About

I am a political and economic geographer with an interest in the production of space, place, and power. As sites through which capital, resources, knowledge, identities, and histories are produced, circulated, and resisted, space and place are critical concepts when it comes to understanding the functioning and/or disruption of political and economic systems.

From European colonisation, to the resurgence of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, efforts are continuously made to control, settle, and transforms space and place for particular ends. Taking material and imagined form - from the production of roads and ports, to representations of solidity across borders - the production of space and place writes on the ground new relations of power, including, geographies of inclusion, exclusion, uneven development, and dependency.

It is not the case, however, that one actor, or singular system, enacts change upon another. The production of space and place is continually supported, and/or resisted, through parallel and competing practices and processes. It is here where a politics of space and place exists.

Located at the intersection of development and postcolonial studies, my work seeks to understand how contemporary political and economic change alters contested power relations, particularly, for marginalised groups. I am interested in understanding how space and place is produce, by whom, under what conditions, and to what end.

To-date, my research has focused on interrogating the notion of South-South Cooperation, the transition from ‘aid’ to ‘trade’, and new and emerging development institutions. I have an empirical interest in Africa-China relations. I seek to understand how d/Development continues to be re/defined and identify the challenges and opportunities for those seeking to more effectively support, challenge, or resit change within the contemporary development landscape.

Based in Edinburgh, Scotland, I currently work for the Scottish Government in the area of budget, public spending and national infrastructure investment. I was awarded my PhD in the field of Geography and Sustainable Development from the University of St Andrews, UK. Prior to that, I gained degrees from the University of Leicester and the University of Wales, Bangor. I have also spent a period of time as a Visiting Scholar at the Centre for Chinese Studies, Stellenbosch University, South Africa.