"My journey"

I have been a faculty member in the School of Geography at Queen Mary, University of London (QMUL) since April 2014. I am originally from Rainhill, a village just outside St Helens in Merseyside. After completing my studies at the local comprehensive school, I took up a place to read Geography at Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge (2005-2008). I then stayed on at Fitzwilliam to complete an ESRC-funded MPhil in Geographical Research (2009) and PhD in Geography (2013). Prior to starting at QMUL, I worked as a consultant on a series of health and impact projects for the World Health Organisation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and several South African NGOs.

Geography

I am a political geographer interested in global health. My work examines the "dark side" of the many remarkable health campaigns and medical advances that are occurring today. Indeed, these medical interventions all take place in a world marked by significant economic, political and health inequalities. We must not forget that many of the key words we hear in discussions of global health - like "health," "poverty," and "exclusion" - are not merely biological, economic and social concepts; they are, at their root, highly politicised concepts that are actively manufactured and contested. I am interested, then, in considering how existing political, economic and historical processes secure the health of some while exposing others to illness, abandonment and death. My work has been funded by the Leverhulme Trust, the British Academy and the Economic & Social Research Council.

Personal

I live in Cambridge - close to the River Cam - with my wife Elizabeth and our two children: Lydia and Elliot. I am told that we watch too much Netflix.