Jane Wills&refresh | Geography | University of Exeter

Professor Jane Wills

Professor of Geography

J.Wills2@exeter.ac.uk

Overview

Jane Wills is a Professor of Geography at the Centre for Geography and Environmental Science (CGES) in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science (DEES) at the University of Exeter in Cornwall, UK. She is affiliated to the Environment and Sustainability Institute (ESI) on campus and used to be its Director between 2020 and 2023.

Jane's current research interests are focused on nature recovery and its integration into regional development policy and practice. She also has long-standing interests in the politics and philosophy of research and knowledge production, reflected in a recent edited volume: The Power of Pragmatism: Knowledge production and social inquiry (Manchester University Press, 2020, Edited with Robert W. Lake).

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).

Historically, Jane's research interests 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 and working in Cornwall, she has shifted focus to explore the geography of public and policy engagement for sustainability working on a range of related topics. Research publications are available via google scholar: https://scholar.google.co.uk.

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. She was the Director of the Environment and Sustainability Institute at the University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus from May 2020 - Aug 2023.

Research group links

Environment and Sustainability

Research

Research interests

Current research interests include policy and public engagement in sustainability and intersections with the geography of political institutions. This is part of wider and long-standing interests in devolution and localism, community organizing, civic innovation and social sustainability.

See below for new projects on Nature Recovery and Regional Development (NaRReD) and Local Policy Innovation Partnerships (LPIP Hub).

Recently completed projects include:

'Localising and decentralising goal-based governance for sustainability' (British Academy, 2022) with Rachel Turner, including work funded by Cornwall Council to develop doughnut economic approaches to social and ecological sustainability planning, see the web page: https://www.exeter.ac.uk/research/esi/research/projects/impact-towardsasustainablecornwall

'Sustaining the visitor economy and environment in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly' (SVEE-CIOS) UKRI, 2022, in partnership with colleagues in the Business School (Steffen Boehm, Joanne Connell) and Tevi (an EU-funded business support project), 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 explored best practice in nature based tourism and its potential application to nature-oriented tourism in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, see web page: https://www.exeter.ac.uk/research/esi/research/projects/sustaining-cios-visitor-economy-and-environment/

'Growing community through nature' (UKRI, 2020-1) experimenting with public engagement for social and ecological sustainability in 3 Cornish towns: http://www.exeter.ac.uk/esi/research/communitiesthroughnature/

'Levelling up for the rural periphery' Nick Woolgrove's PhD research in partnership with Cornwall Council and Britain's Leading Edge - an alliance of 11 local authorities - that included two policy papers and the groundwork for a new project funded by the ESRC (2024-6): https://www.britainsleadingedge.org/

'A new geography of local government: The changing role of town and parish councils in Cornwall' (2019, as part of Locality's Commission on the Future of Localism) documented the changing and growing role of town and parish councils in Cornwall, see publications or report: https://researchpubs.exeter.ac.uk/viewobject.html?cid=1&id=755576

For more information about previous research into the living wage campaign, see a report on Penzance becoming a living wage town here: https://penzancebid.co.uk/real-living-wage/#:~:text=Report%20Reveals%20Broad%20Support%20for%20Introducing%20the%20Real%20Living%20Wage%20to%20Penzance&text=A%20new%20report%20commissioned%20by,a%20'Living%20Wage%20Town'.

with more information on work conducted in London available from Queen Mary, University of London see here: www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/livingwage/

Research projects

New ESRC-funded research runs January 2024 to 2027: Nature Recovery and Regional Development (NaRReD) with Co-Is Juliet Osborne and Ian Bateman and PDRAs Jack Reed and Jennifer Dodsworth. More information can be found here: https://www.exeter.ac.uk/research/esi/research/projects/naturerecoveryandregionaldevelopment/

Jane is also involved in the ESRC-funded Hub supporting the Local Policy Innovation Partnerships (LPiPs), led by Bec Riley at the University of Birmingham, coalescing expertise in place-based policy and practice: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/city-redi/lpiphub/index.aspx

Jane has PhD students working on related projects including:

nature-recovery and peripheral regional development in England (Nick Woolgrove);
island life histories (Rosie Layfield);
and community-oriented development practices for sustainable forest farming in Peru (Lena Prouchet).

Research grants

2023 ESRC
Nature Recovery and Regional Development (NaRReD).
2023 ESRC
National Hub to coordinate the ESRC's Local Policy Innovation Partnerships programme
2022 British Academy Small Grants
Localising and decentralising goal-based governance for sustainablity

Publications

Books

Wills J, Lake RW (eds)(2020). The power of pragmatism: Knowledge production and social inquiry. Manchester, Manchester University Press. Abstract.

Wills J (2016). Locating localism: Statecraft, citizenship and democracy. Abstract.

Wills J, Datta K, Evans Y, Herbert J, May J, McIlwaine C (2009). Global Cities at Work: New migrant divisions of labour., Pluto Press.

Hale A, Wills J (2005). Threads of Labour: garment industry supply chains from the workers’ perspective., Wiley-Blackwell. Abstract.

Waterman P, Wills J (eds)(2002). Place, space and the new labour internationalisms., Wiley-Blackwell. Abstract.

Wills J (2002). Union futures: building networked trade unionism in the UK., Fabian Society. Abstract.

Blunt A, Wills J (2000). Dissident geographies: an introduction to radical ideas and practice., Routledge.

Lee R, Wills J (eds)(1997). Geographies of Economies., Routledge. Abstract.

Martin R, Sunley P, Wills J (1996). Union retreat and the regions: the shrinking landscape of organised labour., Routledge. Abstract.

Journal articles

Honeybun-Arnolda E, Turner RA, Mukhopadhyay R, Collins C, Wills J (2024). Localising and democratising goal-based governance for sustainability. Environmental Science & Policy, 151, 103638-103638.

Wills J (2024). The extraordinary task of crafting a more ‘ordinary’ geography: Post-vanguardism and the art of not-knowing best. Dialogues in Human Geography Abstract.

Wills J (2023). Bridging the gaps between demos and kratos: broad-based community organising and political institutional infrastructure in London, UK. City, 27(5-6), 890-904.

Turner RA, Wills J (2022). Downscaling doughnut economics for sustainability governance. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 56 Abstract.

Collins C, Shaw RF, Wills J (2022). Using place-based public engagement to improve social and environmental sustainability: Lessons from partnership working in Cornwall, UK. Current Research in Environmental Sustainability, 4 Abstract.

Clements J, Lobley M, Osborne J, Wills J (2021). How can academic research on UK agri-environment schemes pivot to meet the addition of climate mitigation aims?. Land Use Policy, 106, 105441-105441.

Chateau Z, Devine-Wright P, Wills J (2021). Integrating sociotechnical and spatial imaginaries in researching energy futures. Energy Research and Social Science, 80 Abstract.

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.

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 Geographers Abstract.

Wills J (2019). The geo-constitution: Understanding the intersection of geography and political institutions. Progress in Human Geography, 43(3), 416-435. Abstract.

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.

Wills J (2016). (Re)Locating community in relationships: questions for public policy. Sociological Review, 64, 639-656.

Wills J (2016). Book Review: Global political economy: Contemporary theories. Progress in Human Geography, 26(5), 703-704.

Wills J (2016). Book Review: Globalization and labour: the great new transformation. Progress in Human Geography, 27(2), 244-245.

Wills J (2016). Book Review: the political economy of New Labour: labouring under false pretences?. Progress in Human Geography, 25(4), 677-678.

Wills J, Simms M (2016). Building reciprocal community unionism in the UK. Capital & Class, 28(1), 59-84. Abstract.

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. Abstract.

Wills J (2016). Emerging geographies of English localism: the case of neighbourhood planning. Political Geography, 53, 43-53.

Wills J, Lincoln A (2016). Filling the Vacuum in New Management Practice? Lessons from US Employee-Owned Firms. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 31(8), 1497-1512. Abstract.

Wills J (2016). Great Expectations: Three Years in the Life of a European Works Council. European Journal of Industrial Relations, 6(1), 85-107. Abstract.

Wills J (2016). Political economy I: global crisis, learning and labour. Progress in Human Geography, 23(3), 443-451.

Wills J (2016). Political economy II: the politics and geography of capitalism. Progress in Human Geography, 24(4), 641-652.

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. Abstract.

Wills J (2015). Populism, localism and the geography of democracy. Geoforum, 62, 188-189.

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.

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. Abstract.

Wills J (2013). London’s Olympics in 2012: the good, the bad and an organising opportunity. Political Geography, 34, A1-A3.

Datta K, Cathy McIlwaine, May J, Wills J (2012). Migrants and migration: Academic research in the UK. Journal of Poverty and Social Justice, 20(1), 103-105.

Wills J (2012). The geography of community and political organisation in London today. Political Geography, 31(2), 114-126. Abstract.

Datta K, McLlwaine C, Evans Y, Herbert J, May J, Wills J (2010). A migrant ethic of care? Negotiating care andcaring among migrant workers in london’slow-oav economy. Feminist Review, 94(1), 93-116. Abstract.

Wills J (2010). Academic agents for change. City, 14(6), 616-618.

May J, Wills J, Datta K, Evans Y, Herbertand J, McIlwaine C (2010). Global Cities at Work: Migrant Labour in Low-Paid Employment in London. London Journal, 35(1), 85-99.

Rantisi NM (2009). <i>Threads of Labour: Garment Industry Supply Chains from the Workers Perspective</i>. Edited by Angela Hale and Jane Wills. Economic Geography, 83(2), 205-206.

Datta K, McIlwaine C, Herbert J, Evans Y, May J, Wills J (2009). Men on the move: Narratives of migration and work among low-paid migrant men in London. Social and Cultural Geography, 10(8), 853-873. Abstract.

Wills J, Datta K, Evans Y, Herbert J, May J, McIlwaine C (2009). Religion at work: the role of faith-based organizations in the London living wage campaign. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 2(3), 443-461.

WILLS J (2008). Making Class Politics Possible: Organizing Contract Cleaners in London. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 32(2), 305-323. Abstract.

Wills J (2008). Mapping Class and its Political Possibilities. Antipode, 40(1), 25-30.

Herbert J, May J, Wills J, Datta K, Evans Y, McIlwaine C (2008). Multicultural Living?. European Urban and Regional Studies, 15(2), 103-117. Abstract.

Wills J (2008). Subcontracted Employment and its Challenge to Labor. Labor Studies Journal, 34(4), 441-460. Abstract.

Wills J (2008). Taking on the CosmoCorps? Experiments in Transnational Labor Organization. Economic Geography, 74(2), 111-130. Abstract.

Evans Y, Wills J, Datta K, Herbert J, McIlwaine C, May J (2007). 'Subcontracting by Stealth' in London's Hotels: Impacts and Implications for Labour Organising. Just Labour

Datta K, McIlwaine C, Evans Y, Herbert J, May J, Wills J (2007). From Coping Strategies to Tactics: London's Low‐Pay Economy and Migrant Labour. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 45(2), 404-432. Abstract.

May J, Wills J, Datta K, Evans Y, Herbert J, McIlwaine C (2007). Keeping London working: global cities, the British state and London's new migrant division of labour. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 32(2), 151-167. Abstract.

Datta K, McIlwaine C, Wills J, Evans Y, Herbert J, May J (2007). The new development finance or exploiting migrant labour? Remittance sending among low-paid migrant workers in London. International Development Planning Review, 29(1), 43-67. Abstract.

HALE A, WILLS J (2007). Women Working Worldwide: transnational networks, corporate social responsibility and action research. Global Networks, 7(4), 453-476. Abstract.

Wills J (2006). European Works Councils in British firms. Human Resource Management Journal, 9(4), 19-38.

Wills J (2006). Geographies of Trade Unionism: Translating Traditions Across Space and Time. Antipode, 28(4), 352-378. Abstract.

Martin R, Sunley P, Wills J (2006). UNIONS AND THE POLITICS OF DEINDUSTRIALIZATION: SOME COMMENTS ON HOW GEOGRAPHY COMPLICATES CLASS ANALYSIS. Antipode, 26(1), 59-76.

Wills J (2006). What's left? the left, its crisis and rehabilitation. Antipode, 38(5), 907-915.

Wills J (2005). The Geography of Union Organising in Low‐Paid Service Industries in the UK: Lessons from the T&G's Campaign to Unionise the Dorchester Hotel, London. Antipode, 37(1), 139-159. Abstract.

Wills J (2004). A Stake in Place? the Geography of Employee Ownership and its Implications for a Stakeholding Society. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 23(1), 79-94. Abstract.

Savage L, Wills J (2004). New geographies of trade unionism. Geoforum, 35(1), 5-7.

Wills J (2004). Trade unionism and partnership in practice: evidence from the Barclays–Unifi agreement. Industrial Relations Journal, 35(4), 329-343.

Wills J (2002). Bargaining for the space to organize in the global economy: a review of the Accor-IUF trade union rights agreement. Review of International Political Economy, 9(4), 675-700.

Wills J (2002). Community unionism and trade union renewal in the UK: moving beyond the fragments at last?. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 26(4), 465-483. Abstract.

Hodkinson S (2002). Place, Space and the New Labour Internationalismsedited by Peter Waterman and Jane Wills, Oxford: Blackwell, 2001, 300 pp. ISBN 0-631-22983-3. Relations industrielles, 57(4), 796-796.

Wills J (2002). Political economy III: Neoliberal chickens, Seattle and geography. Progress in Human Geography, 26(1), 90-100.

Wills J, Peck J (2002). Progress or Retreat? <i>Antipode</i> and the Radical Geographical Project. Antipode, 34(4), 667-671.

Waterman P, Wills J (2002). Space, Place and the New Labour Internationalisms: Beyond the Fragments?. Antipode, 33(3), 305-311.

Wills J (2002). Uneven Geographies of Capital and Labour: the Lessons of European Works Councils. Antipode, 33(3), 484-509. Abstract.

Wills J (1999). Political economy I: global crisis, learning and labour. Progress in Human Geography, 23(3), 443-451.

Wills J (1998). Taking on the CosmoCorps? Experiments in transnational labor organization. ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY, 74(2), 111-130. Author URL.

Wills J (1998). Uprooting tradition: Rethinking the place and space of labour organization. European Planning Studies, 6(1), 31-42.

Wills J (1996). Uneven Reserves: Geographies of Banking Trade Unionism. Regional Studies, 30(4), 359-372.

Martin R, Sunley P, Wills J (1994). Local Industrial Politics. Employee Relations, 16(2), 84-99.

Martin R, Sunley P, Wills J (1994). The Decentralization of Industrial Relations? New Institutional Spaces and the Role of Local Context in British Engineering. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 19(4), 457-457.

Martin R, Sunley P, Wills J (1993). The Decentralisation of Industrial Politics? the Role of Regional Context in the Reshaping of Trade Unionism within British Engineering. Management Research News, 16(5/6), 2-2. Abstract.

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.

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.

Wills J (2019). Organising. In the Antipode Editorial Collective (Ed) Keywords in Radical Geography: Antipode at 50, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 202-206. Abstract.

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 (2017). Living Wage. In (Ed) International Encyclopedia of Geography: People, the Earth, Environment and Technology, Wiley, 1-2.

Wills J (2017). Migrant Division of Labor. In (Ed) International Encyclopedia of Geography: People, the Earth, Environment and Technology, Wiley, 1-2.

Lee R, Wills J (2014). Concluding reflections on geographies of economies. In (Ed) Geographies of Economies, 357-358.

Wills J (2014). Engaging. In Lee R (Ed) Sage handbook of progress in human geography, 367-384.

(2013). Globalization and protest Jane Wills. In (Ed) Introducing Human Geographies, Routledge, 585-599.

Wills J (2013). Organising in the global economy: the accor IUF trade union rights agreement. In (Ed) European Works Councils: Pessimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will?, 211-223.

Wills J (2012). Place and Politics. In (Ed) Spatial Politics: Essays for Doreen Massey, 133-145.

Wills J (2012). Uneven Geographies of Capital and Labour: the Lessons of European Works Councils. In (Ed) Place, Space and the New Labour Internationalisms, Wiley, 180-205.

Datta K, McIlwaine C, Herbert J, Evans Y, May J, Wills J (2011). Chapter 35: Global Workers for Global Cities: Low Paid Migrant Labour in London. In (Ed) International Handbook of Globalization and World Cities, Edward Elgar Publishing.

Datta K, McIlwaine C, Herbert J, Evans Y, May J, Wills J (2011). Global workers for global cities: Low paid migrant labour in London. In (Ed) International Handbook of Globalization and World Cities, 390-397.

Wills J, Datta K, May J, McIlwaine C, Evans Y, Herbert J (2010). (Im)migration, local, regional and uneven development. In (Ed) Handbook of Local and Regional Development, 449-459.

Wills J, McIlwaine C, Datta K, May J, Herbert J, Evans Y (2010). New migrant divisions of labour. In (Ed) The Economic Geography of the UK, 225-238.

Anderson J, Hamilton P, Wills J (2010). The multi-scalarity of trade union practice. In (Ed) Handbook of Employment and Society: Working Space, 383-397.

Wills J, Hurley J (2008). Action Research: Tracing the Threads of Labour in the Global Garment Industry. In (Ed) Threads of Labour: Garment Industry Supply Chains from the Workers' Perspective, 69-94.

Hale A, Wills J (2008). Conclusion. In (Ed) Threads of Labour: Garment Industry Supply Chains from the Workers' Perspective, 234-239.

Wills J, Hale A (2008). Threads of Labour in the Global Garment Industry. In (Ed) Threads of Labour: Garment Industry Supply Chains from the Workers' Perspective, 1-15.

Wills J (2007). The place of personal politics. In (Ed) Politics and Practice in Economic Geography, 131-140.

Wills J (2003). Organizing in transport and travel: Learning lessons from TSSAs Seacat campaign. In (Ed) Union Organizing: Campaigning for Trade Union Recognition, 133-152. Abstract.

Wills J, Lee R (1997). Introduction. In (Ed) Geographies of Economies, Routledge, xv-xviii.

Conferences

Wills J, May J, Datta K, Evans Y, Herbert J, McIlwaine C (2009). London's migrant division of labour. Abstract.

Jamoul L, Wills J (2008). Faith in politics. Abstract.

Reports

Wills J, Turner R, Collins C, Honeybun-Arnolda E (2022). A Civic Lantern to engage civic and civil society in goal-setting for sustainability in Cornwall: a research report. Penryn, Cornwall, Environment and Sustainability Institute. Abstract.

Wills J, Turner R, Collins C, Mukhopadhyay R (2022). Annual Review of the Cornwall Plan (2021-2022). Research into partnerships and collaborative working for the delivery of the Cornwall Plan. Cornwall Council, Penryn, Cornwall, Environment and Sustainability Institute. Abstract.

Wills J, Woolgrove N (2022). Levelling up the Leading Edge: Investing in our natural assets for collective wealth. Cornwall, Environment and Sustainability Institute (University of Exeter).

Wills J, Turner R, Collins C, Honeybun-Arnolda E, Mukhopadhyay R (2022). Localising and decentralising goal-based governance for sustainability in England: Policy summary. Penryn, Cornwall, Environment and Sustainability Institute. Abstract.

Wills J, Collins C (2022). The real living wage in Penzance: a research report. Penzance BID and Cornwall Council, Cornwall, Environment and Sustainability Institute (University of Exeter).

Wills J, Woolgrove N, Willett J, Ax T (2021). Peripheral Vision:. Reimagining. Regional Policy for a Greener Union. Britain's Leading Edge and University of Exeter, Cornwall, Cornwall Council and University of Exeter. Abstract. Author URL.

Turner R, Blundell A, Collins C, Exeter O, Wills J (2021). Sustainable Development in Cornwall: Local Perspectives on Challenges and Opportunities. Penryn, Cornwall, Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter. 72 pages.

Wills J, Gaskell C, Craig N, Hartgroves R (2021). Sustaining the Environment and Visitor Economy in Cornwall. University of Exeter, Penryn, Cornwall, UK, Environment and Sustainability Institute. Abstract.

Wills J, Smyth V, Harvey-Scholes C (2021). Sustaining the Visitor Economy and Environment in the Isles of Scilly. University of Exeter, Penryn, Cornwall, UK, Environment and Sustainability Institute. Abstract. Author URL.

Wills J, Shaw R, Muir M (2020). Growing Communities Through Nature: Research report. UKRI, Penryn, Cornwall, University of Exeter. 0 pages. Abstract.

Turner R, Poznansky F, 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.

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.