I am currently a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow in the Institute of Geography. As a feminist political geographer, my research examines the gendered dimensions of migration, asylum and contemporary bordering practices. Drawing on feminist geopolitics, political geography and critical border studies, I explore the relationship between gender, borders, bureaucracy and state violence, with a particular focus on the UK’s asylum system. I am particularly interested in how migrant communities experience, negotiate and respond to restrictive bordering practices through everyday forms of resistance, solidarity and creative expression.
My current EU-funded research project, Gendered Borders, explores the lived experiences of women seeking asylum in the UK, including those who have recently arrived through English Channel boat crossings. The project examines how contemporary asylum and border policies are experienced, navigated and at times, creatively contested by women. Combining qualitative research with participatory creative methods, it seeks not only to deepen understanding women's experiences of the asylum system, but also to create opportunities for women themselves to contribute to wider discussions on asylum policy, public engagement and support provision.
Prior to this fellowship, I was a Visiting Lecturer in Social and Cultural Geography at the University of Bern. I have also held positions as a Lecturer and Research Associate in the School for Policy Studies at the University of Bristol, and as an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology at Newcastle University. I completed my PhD in Geography at the University of Exeter, and an MA in Anthropology at Goldsmiths College, University of London.