I am a Hallsworth Research Fellow with a focus on External Engagement and Impact. My research focuses on plastics recycling and efforts to improve this across UK cities. I am specifically interested in the roles and responsibilities of different actors and organisations involved in the design, circulation, collection, and recovery of plastic packaging. I aim to develop crosscutting knowledge that supports attempts to bring about more sustainable futures.  

I gained my undergraduate degree in Journalism, Media and Sociology at Cardiff University and my MA in Sociology at the University of Manchester. I completed my PhD in Sociology as part of the DEMAND Research Centre at Lancaster University. Following this, I conducted an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship within Cardiff University’s School of Geography and Planning. Both my PhD and ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship focused on the historical constitution of electricity demand in Manchester and what this suggests about attempts to meet sustainability challenges materialising in the city. I subsequently joined the University of Manchester as a Research Associate on the interdisciplinary UKRI-funded ‘One Bin to Rule Them All’ project. Motivated by pressing issues associated with the design, use, and recovery of plastic packaging, I am currently undertaking a three-year Hallsworth Research Fellowship, with a focus on external engagement and impact.

My research involves exploring the connections between demand (in its various guises) and sustainable transitions. I have researched the use and disposal of plastic packaging in households, seeking to develop a fresh understanding of persistent problems tied up with municipal waste resources and recovery. I have also conducted research and written on energy consumption and supply, building on literature on low-carbon place-making, smart sustainable cities, and, more broadly, urban energy transitions. In response to stay-at-home orders enforced in reply to the coronavirus pandemic, I engaged in research aimed at explaining emerging patterns of material consumption and the implications of such shifts for those engaged in debates on sustainability. I have also ventured (a little) into the sociology of markets, developing thinking within Market Studies on the spatial dynamics of market making. The aim, in this instance, has been to develop novel accounts of how uneven geographies of demand and concern take shape. My research tends to be inspired by theories of social practice and science and technology studies, with various quantitative and qualitative methods embraced depending on the questions I am seeking to address. No matter the research topic, I enjoy communicating ideas creatively and in different written and visual formats.