I am an environmental economic geographer and political ecologist in the School of Geography, Geology and Environment (SGGE) and Institute of Environmental Futures (IEF). My interdisciplinary research explores the links between the environmental impacts of commodities, markets, and their relationships to social-biodiversity and the bio-economy in the Global South – specifically Brazil and Latin America. With a particular focus on issues of social and ecological justice, my interests lie in how marginalised and traditional communities play vital roles in sustaining fragile ecosystems, whilst maintaining livelihoods amidst environmental change. My research has long-focused on how commodities and markets connect to resource 'nexuses', and the production landscapes in which they are located.
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About me
Research
I have conceptual and methodological interests in place, space and scale as they are mobilised through the geographies of commodities. This leads to particular interest in resource 'nexuses' they intersect with ‘the’ marketplace to shape/reshape political-economic space. Conceptually, my recent focus has been on ‘critical nexus thinking’ as a means to interrogate social-spatial inter-connectivity, address the moral assumptions associated with notions of 'ethical', and redress the implicit contradictions with resource economies.
I utilise these perspectives in variety of political and economic contexts in Latin America (Brazil), as well as the UK and EU, to examine a diverse array of geographical questions about socio-biodiversity and 'bio-economy', ‘net zero’ resources, the ‘geographies’ of commodities focusing on how places of production connect with those of consumption and in-between, (ie farms, factories and markets) and their underlying nexus of interrelated and interconnected resources (e.g. water/energy).
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Current and recent projects include:
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2025-28: Participatory monitoring of traditional territories: digital platform for co-production of data on socio-biodiversity in Amazonian areas
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Funded by the UKRI-CNPq Amazon+10 (c. £950k), I am the UK Principle Investigator and sole award holder of this 3-year project that brings the University of Leicester together with a consortium of 11 research institutions in Brazil. The UK element of the project engages with traditional forest and river communities in the Amazon, and seeks to better understand the ways in which these engage with and utilise social-bio diversity and forest resources. Using a participatory approach to social-biodiversity monitoring, the project explores the potential for the community-use of app-based monitoring tools and machine learning to better understand and articulate how social-biodiversity is understood by these communities. Traditional communities in the Amazon and the world-over hold deep ecological knowledge that can provide crucial insights into biodiversity conservation. And one objective of this project is to strengthen the political and economic agency of these often-marginalised communities, and thus enabling them to assert control over their territorial lands and resources. https://www.ukri.org/what-we-do/browse-our-areas-of-investment-and-support/amazon-10-initiative-research-expeditions-to-the-amazon/)
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2024-25: Who owns chickens? Corporate control and industrial broiler production in the global South
Funded byThe Tiny Beam Foundation (2024-25) (c.£60k), this project considers and analyses the ecological and economic pacts of the chicken industry in China and the Global South -- focusing on Brazil, India and Mexico. Outputs to date include a the fellowship report (https://www.issuelab.org/resources/45034/45034.pdf 10.15868/socialsector.45034), a data toolkit (https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/WRZGX), and two papers in preparation (early drafts available upon request).
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2023-24: Beyond Net-Zero – Assessing and Extending Social and Environmental Understandings of Wind Power
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Funded by the Independent Science Research Fund (ISRF) (c£8k), this is a multidisciplinary investigation that brings Geology and Geography together to interrogate the into the global material, economic, and socio-environmental impacts of Net-Zero transitions, focused particularly on the wind energy industry. Outputs include a photo-essay, an article in The Conversation and 2 papers in preparation (early drafts available upon request).