I’m a sociologist and political ecologist with an interest in the intersections of local, global and environmental history. I teach courses on social policy and the history of social welfare movements in the UK, climate change and global inequality. In addition to my teaching role at the University of Chester I am currently employed on an EU funded LIFE project, focused on species recovery, river restoration and connecting people with nature in South Cumbria.

My current research focuses on political ecology and the intersection of local and global history, with a particular focus on the relationship between the social and environmental history of Cumbria and north Lancashire, colonialism, imperialism and contemporary capitalism. I am a member of the Kendal Heritage Partnership (Cumbria) and the editor of the Cumberland and Westmorland Archaeological and Antiquarian Society’s News. I am leading a cultural restitution project at Kendal Museum, reconnecting communities in Cumbria and western Kenya previously connected by British colonialism, but until recently unaware of their shared history.