Overview
Jane Wills is Director of the Environment and Sustainability Institute (ESI) and Professor of Geography at the Centre for Geography and Environmental Science (CGES) at the University of Exeter in Cornwall, UK.
I have long-standing interests in the politics and philosophy of research practice and knowledge production and recently published The Power of Pragmatism: Knowledge production and social inquiry (Manchester University Press, 2020, Edited with Robert W. Lake). There is a short blog written to promote the book here: https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/articles/relinquishing-the-quest-for-certainty-in-the-social-sciences-or-learning-from-the-coronavirus-crisis/
Other books include Locating Localism: Statecraft, citizenship and democracy (Policy Press, 2016), Global Cities at Work: New migrant divisions of labour (Pluto Press, 2010), Threads of Labour: Garment industry supply chains from the workers’ perspective (Blackwell, 2005), Place, Space and the New Labour Internationalisms (Blackwell, 2001), Geographies of Economies (Arnold, 1997) and Union Retreat and the Regions (Routledge, 1996).
My taught modules for CGES have included The Geography of Cornwall (first year); the Isles of Scilly Fieldtrip (second year); Geographies of Democracy (third year); Democracy, Sustainability and Citizenship (Masters).
Broad research specialisms
Historically, my research interests have focused on the changing geopolitical economy of work and regional economic development, new forms of urban political alliances including community organizing and living wage campaigns, and the politics and practice of localism in the UK.
Since moving to the University of Exeter, I have shifted to focus on public engagement in sustainability policy and practice. I have PhD students working on the future of farming policy in relation to the environment (Jen Clements); regional economic policy for peripheral regions of the UK (Nick Woolgrove); island life histories (Rosie Layfield); the politics of renewable energy infrastructure (Zoe Chateau); and community-oriented development practices for sustainable forest farming in Peru (Lena Prouchet).
Current research is focused on the way in which natural capital can be integrated into regional policy, the development of the visitor economy in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, as well as being considered alongside socio-economic factors by using the 'doughnut economics' approach (see the research link for more information).
In early 2020, I led a UKRI-funded project on public engagement in nature-based solutions to climate change and biodiversity loss. Working with partners in Cornwall Council and the voluntary sector, we organised co-production workshops with residents in Helston, Launceston and Newquay to explore their uses of local green spaces, documenting their ideas for improvements. A full report and short film about the 'Growing community through nature' project can be found on this website: http://www.exeter.ac.uk/esi/research/communitiesthroughnature/
The arrival of Covid-19 has had dramatic and far-reaching consequences for the economy and community in Cornwall. As a trustee of Cornwall's Voluntary Sector Forum, I worked with Nigel Sainsbury to survey community and voluntary sector organisations in Cornwall, asking respondents about the impact of lock-down on services, funding and their plans for the future. A full report and press release can be found here: http://www.cornwallvsf.org/less-than-a-quarter-of-cornwalls-voluntary-sector-operating-as-usual-amid-covid-19-crisis/
For more information about previous research into the living wage campaign, including papers and data, please visit the website located at my old employer, Queen Mary, University of London: www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/livingwage/
In pre-COVID times, I was the administrator for the Penryn campus choir - Kana Tremough! We hope to restart when it proves possible to sing again, and all staff are welcome, sign up here.
Qualifications
BA(Hons) Geography Cambridge 1986
PhD Open University 1995
Career
Jane Wills joined the University of Exeter in October 2017, moving from Queen Mary, University of London. Prior to that she worked at the University of Southampton, University of Cambridge and in local government.
Links
Research group links
Research
Research interests
My current research interests include the geography of political institutions, with particular attention paid to local structures and the ways in which people can engage in decision-making. This is part of my wider interests in devolution and localism, community organizing, civic innovation and sustainability.
From early 2021 I have three projects ongoing, all funded by the Strategic Priorities Fund.
Sustaining the visitor economy and environment in Cornwall and the IOS (SVEE-CIOS)
Developed in partnership with colleagues in the Business School (Steffen Boehm, Joanne Connell) and Tevi (an EU-funded business support project), and with the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), Cornwall Council’s Environmental Growth Team and Cornwall Wildlife Trust, as well as the Islands Partnership, the IOS Wildlife Trust, and the Council of the IOS, this project wants to find the synergy between the visitor economy and the environment. The aim is to look at existing best practice in nature based tourism, to explore what is already going on in relation to nature-oriented tourism in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, to identify areas for innovation and test these out with local businesses and potential visitors. Post-pandemic tourist recovery in CIOS could exemplify regenerative forms of development, feeding into the local industrial strategy, identifying policy supports for the visitor economy after Covid-19.
Britain’s Leading Edge is a new collaboration of 11 Local Authorities in predominantly rural and peripheral areas. Led by Cornwall Council, the group aims to provide a fresh voice to reframe the debate around the ‘regional problem’ and shape a national policy landscape that harnesses the unique strengths of all peripheral areas, particular those related to natural capital. This is about 'levelling out' to the periphery, recognising the strengths and contributions being made by these areas to the national economy and its ecosystems. This SPF-funded project involved organising a conference in December 2020 and a report is being written for wider circulation. The aim is to develop new ideas for policy and practice. This work is led by Nick Woolgrove, PhD student.
The doughnut we want is a project led by Rachel Turner in the ESI. It follows on from work done by Rachel and colleagues on the 'State of the doughnut in Cornwall', applying 'doughnut economics' to track the sustainable development challenges and their integration in planning and decision-making (completed in 2020 https://www.exeter.ac.uk/esi/research/projects/impact-towardsasustainablecornwall/). This work helped to underpin Cornwall Council's plan, Gyllyn Warbath (Together we can). The next phase of this work aims to 'downscale' the doughnut approach to look at social and spatial inequalities across the region and to conduct further qualitative research in particular places to identify local priorities and synergies with Cornwall’s wider vision.
Recent projects include Growing communities through nature, funded by UKRI as part of the Enhancing Partnerships for Place-Based Public Engagement programme, involved working with the Making Space for Nature team at Cornwall Council and Helston's Climate Action Group. A report can be found, along with a short film, here: http://www.exeter.ac.uk/esi/research/communitiesthroughnature/
In 2019, I published a report entitled: A new geography of local government: The changing role of town and parish councils in Cornwall . As a Commissioner for Locality's Commission on the Future of Localism, I researched the changing role of town and parish councils in Cornwall. The combined impact of support for devolution along with financial pressures caused by budget cuts has prompted Cornwall Council to transfer important assets to the ownership and management of local councils. I have explored these changes and their impact and you can access the report here - associated publications are listed later on: https://researchpubs.exeter.ac.uk/viewobject.html?cid=1&id=755576
The crisis caused by Covid-19 has had a devastating impact on the economy and community and a research survey and report documenting the experiences of the voluntary sector, written for Cornwall's Voluntary Sector Forum, is available here: http://www.cornwallvsf.org/
Publications
Key publications | Publications by category | Publications by year
Publications by category
Books
Wills J (eds)(2020).
The Power of Pragmatism Knowledge Production and Social Research. Manchester, Manchester University Press.
Abstract:
The Power of Pragmatism Knowledge Production and Social Research
Abstract.
Wills J (2016).
Locating Localism Statecraft, Citizenship and Democracy., Policy Press.
Abstract:
Locating Localism Statecraft, Citizenship and Democracy
Abstract.
Journal articles
Kinsley S, Layton J, Davis J, Wills J, Featherstone D, Temenos C, Barnett C (2020). Reading Clive Barnett's the Priority of Injustice. Political Geography, 78, 102065-102065.
Greenhough B, Read CJ, Lorimer J, Lezaun J, McLeod C, Benezra A, Bloomfield S, Brown T, Clinch M, D’Acquisto F, et al (2020). Setting the agenda for social science research on the human microbiome.
Palgrave Communications,
6(1).
Abstract:
Setting the agenda for social science research on the human microbiome
© 2020, the Author(s). The human microbiome is an important emergent area of cross, multi and transdisciplinary study. The complexity of this topic leads to conflicting narratives and regulatory challenges. It raises questions about the benefits of its commercialisation and drives debates about alternative models for engaging with its publics, patients and other potential beneficiaries. The social sciences and the humanities have begun to explore the microbiome as an object of empirical study and as an opportunity for theoretical innovation. They can play an important role in facilitating the development of research that is socially relevant, that incorporates cultural norms and expectations around microbes and that investigates how social and biological lives intersect. This is a propitious moment to establish lines of collaboration in the study of the microbiome that incorporate the concerns and capabilities of the social sciences and the humanities together with those of the natural sciences and relevant stakeholders outside academia. This paper presents an agenda for the engagement of the social sciences with microbiome research and its implications for public policy and social change. Our methods were informed by existing multidisciplinary science-policy agenda-setting exercises. We recruited 36 academics and stakeholders and asked them to produce a list of important questions about the microbiome that were in need of further social science research. We refined this initial list into an agenda of 32 questions and organised them into eight themes that both complement and extend existing research trajectories. This agenda was further developed through a structured workshop where 21 of our participants refined the agenda and reflected on the challenges and the limitations of the exercise itself. The agenda identifies the need for research that addresses the implications of the human microbiome for human health, public health, public and private sector research and notions of self and identity. It also suggests new lines of research sensitive to the complexity and heterogeneity of human–microbiome relations, and how these intersect with questions of environmental governance, social and spatial inequality and public engagement with science.
Abstract.
Full text.
Wills J (2020). The geo-constitution and responses to austerity: Institutional entrepreneurship, switching, and re-scaling in the United Kingdom.
Transactions of the Institute of British GeographersAbstract:
The geo-constitution and responses to austerity: Institutional entrepreneurship, switching, and re-scaling in the United Kingdom
© 2020 the Authors. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers published by John Wiley. &. Sons Ltd on behalf of Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) a nation's geo-constitution – its spatially uneven political institutions – plays a critical role in mediating change. This paper explores this in relation to local government responses to austerity. The paper presents original research collected in Cornwall, United Kingdom, to highlight the scale and impact of asset transfers to town and parish councils. This degree of institutional switching was possible because of a willingness to use legacy constitutional institutions to mediate the trajectory and impact of reform in response to austerity. Town and parish councils have taken on important assets (public toilets, parks, and libraries) and raised local taxation to pay for them. This has reconfigured relationships between local government institutions while also incentivising innovation in service organisation. The research highlights the role of political institutions and their personnel in mediating responses to austerity, as well as raising broader questions about the rescaling of the social contract, and the scope for further constitutional reform.
Abstract.
Full text.
Wills J (2019). The geo-constitution: Understanding the intersection of geography and political institutions.
Progress in Human Geography,
43(3), 416-435.
Abstract:
The geo-constitution: Understanding the intersection of geography and political institutions
© the Author(s) 2018. This paper draws on existing work in the discipline of human geography and cognate fields in order to develop the concept of the ‘geo-constitution’. This concept aims to: (1) highlight the importance of intersections between geography and political institutions in the constitution of government; (2) consider the path-dependent development of political institutions and their impact on statecraft and citizenship; (3) explore the implications of this for political reform. The paper provides an overview of current thinking in political geography and applies the concept of the geo-constitution to the example of devolution and localism in the United Kingdom.
Abstract.
Full text.
Wills J, Scott J (2017). The geography of the political party: Lessons from the British Labour Party’s experiment with community organising, 2010 to 2015.
Political Geography,
60, 121-131.
Full text.
Wills J (2016). (Re)Locating community in relationships: questions for public policy.
Sociological Review,
64, 639-656.
Full text.
Harney L, McCurry J, Scott J, Wills J (2016). Developing ‘process pragmatism’ to underpin engaged research in human geography.
Progress in Human Geography,
40(3), 316-333.
Full text.
Wills J (2016). Emerging geographies of English localism: the case of neighbourhood planning.
Political Geography,
53, 43-53.
Full text.
Linneker B, Wills J (2016). The London living wage and in-work poverty reduction: Impacts on employers and workers.
Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy,
34(5), 759-776.
Full text.
Wills J (2015). Populism, localism and the geography of democracy.
Geoforum,
62, 188-189.
Full text.
Wills J, Linneker B (2013). In-work poverty and the living wage in the United Kingdom: a geographical perspective.
Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers,
39(2), 182-194.
Full text.
Flint E, Cummins S, Wills J (2013). Investigating the effect of the London living wage on the psychological wellbeing of low-wage service sector employees: a feasibility study.
Journal of Public Health,
36(2), 187-193.
Full text.
Chapters
Wills J, Lake RW (2020). Introduction: the power of pragmatism. In (Ed)
The power of pragmatism: Knowledge production and social inquiry, Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 3-54.
Abstract:
Introduction: the power of pragmatism
Abstract.
Full text.
Harney L, Wills J (2020). Reflections on an Experiment in Pragmatic Social Research and Knowledge Production. In (Ed)
The power of pragmatism: Knowledge production and social inquiry, Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 176-194.
Abstract:
Reflections on an Experiment in Pragmatic Social Research and Knowledge Production
Abstract.
Wills J (2019). Organising. In the Antipode Editorial Collective (Ed)
Keywords in Radical Geography: Antipode at 50, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 202-206.
Abstract:
Organising
Abstract.
Full text.
Wills J (2018). Faith in action: Lessons from Citizens UK’s work in east London. In Pemberton C (Ed) Theology and civil society, Routledge, 19-44.
Wills J, Horton A (2018). Impacts of the living wage on in-work poverty. In Lohmann H, Marx I (Eds.) Handbook of research on in-work poverty, Edward Elgar.
Wills J (2014). Engaging. In Lee R (Ed) Sage handbook of progress in human geography, 367-384.
Reports
Wills J, Shaw R, Muir M (2020).
Growing Communities Through Nature: Research report. UKRI, Penryn, Cornwall, University of Exeter. 0 pages.
Abstract:
Growing Communities Through Nature: Research report
Abstract.
Full text.
Turner R, Poznansky FREDERICA, Smirthwaite N, Blundell A, Benson D, Gaston K, Hamshar J, Maclean I, Wills J, Yan X, et al (2020).
Towards a sustainable Cornwall: State of the Doughnut. Penryn, Cornwall, Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter. 71 pages.
Abstract:
Towards a sustainable Cornwall: State of the Doughnut
Abstract.
Full text.
Wills J (2019).
A new geography of local government: the changing role of town and parish councils in Cornwall, UK. Locality, Penryn, University of Exeter. 30 pages.
Abstract:
A new geography of local government: the changing role of town and parish councils in Cornwall, UK
Abstract.
Full text.
Publications by year
2020
Wills J, Shaw R, Muir M (2020).
Growing Communities Through Nature: Research report. UKRI, Penryn, Cornwall, University of Exeter. 0 pages.
Abstract:
Growing Communities Through Nature: Research report
Abstract.
Full text.
Wills J, Lake RW (2020). Introduction: the power of pragmatism. In (Ed)
The power of pragmatism: Knowledge production and social inquiry, Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 3-54.
Abstract:
Introduction: the power of pragmatism
Abstract.
Full text.
Kinsley S, Layton J, Davis J, Wills J, Featherstone D, Temenos C, Barnett C (2020). Reading Clive Barnett's the Priority of Injustice. Political Geography, 78, 102065-102065.
Harney L, Wills J (2020). Reflections on an Experiment in Pragmatic Social Research and Knowledge Production. In (Ed)
The power of pragmatism: Knowledge production and social inquiry, Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 176-194.
Abstract:
Reflections on an Experiment in Pragmatic Social Research and Knowledge Production
Abstract.
Greenhough B, Read CJ, Lorimer J, Lezaun J, McLeod C, Benezra A, Bloomfield S, Brown T, Clinch M, D’Acquisto F, et al (2020). Setting the agenda for social science research on the human microbiome.
Palgrave Communications,
6(1).
Abstract:
Setting the agenda for social science research on the human microbiome
© 2020, the Author(s). The human microbiome is an important emergent area of cross, multi and transdisciplinary study. The complexity of this topic leads to conflicting narratives and regulatory challenges. It raises questions about the benefits of its commercialisation and drives debates about alternative models for engaging with its publics, patients and other potential beneficiaries. The social sciences and the humanities have begun to explore the microbiome as an object of empirical study and as an opportunity for theoretical innovation. They can play an important role in facilitating the development of research that is socially relevant, that incorporates cultural norms and expectations around microbes and that investigates how social and biological lives intersect. This is a propitious moment to establish lines of collaboration in the study of the microbiome that incorporate the concerns and capabilities of the social sciences and the humanities together with those of the natural sciences and relevant stakeholders outside academia. This paper presents an agenda for the engagement of the social sciences with microbiome research and its implications for public policy and social change. Our methods were informed by existing multidisciplinary science-policy agenda-setting exercises. We recruited 36 academics and stakeholders and asked them to produce a list of important questions about the microbiome that were in need of further social science research. We refined this initial list into an agenda of 32 questions and organised them into eight themes that both complement and extend existing research trajectories. This agenda was further developed through a structured workshop where 21 of our participants refined the agenda and reflected on the challenges and the limitations of the exercise itself. The agenda identifies the need for research that addresses the implications of the human microbiome for human health, public health, public and private sector research and notions of self and identity. It also suggests new lines of research sensitive to the complexity and heterogeneity of human–microbiome relations, and how these intersect with questions of environmental governance, social and spatial inequality and public engagement with science.
Abstract.
Full text.
Wills J (eds)(2020).
The Power of Pragmatism Knowledge Production and Social Research. Manchester, Manchester University Press.
Abstract:
The Power of Pragmatism Knowledge Production and Social Research
Abstract.
Wills J (2020). The geo-constitution and responses to austerity: Institutional entrepreneurship, switching, and re-scaling in the United Kingdom.
Transactions of the Institute of British GeographersAbstract:
The geo-constitution and responses to austerity: Institutional entrepreneurship, switching, and re-scaling in the United Kingdom
© 2020 the Authors. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers published by John Wiley. &. Sons Ltd on behalf of Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) a nation's geo-constitution – its spatially uneven political institutions – plays a critical role in mediating change. This paper explores this in relation to local government responses to austerity. The paper presents original research collected in Cornwall, United Kingdom, to highlight the scale and impact of asset transfers to town and parish councils. This degree of institutional switching was possible because of a willingness to use legacy constitutional institutions to mediate the trajectory and impact of reform in response to austerity. Town and parish councils have taken on important assets (public toilets, parks, and libraries) and raised local taxation to pay for them. This has reconfigured relationships between local government institutions while also incentivising innovation in service organisation. The research highlights the role of political institutions and their personnel in mediating responses to austerity, as well as raising broader questions about the rescaling of the social contract, and the scope for further constitutional reform.
Abstract.
Full text.
Turner R, Poznansky FREDERICA, Smirthwaite N, Blundell A, Benson D, Gaston K, Hamshar J, Maclean I, Wills J, Yan X, et al (2020).
Towards a sustainable Cornwall: State of the Doughnut. Penryn, Cornwall, Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter. 71 pages.
Abstract:
Towards a sustainable Cornwall: State of the Doughnut
Abstract.
Full text.
2019
Wills J (2019).
A new geography of local government: the changing role of town and parish councils in Cornwall, UK. Locality, Penryn, University of Exeter. 30 pages.
Abstract:
A new geography of local government: the changing role of town and parish councils in Cornwall, UK
Abstract.
Full text.
Wills J (2019). Organising. In the Antipode Editorial Collective (Ed)
Keywords in Radical Geography: Antipode at 50, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 202-206.
Abstract:
Organising
Abstract.
Full text.
Wills J (2019). The geo-constitution: Understanding the intersection of geography and political institutions.
Progress in Human Geography,
43(3), 416-435.
Abstract:
The geo-constitution: Understanding the intersection of geography and political institutions
© the Author(s) 2018. This paper draws on existing work in the discipline of human geography and cognate fields in order to develop the concept of the ‘geo-constitution’. This concept aims to: (1) highlight the importance of intersections between geography and political institutions in the constitution of government; (2) consider the path-dependent development of political institutions and their impact on statecraft and citizenship; (3) explore the implications of this for political reform. The paper provides an overview of current thinking in political geography and applies the concept of the geo-constitution to the example of devolution and localism in the United Kingdom.
Abstract.
Full text.
2018
Wills J (2018). Faith in action: Lessons from Citizens UK’s work in east London. In Pemberton C (Ed) Theology and civil society, Routledge, 19-44.
Wills J, Horton A (2018). Impacts of the living wage on in-work poverty. In Lohmann H, Marx I (Eds.) Handbook of research on in-work poverty, Edward Elgar.
2017
Wills J, Scott J (2017). The geography of the political party: Lessons from the British Labour Party’s experiment with community organising, 2010 to 2015.
Political Geography,
60, 121-131.
Full text.
2016
Wills J (2016). (Re)Locating community in relationships: questions for public policy.
Sociological Review,
64, 639-656.
Full text.
Harney L, McCurry J, Scott J, Wills J (2016). Developing ‘process pragmatism’ to underpin engaged research in human geography.
Progress in Human Geography,
40(3), 316-333.
Full text.
Wills J (2016). Emerging geographies of English localism: the case of neighbourhood planning.
Political Geography,
53, 43-53.
Full text.
Wills J (2016).
Locating Localism Statecraft, Citizenship and Democracy., Policy Press.
Abstract:
Locating Localism Statecraft, Citizenship and Democracy
Abstract.
Linneker B, Wills J (2016). The London living wage and in-work poverty reduction: Impacts on employers and workers.
Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy,
34(5), 759-776.
Full text.
2015
Wills J (2015). Populism, localism and the geography of democracy.
Geoforum,
62, 188-189.
Full text.
2014
Wills J (2014). Engaging. In Lee R (Ed) Sage handbook of progress in human geography, 367-384.
2013
Wills J, Linneker B (2013). In-work poverty and the living wage in the United Kingdom: a geographical perspective.
Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers,
39(2), 182-194.
Full text.
Flint E, Cummins S, Wills J (2013). Investigating the effect of the London living wage on the psychological wellbeing of low-wage service sector employees: a feasibility study.
Journal of Public Health,
36(2), 187-193.
Full text.
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