MA (Hons), MSc, PhD
Lecturer
- About
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- School/Department
- School of Social Science
Biography
I am currently a Lecturer (in Comparative Politics) in the Department of Politics and International Relations. Before coming to Aberdeen, I completed my PhD in the School of International Relations a the University of St Andrews. Leading up to and during my PhD, I held several research fellowships funded by the National Geographic Society, the Global Challenges Research Fund, the Sir Halley Stewart Trust, and the University of St Andrews. The central theme of this research centred around environmental, energy, and climate policy and justice-based social movements.
Qualifications
- PhD International Relations2023 - University of St Andrews
Thesis - 'Moralising Dispossession: Tracing Ethnogeographies of Settler Colonial Environmental Governance in the United States'
- MSc African Studies2014 - University of Oxford
- MA International Relations2013 - University of St Andrews
First Class
Memberships and Affiliations
- Internal Memberships
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- LGBT Staff and Postgraduate Network, Member
- MSc in Energy Politics and Law, Programme Director
- Social Sciences PG Committee, Member
- PIR PG Staff Student Liaison Committee, Member
- PIR PG Exam Board Committee, Member
- External Memberships
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- Native American and Indigenous Studies Association, Member
- Climate Social Science Network, Member
- British Academy Early Career Research Network, Member
Latest Publications
Creating Americana Landscapes: Examining Dams and Reservoirs as Settler Colonial Ethnogeographies in the United States
Contributions to Conferences: Oral PresentationsCentring the Demand for Critical Climate Justice Education
Children, Childhoods, and Global Politics. Beier, J. M., Berents, H. (eds.). Bristol University Press, pp. 210-224Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.56687/9781529232332-018
Refusing reconciliation with settler colonialism: wider lessons from the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission
International Journal of Human Rights, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 380-402Contributions to Journals: ArticlesBecoming 'Historically Marginalized Peoples': Examining Twa Perceptions of Boundary Shifting and Re-Categorization in Post-Genocide Rwanda
Ethnic and Racial Studies, vol. 44, no. 4, pp. 576-594Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2020.1767798
Aamusnaan Maya Initiative 'Silence No More': Assessing Responses and Needs of Digaale Internally Displaced Persons Camp at the Outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Hargeisa, Somaliland: Transparency International. 59 pagesBooks and Reports: Commissioned Reports
Prizes and Awards
- 2021 UK & Ireland Green Gown Awards, Winning Team in Student Engagement Category
- 2021 International Green Gown Awards, Highly Commended Team in Student Engagement Category
- Research
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Research Overview
My most current research interests are largely centred around environmental, climate, and energy ethics, discourse, and governance; place and displacement; and social movements in the Plantationocene. My past and ongoing research interests are in critical peace studies and genocide studies, specifically looking at the effectiveness of transitional justice and truth-seeking mechanisms and historical dialogue processes in the wake of mass atrocities.
I have published my work in the International Journal on Human Rights, Ethnic and Racial Studies, and Peacebuilding, as well as in edited books, such as Indigenous peoples and their Access to Justice, including Truth and Reconciliation Processes (2014, eds. Littlechild and Stamatopoulou), Ethnographic Peace Research: Approaches and Tensions (2017, ed. Millar), Rwanda Since 1994 (2019, eds. Grayson and Hitchcott), and Children, Childhoods, and Global Politics (2023, eds. Beier and Berents).
In terms of practitioner/activist oriented work, I started the Third Generation Project (TGP) in 2016, an award-winning think tank based at the University of St Andrews that produces educational research and materials on the intricacies of climate justice. Within TGP I co-founded the Emerging Researchers Programme and the Mutual Aid Clinic to train undergraduate students in collaborative, non-extractive, and reflexive qualitative research methodologies. I have also worked with a range of organisations on producing research and educational materials, including and not limited to: the Scottish Government; Education Scotland; Scottish Development Education Centres (Wosdec, Scotdec, HOW); Rajpot; the Permanent Commission on the Status of Racialized, Indigenous, and Tribal Populations in Maine; Aegis Trust/Kigali Genocide Memorial; Transparency Solutions; Anywaa Survival Organisation; AIMPO-Rwanda; SOM-ACT; and People's Coalition for Food Sovereignty.
Research Areas
Accepting PhDs
I am currently accepting PhDs in Politics and International Relations.
Please get in touch if you would like to discuss your research ideas further.
Politics and International Relations
Accepting PhDsResearch Specialisms
- Environmentalism
- International Relations
- Environmental History
- International Development
Our research specialisms are based on the Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS) which is HESA open data, published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
Supervision
I welcome prospective PhD students who are interested in researching in and around the following topics:
- Critical environmental studies or political ecology
- Transitional justice and historical dialogue
- Climate, environmental, and/or energy justice
- Settler colonial studies
- Critical human rights
- Postcolonial theory
- Critical qualitative methodologies (e.g. PAR, collaborative, reflexive, anti-extractive practice)
Funding and Grants
- Scottish Government (2023-Present; Co-PI with PI Prof Ali Watson and Co-PI Jamie Hinch): Exploring 20th Century Policies Affecting Gypsy/Traveller Communities in Scotland
- Sir Halley Stewart Trust (2022-23; Co-PI with PI Prof Ali Watson): Shifting education out of the classroom: community education for climate action
- Scottish Universities Insight Institute (2020-21; Investigator with PI Prof. Ali Watson & Co-PI Dr Callum McGregor): Education for Climate Justice: Centring social justice amidst demands to prioritise the climate crisis in education
- Global Challenges Research Fund (2019-21; Co-PI with PI Prof Ali Watson): Aamusnaan Maya 'Silence No More': Assessing Responses and Needs of Digaale Internally Displaced Persons Camp at the Outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic
- National Geographic Society (2019-21; PI with Co-PI Ali Watson): Breaking the 4th Wall of Climate Migration
- British Academy (2016-2017; Investigator with Prof Ali Watson): No Right of Return: Climate Change Refugees and the Politics of Displacement in the United States
- Aegis Trust (2015-16; Co-PI with Richard Ntakirutimana): 'Am I Mutwa or "HMP"?': Examining the issues of the ‘Historically Marginalized Peoples’ label and its implications for the Batwa of Rwanda
- Teaching
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Programmes
- Postgraduate, 3 stage, September start
Teaching Responsibilities
PI5025 - Energy Politics
PI5518 - International Energy Security
PI5907 - Energy Politics and Law Project
PI2009 - Ideas and Ideologies in Politics and International Relations - Environmentalism Week
- Publications
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Creating Americana Landscapes: Examining Dams and Reservoirs as Settler Colonial Ethnogeographies in the United States
Contributions to Conferences: Oral PresentationsCentring the Demand for Critical Climate Justice Education
Children, Childhoods, and Global Politics. Beier, J. M., Berents, H. (eds.). Bristol University Press, pp. 210-224Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.56687/9781529232332-018
Refusing reconciliation with settler colonialism: wider lessons from the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission
International Journal of Human Rights, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 380-402Contributions to Journals: ArticlesBecoming 'Historically Marginalized Peoples': Examining Twa Perceptions of Boundary Shifting and Re-Categorization in Post-Genocide Rwanda
Ethnic and Racial Studies, vol. 44, no. 4, pp. 576-594Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2020.1767798
Aamusnaan Maya Initiative 'Silence No More': Assessing Responses and Needs of Digaale Internally Displaced Persons Camp at the Outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Hargeisa, Somaliland: Transparency International. 59 pagesBooks and Reports: Commissioned Reports‘One Rwanda for all Rwandans’: (Un)Covering the Batwa in Post-Genocide Rwanda
Rwanda Since 1994: Stories of Change. Grayson, H., Hitchcott, N. (eds.). Liverpool University Press, pp. 125–144Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersThe Impetus for Peace Studies to Make a Collaborative Turn: Towards Community Collaborative Research
Ethnographic Peace Research: Approaches and Tensions. Millar, G. (ed.). Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 89-114Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters (Peer-Reviewed)- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65563-5_5
Protecting the Seas to Save the Land: The Fight Against the Fossil Fuel Industry in the Gulf and its Implications for the Nation
Non-textual Forms: Web Publications and WebsitesSidelined at the Summit: Indigenous Peoples Ignored in the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement
Non-textual Forms: Web Publications and WebsitesChildren and Peace
The Palgrave Handbook of Disciplinary and Regional Approaches to Peace. Pogodda, S., Richmond, O. (eds.). Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 206-219Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-40761-0_16
