I am Professor of Environmental Politics at the University of Manchester, based in the Department of Politics and the Sustainable Consumption Institute (www.sci.manchester.ac.uk).

My research demonstrates the importance of embedding critical analyses of gender inequality and other social inequalities in environmental and climate politics and policy; research that supports the University’s strategic and SR agendas. My work in this field began with the monograph Beyond Mothering Earth: Ecological Citizenship and the Politics of Care (University of British Columbia Press, 2006) and developed via my authorship of one of the first journal articles on gender and climate change in 2009. It has continued in other career achievements such as my Handbook of Gender and Environment (Routledge, 2017), a multidisciplinary collection that breaks new theoretical ground, and a major research report 'Caring in a Changing Climate: Centering Care in Climate Action' (Oxfam America, 2022). I am currently Principal Investigator of two funded research projects, 'Towards Inclusive Environmental Sustainability' (Leverhulme Trust) and 'Operationalising Gender Equality in Climate Finance: Lessons from the Brazilian Amazon' (GIZ).

My academic background is multi-disciplinary and located in the environmental social sciences. I have degrees in gender studies, urban planning and environmental studies. All of my higher eduction was completed at Canadian universities (PhD - Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University) before I moved to the UK to take up a postdoctoral fellowship funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (2002-2004). 

I have held positions at Lancaster University (2004-2005), Keele University (2006-2015), and short-term visiting positions at Sciences Po Lille (France) and the University of Wisconsin (USA). I was a Research Fellow at the Rachel Carson Center (RCC) for Environment and Society at Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, Germany in 2014. 

I have been invited to give plenary and keynote lectures at a range of international conferences and public events, including: International Women's Day panel on gender and climate change at Chatham House, high-profile panel on gender equality and SDG5 post-pandemic at the United Nations Commission on the Status Women conference (both 2022); an openning keynote at the 'Sustainable Consumption and Social Justice in an Urbanizing World' annual international conference of SCORAI (Northeastern University, Boston [virtual], 2020); 'Sustainable Development in a Contested World' (ECPR General Conference, University of Wroclaw 2019), 'Environmental Justice 2017: Looking Back, Looking Forward' (Univerity of Sydney 2017) the UK Women's Environmental Network Annual Forum (London 2018) and the Annual Conference of the Canadian Association of Women’s and Gender Studies/Researches Féministes (University of Calgary, 2016).

I have been involved in Environmental Politics journal since 2007, first as Book Reviews Editor, then as an Editor from 2010-2016. In Novemeber 2020 I was re-appointed as Editor after a global search.   

Information about my publications, teaching and PGR supervision is provided on my other pages. 

I am one of a small number of scholars in the UK specialising in the interdisciplinary field of gender and environmental politics. My research explores themes of environmental (un)sustainability, gender (in)equality, and theories and practices of citizenship.  My research is animated by critical questions about power relations, environmental and social justice, the gendered divisions of labour and responsibility, and strategies for eco-political transformation in affluent societies.

My research has been published in a range of journals including Policy Studies, South Atlantic Quarterly, Environmental Politics, British Politics, Sociological Review, Hypatia, Local Environment, Energy Policy, Geoforum, Social Movement Studies, and International Journal of the Commons.  Recent books include: Trajectories of Enviromental Politics (co-edited with Graeme Hayes, Sikina Jinnah, Prakash Kashwan, John M. Meyer, David Konitsky and Anthony Zito: 2022); the two volume anthology Environmental Movements around the World: Shades of Green in Politics and Culture (co-edited with Timothy Doyle: 2014) and the fourth edition of Environment and Politics (co-authored by Timothy Doyle and Doug McEachern; 2015).

I am the editor of the Routledge Handbook of Gender and Environment (2017) and co-editor (with Nicole Seymour) of 'Men and Natuure: Hegemonic Masculinities and Environmental Change', a special issue of the open access digital journal published by the Rachel Carson Center (LMU Munich) RCC Perpsectives: Transformations in Environment and Society (2017).  

My most recent funded research projects are: 'Operationalising Socially-just Climate Finance' [funded by the GIZ; £104k for one year]; 'Toward Inclusive Environmental Sustainbilities (TIES)' [funded by the Leverhulme Trust; £330K for three years] and 'Caring in a Changing Climate' [funded by Oxfam America]; and 'Towards a Feminist Green New Deal for the UK' [funded by the Women's Budget Group and Women's Environmental Network].

Past projects include: 'The Cultural Politics of Household Sustainability' (funded by the Sustainable Consumption Institute, University of Manchester, 2018-19),'Talking Rubbish in Moss Side' (funded by the HEIF eco-innovation scheme, 2017-18) and 'Reducing Energy Consumption through Community Knowledge Networks' (funded by RCUK. 2011-2013). 

Editor, Environmental Politics journal (Impact factor 5.5 - 2022)

Grant review panel member, NordForsk (Climate and Gender Perspectives) 2024

Member, Commission on Care-centred Transition to Equitable, Low-consumption societies, convened by the Hot or Cool Institute, SERI, est 2022

Advisory Board Member, The Just Transition Care Initiative, which is jointly promoted by the Zennström Professor of Climate Change Leadership at Uppsala University and the UNRISD’s Just Transition Research Collaborative (JTRC) - est 2021

Grant review panel member, Formas: The Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning. Call:‘ Visions and conditions for a fossil-free welfare society’, 2019.

Section Chair, Environmental Politics section (8 panels) at the 2019 ECPR General Conference, University of Wrocław, Poland

Member, Academic Board, Rachel Carson Center, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, 2018-2021

Member, Editorial Board, International Studies Review, est 2018

Convenor, Environmental Politics Standing Group of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR), 2011-2019

Fellow, Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society. Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich. February-July 2013

Fellow, Royal Geographical Society, est 2006

I am currently supervising a number of theoretical and/or empirical research projects relating to environmental politics and justice, sustainability, gender/feminist politics. I have very limited capacity to take on more research supervision at this time.

I have served as external examiner of PhD theses at Durham University, the University of Edinburgh, Queen's University Belfast, the University of Western Australia, the University of Toronto, York University (Canada), University of East Anglia, Lancaster University, and Macquarie University (Australia).

I am supervising (or have supervised) the research projects of the following doctoral candidates:

Zarina Ahmad: 'The cultural politics of sustainable consumption in the UK: An intersectional ecofeminist exploration of the food provisioning practices of Pakistan-heritage women in Manchester and Glasgow' (co-supervised by Prof Tally Katz-Gerro).

Heather Urquhart: 'Rewilding, Green Lairds and Gàidhealtachd Futures: Interrogating Claims to Land in a Climate Anxious Age' (co-supervised by Dr Meghan Tinsley).

Anna-Maria Kohnke: 'Establishing a ‘Work Index’ of wellbeing: An investigation into working conditions as a fundamental welfare indicator' (co-supervised by Prof John O'Neill).

Aino Ursula Maki: 'How is reproductive labour naturalized as a ‘labour of love’?' (co-supervised by Dr Adrienne Roberts).

Grace Tudor-Worral 'Becoming post-human in the Anthropocene' (co-supervised by Dr. Aurora Fredrickson).

Hannah Battersby: 'Moral considerability in a relationally rich world' (co-supervised by Prof. John O'Neill) Passed, no corrections, June 2024. External examiner: Prof Claire Palmer.

Magdalena S. Rodekirchen: 'Ecofeminist horizoning: Bringing intersectionality and assemblage thinking together through facet methodology' (co-supervised by Prof. Mat Paterson). Passed, minor revisions, May 2024. External examiner: Prof. Astrida Niemanis.

Joanna (Wilson) Flavell 'Gendered discourses and feminist resistance in the UNFCCC' (co-supervised by Prof. Mat Paterson). passed, minor revisions, Dec 2020. External examiner: Prof Annica Kronsell.

Giulia Mininni (Keele University):  Can energy empower women? A case study of the Solar Mamas’ project in rural Rajasthan.'' (co-supervised by Prof. Farzana Shain) passed, minor revisions, Feb 2020. External examiner: Prof Joy Clancy.

Anna Wienhues:  'Life in Common: Distributive Ecological Justice on a Shared Earth' (co-supervised by Prof John O'Neill)  - submitted for examination January 2018; viva voce 18 April, passed with grade A1 (no revisions). External examiner: Dr Elizabeth Cripps.

Adam Simcock (Keele Universtity): 'MacIntyre and Green Political Thought: Deliberative Eco-Politics for Dependent Rational Animals' (co-supervised by Prof Andrew Dobson); passed May 2018, no revisions. External examiner: Prof John Barry.

I received a Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education in 2008 and have been a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy since 2009.

I am the module convenor for POLI20982 Environmental Politics and the MA module Critical Environmental Politics (POLI70921).

Before joining the Politics Department at the University of Manchester, I taught a wide range of undergraduate and post-graduate modules on environmental politics. I was programme director of BA(H) Environmental Studies, BSc Environment and Sustainability and MA Environmental Politics at Keele University.

I was awarded the Keele University Award for Excellence in Teaching and Learning in 2009.  

In 2015, 2016 and 2017 I taught an intensive module on sustainability and social justice for the MA in Sustainable Development programme at Sciences Po Lille. 

My experience as External Examiner includes: University of Huddersfield (BA Politics), University of Edinburgh (MSc Global Environment, Politics and Society) and, currently, the Open University (BA Environmental Studies and International Studies).