Overview

I am an interdisciplinary social scientist with particular expertise in the fields of urban studies (including sustainable urbanism) and programme evaluation. Throughout my research I am committed to using, refining and developing empirical approaches that enable the generation of insights into critical questions concerning urban planning, urban public space, and public policy programmes. Underpinning this research is a guiding theoretical interest in exploring (using qualitative methods in particular) disconnects between policy expectations/design intentions and practices.

Substantively, my research to date has centred on sustainable living practices, public space, and the urban mobility-public health nexus.  This research has been funded by, among others, the ESRC, NCRM, NIHR, UKPRP and the US-UK Fulbright Commission.

At the University of Exeter I am a Senior Lecturer (Education and Scholarship) in the Department of Geography and the Global Systems Institute (GSI).  At Exeter, my primary role is to develop the online MSc Global Sustainability Solutions (GSS).  I am currently also a Research Associate at the University of Auckland’s Public Policy Institute (PPI) and a Visiting Lecturer at the RCA’s School of Architecture.

Prior to joining the University of Exeter I was Associate Professor (and Deputy Head of Department) at the LSE’s Department of Methodology, where I worked to 9 years.  Before joining the LSE I worked as a Research Fellow both at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and at the University of Hertfordshire, and as a Senior Researcher at the Royal Society for the Arts’ Action and Research Centre.  I have also held visiting appointments in social research methodology at UC Berkeley (as a Fulbright Scholar), in urban studies at UNSW and in public policy at the University of Auckland.

I hold degrees in Geography (BA [Hons]) and Social & Political Sciences (MPhil) from the University of Cambridge (both awarded with distinction), and I received my ESRC-funded PhD from the LSE’s Cities Programme.

Broad research specialisms:

My research coalesces around an interest in exploring the interplay between formal policies/urban planning documents and social practices.  In broad terms, my research interests comprise:

• Cities – the relationship between built form and social life in cities, with a particular emphasis on practices of sustainable urbanism, the production of public space, mobilities, and socio-material urban networks;
• Programme evaluation – using qualitative methods to help evaluate the impacts of social policy and other interventions (in particular in the fields of sustainable transport, public health and social care);
• Social research methods – research design, qualitative research methods and ethnography, with particular interests in i) methods that allow researchers to explore the disconnects between designs and practices, and ii) the use of qualitative methods in policy evaluation.

Qualifications

• Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (Associate Level), 2017 (LSE)
• PhD in Sociology, 2008 (LSE)
• MPhil in Modern Society and Global Transformations, 2003 (University of Cambridge)
• BA (Hons) Geography, 2002 (University of Cambridge)