Website/Blog: http://geography.exeter.ac.uk/staff/index.php?web_id=Timothy_Walker&tab=profile

Elliott Rooke

PhD Researcher in Human Geography (ESRC +3)
University of Exeter, College of Life and Environmental Sciences

Start date: September 2016

Research topic: Exploring the Transformative Propensities of Prosthetics in Martial-Arts Practice

Research supervisors: Dr Jennifer Lea, Professor John Wylie

Email: er316@exeter.ac.uk

Emma Marshall

PhD Researcher in Human Geography (ESRC 1+3)
University of Exeter, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Geography

Start date: September 2014

Research topic: Class and the asylum determination system in the UK

My research examines the extent to which the concept of class can provide a theoretical framework to interpret how the individual backgrounds of asylum seekers, such as their education or occupation in their country of origin, may account for discrepancies in procedural outcomes. It is well documented that in the UK some asylum seekers get much quicker and more accurate initial decisions than others, for reasons that go beyond whether they are making a genuine claim. I am interested in exploring how class identity is constructed through perceptions of social value, and how these values may influence the decision-making process.

Research supervisors: Dr Nick Gill, Dr Naomi Millner

Email: egm203@exeter.ac.uk

Freya Johnson

PhD Researcher in Human Geography (ESRC +3)
University of Bristol, School of Geographical Science

Start date: September 2015

Research topic: The rising levels of personal debt within Britain

Research supervisors: Dr Julie MacLeavy (Peoples)

Email: fj14575@my.bristol.ac.uk

George Burdon

MSc Society & Space (ESRC 1+3)
University of Bristol, Department of Geographical Sciences

Start date: September 2016

Research topic: Music as the flow of matter: re-evaluating cultural formations

I am currently on the first year of an ESRC 1+3 pathway, so at the present I am studying for an MSc in Society & Space before moving onto PhD research next year. My research interests centre around theorizing music (and sound more generally) as flowing matter; as a vibrational force that unhinges potential reactions, actions and movements in the ephemerality of the moment of its encounter. Through the deployment of contemporary theories of affect and materiality, I hope to examine music as a force that moulds bodies and spaces, providing singular experiences for the listening body that are forever beyond the limits of representation, which in turn has profound resonances for how we think of subjectivity.

Research supervisors: Dr J D Dewsbury

Email: georgeburdon.2011@my.bristol.ac.uk

Gia D’aprano

PhD Researcher in Human Geography (ESRC 1+3)
University of Exeter, College of Life and Environmental Sciences

Start date: September 2016

Research topic: Feral food foraging in the city and ecological literacy

I am interested in how foraging for feral foods in an urban setting can provide opportunities for learning about ecological literacy, defined as identification with urban nature, leading towards greater ecological consciousness. I have chosen urban public space as the site for the research as it is replete with counter hegemonic initiatives towards more equitable and socially just relationships with both human and non-human members of community. An urban ecology of feral food plants, which can be seen as a subset of alternative food networks, could provide informal, experiential and embodied ways to become more eco-centric as a species.

Research supervisors: Professor Stewart Barr, Dr Ewan Woodley

Email: gd300@exeter.ac.uk

Harriet Earle-Brown

PhD Researcher in Human Geography (ESRC 1+3)
University of Exeter, College of Life and Environmental Sciences

Start date: September 2018

Research topic: Homeless Women and their Transgressive Bodies

Homeless women’s bodies often transgress ideas about what a woman’s body “should be”, perceived as dirty, undesirable and out of place. However, it can be used as capital within the homeless community, unless it is layered with other transgressions such as bigness, sexuality or colour.

I am interested in the ways in which the body of the homeless woman is constructed, how these constructions influence its treatment and performance and how the homeless female body intersects with other identities.

Research supervisors: Professor Paul Cloke, Professor Jo Little

Professional memberships/Positions held: Geography PGT course rep

Email: he282@exeter.ac.uk

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harriet-earle-brown-20b697167/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hearlebrown

Website/Blog: http://postgraduategirl.home.blog

Jen Clements

PhD Researcher in Human Geography (ESRC/BBSRC +3)
University of Exeter, College of Life and Environmental Sciences

Start date: September 2018

Research topic: Farming, labour and landscape in post-Brexit Cornwall

My project concerns the development of a post-Brexit domestic agricultural policy and the emerging trade-offs between economic, environmental and social aims among key stakeholders. Ultimately, it will combine interviews, surveys and economic data in order to model potential outcomes.

Research supervisors: Professor Jane Wills, Professor Juliet Osborne, Professor Matt Lobley

Email: jc1011@exeter.ac.uk

Jo Hynes

PhD Researcher in Human Geography (ESRC +3)
University of Exeter, College of Life and Environmental Sciences

Start date: September 2018

Research topic: Geographies of Immigration Law: Space, Technology & Access to Justice

My research explores the legal geographies of immigration law. Using ethnographies of tribunal hearings and interviews with their key actors, I will examine the impact of space and technology on access to justice in immigration bail hearings across sites in the UK and the USA.

Research supervisors: Professor Nick Gill , Dr Helena Wray

Professional memberships/Positions held: I am part of the ASYFAIR network, which explores the extent to which fair and consistent asylum appeal adjudication occurs across EU member states.

Email: jh1076@exeter.ac.uk

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joanna-hynes-6b049096/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jo__hynes

Kieran Green

PhD Researcher in Human Geography (ESRC 1+3)
Plymouth University, Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Start date: September 2018

Research topic: Britain Untitled Men: Sofa-Surfing and Masculinity.

Research supervisors: Professor Richard Yarwood, Dr Mark Holton

Email: kieran.green@postgrad.plymouth.ac.uk

Oliver Dawson

PhD Researcher in Human Geography (ESRC +3)
University of Bristol, School of Geographical Sciences

Start date: October 2017

Research topic: Poetic Cartographies in the Age of the Anthropocene

My research happens at the intersection of art, philosophy and the social sciences. I explore how the cognitive, ritual and social references that art and poetry generates produce new ‘regimes’ of subjectivity. I am particularly interested in how the non-linguistic, a-signifying and affective qualities of poetry allow for the mapping of new subject capacities, and how these offer new ways of thinking and responding to the ethical and political challenges of the Anthropocene.

Research supervisors: Dr John David Dewsbury, Dr Franklin Ginn , Dr Joe Gerlach

Email: od15598@bris.ac.uk

Paula Crutchlow

PhD Researcher in Human Geography (ESRC 1+3)
University of Exeter, College of Life and Environmental Sciences

Start date: September 2013

Research topic: The Museum of Contemporary Commodities - arts and social science towards the trade-justice knowledge action gap

Research supervisors: Professor Ian Cook

Email: pc343@exeter.ac.uk