About

BIO

I am a Postdoctoral Research Associate based at the University of Sheffield. I work on the Co-Production Futures Inquiry – a two-year Research England-funded national inquiry between the Universities of Sheffield, Manchester and Liverpool, which aims to propose measures to address the barriers to participatory and co-produced research within UK higher education. I lead on research and project coordination, including data collection, analysis, dissemination, reporting, and stakeholder engagement.

I am also a Research Associate in the Participatory Research Network at the University of Sheffield, where I lead on key initiatives to strengthen the research quality, visibility and impact of the network, including training and mentoring schemes, funding development, impact reporting, and the network’s online presence.

RESEARCH & INTERESTS

I am a trained social researcher with experience in leading national and international UKRI-funded projects across the UK and South Africa. My research focuses on local, community-based approaches to peacebuilding. It is deeply rooted in community-driven, decolonial and participatory research, focusing on local agency and the everyday as a site for social change.

To date, my work has focused on challenging top-down understandings of peace and conflict by exploring how peace is understood and built by individuals and community-based actors in ways that are contextually specific. Alongside this, I have led projects and initiatives to improve the conditions for doing participatory and co-produced research in the university and higher education sector.

I hold a PhD in International Relations from the University of Sheffield, funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). My doctoral research explored how the national government, community-based actors, and individuals use Indigenous knowledge (ubuntu) to build peace in South Africa. Through document analysis and in-depth interviews and observations in South Africa, it contributes new empirical insight into the potential and limitations of mobilising Indigenous knowledge for peace in post-conflict, post-colonial contexts, and highlights how Indigenous concepts are susceptible to romanticisation and co-optation in academic and political discourse. My thesis is available by request.

I also hold an MA in Social Research Methods (ESRC funded), an MA in International Politics, and a BA in International Relations and Politics from the University of Sheffield.

CURRENT POSITIONS

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PREVIOUS NOTABLE POSITIONS

Book series co-editor (2020-2025)
Global Dialogues: Non-Eurocentric Visions of the Global

Fellow (2021-2023)
Centre for the Comparative Study of Civil War, University of York

Co-convenor (2022-2023)
International Relations Research Group, The University of Sheffield

Affiliate Researcher (2022)
Stellenbosch University, South Africa

Associate Lecturer/Module Leader (2021-2022)
Sheffield Hallam University
Module: Decolonising and Decentering International Relations

Report – The Co-production Futures Inquiry: Response to the Call for Evidence and Ideas

Podcast – Exploring Indigenous approaches to peacebuilding

Exhibition – Picturing the PhD, ESRC Festival of Social Science

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