pathway: Global Political Economy/Global Challenges and Transformations: Geopolitics, Inequalities and Mobilities Alumni

Bridging Science and Technology Studies (STS), Development Studies and Poltical Ecology, and contextually set within the emerging policy transition to a global ‘Bioeconomy’, my research examines the implications of commercial synthetic biology to sustainable development and future agro-industrial production. I am particularly interested in the concepts of ‘disruptive’, ‘sustainable’ and ‘responsible’ innovation, as well as how these notions are assimilated into multi-stakeholder deliberations and the global governance of emerging technologies at the UN Convention of Biological Diversity.

My research is focused on seasonal workers and their experiences of global food production, specifically in Morocco. I am researching the social and working conditions of seasonal workers and their livelihood strategies whilst producing crops such as tomatoes in counter-seasonal rhythms destined for Europe. In the context of changing social and political conditions in Europe and Northern Africa I am interested to understand how the political economy of food is interpreted in local contexts, particularly by workers. Methodologically, my approach is interpretive and will involve in-depth interviews and visual methods. For this research I am learning French and Moroccan Arabic.