MANCHESTER - Key Persons


Aarti Krishnan

Job Titles:
  • Lecturer in Sustainability and Innovation

Abhirami Sumam

Abhirami is a fully funded (by The University of Manchester School of Social Sciences) PhD student at the Department of Sociology, supervised by Dr. Richie Nimmo. She is working on the socio-ecological crisis in Indian agriculture by specifically looking at alternate farming practices adopted by the spice farmers of Kallar Pattom, a village in Kerala's Idukki district which is closer to the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu.

Adisa Azapagic

Job Titles:
  • Professor of Sustainable Chemical Engineering

Aditya Ramesh

Job Titles:
  • Presidential Fellow ( Academic

Alan Warde

Job Titles:
  • Emeritus Professor of Sociology

Alice Swift

Alice Swift is undertaking a PhD in Sociology at the University of Manchester's School of Social Sciences funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

Alison Browne

Job Titles:
  • Professor of Geography

Andrew McMeekin

Job Titles:
  • Professor of Innovation

Anke Bernau

Job Titles:
  • Senior Lecturer in Medieval English Literature

Anna-Maria Köhnke

Anna-Maria completed both her MA in Political Economy (Research Route) and her BA (Hons) in PPE at the University of Manchester.

Annette Wright

Job Titles:
  • Councillor

Caroline Cornier

Job Titles:
  • Researcher at the Global Development Institute
Caroline Cornier is a doctoral researcher at the Global Development Institute of the University of Manchester. Her research is located at the intersection of Global Political Economy and Postcolonial Theory focusing on economic, political and financial North-South relations. Her doctoral thesis concerns the unsustainable intersection of commodity dependence and financial subordination in the West African Cocoa Sector.

Catherine Casson

Job Titles:
  • Senior Lecturer in Enterprise

Catherine Walker

Job Titles:
  • Research Associate
  • Co - Investigator )
  • Fellow in Cities and Place at Newcastle University
Catherine Walker is NUAcT Fellow in Cities and Place at Newcastle University, specialising in research around young people, climate justice and education. She is interested in how climate change can exacerbate intersecting social inequalities for young people and their families, and the opportunities young people have to respond to this in families, schools and communities. Building on these interests, she wants to explore the potential for climate justice - as both an agenda for action and a way of understanding inequalities - to galvanise youth and intergenerational responses to climate change as a past, present and future concern.

Chloe Best

Job Titles:
  • Senior Research Institute Administrator ( WEI )

Claudia Henninger

Job Titles:
  • Reader in Fashion Marketing and Management

Dale Southerton

Job Titles:
  • Honorary Professor

Daniel Welch

Job Titles:
  • Lecturer in Sociology

David Johnson

Job Titles:
  • Chairman in Soil Microbial Ecology

Debbie Cox

Job Titles:
  • Institute Manager
Debbie studied social sciences at degree level and has a Masters degree in Information Management from Sheffield University. She is also a qualified teacher and has a teaching degree in Adult, Further and Higher Education from Manchester Metropolitan University.

Dr Jenna Ashton

Job Titles:
  • Artist and Curator and Lecturer in Heritage Studies, the University
  • Lecturer in Heritage Studies

Dr Safina Islam

Job Titles:
  • Integrated Head of Inclusion and Engagement, Manchester City Council )

Dr Shanon Shah

Job Titles:
  • Director, Faith for Climate

Filippo Oncini

Job Titles:
  • Honorary Researcher

Frank Boons

Job Titles:
  • Professor of Innovation and Sustainability

Heather Urquhart

Heather Urquhart began her PhD with the University of Manchester in September 2021 after completing a MRes in Human Geography at the University of Glasgow and a BA (Hons) In Human Geography at Durham University.

Helen Holmes

Job Titles:
  • Senior Lecturer in Sociology

Holly Crossley

Job Titles:
  • Research Institute Administrator ( MIOIR )

James Evans

Job Titles:
  • Professor in Human Geography

James Jackson

Job Titles:
  • Research Associate

Jawad Amin

Job Titles:
  • Solicitor, Chair of Khizra Mosque and GM Council of Mosques

Jennifer O'Brien

Job Titles:
  • Lecturer in Geography

Jeremy Brice

Job Titles:
  • Lecturer in Sustainability and Innovation

John Andrews

John is a doctoral researcher at Alliance Manchester Business School working on sustainable food system transitions, with a focus on veganism and 'alternative proteins'. He is particularly interested in the intersection of sustainability transitions and social movement studies.

Josephine Mylan

Job Titles:
  • Senior Lecturer in Sustainability and Innovation

Julia Kasmire

Job Titles:
  • Research Fellow

Julie Froud

Job Titles:
  • Professor of Financial Innovation

Kaley Black

Job Titles:
  • Research Institute Administrator ( SCI )

Leilai Immel

Leilai is a PhD student in The Tyndall Centre supervised by Alison Browne, examining future water demand challenges in England in collaboration with Northumbrian Water.

Linqing Xia

Linqing Xia is a Sociology PhD student under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Welch and Alison Browne. Her doctoral research mainly focuses on the teleoaffective formations of sustainable consumption in relation to China's postmodern consumer culture.

Luke Yates

Job Titles:
  • Senior Lecturer in Sociology

Mahadi Sharif Mahamed

Job Titles:
  • Councillor

Malte Rödl

Job Titles:
  • Honorary Research Fellow

Maria Sharmina

Job Titles:
  • Professor in Energy and Sustainability

Mark Harvey

Job Titles:
  • Honorary Professor

Martin Burgess

Job Titles:
  • Research Associate

Mat Paterson

Job Titles:
  • Director
We do not have a blueprint for sustainability transitions. Instead, we focus on how current forms of social and economic activity, and how they are constantly changing, shape the pursuit of sustainability. These include shifts in business practice and structure, intensified inequalities, social and technical innovation, global migration, novel social identities and practices, and political polarisation. The SCI works as a close-knit, interdisciplinary community of critical social science scholars at various career stages to carry out this research agenda. We do so across diverse empirical contexts and deploy a diverse range of social science methodologies. We also do so with a focus on developing the work and careers of sustainability-oriented researchers working across the social sciences. The SCI influences thinking on sustainable consumption within and beyond academia by developing meaningful relationships through long-term partnerships and collaborative projects, as well as leading and participating in wider knowledge-sharing activities through seminars, conferences, and networks. We were established in 2008, with the principal aim of enhancing research and insight into one of the world's most pressing challenges: climate change. Despite 20 years of rhetoric regarding the urgent need to address modern consumption patterns, we were among the first major research institutes to place consumption and its unsustainability at the heart of research enquiry. We sought to utilise the unique strengths of The University of Manchester to bring interdisciplinary insight and clarity to the topic.

Matthew Paterson

Job Titles:
  • Professor
  • Professor of International Politics

Maya Sharma

Job Titles:
  • Collections Officer, Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Resource Centre and Education Trust ( AIURRC )

Michael Shaver

Job Titles:
  • Professor of Polymer Science

Mike Hodson

Job Titles:
  • Professor of Cities, Innovation and Society

Mingwei Zhang

Mingwei is undertaking a PhD programme in Science, Technology & Innovation Policy, fully funded by the Alliance Manchester Business School.

Muna Ahmed

Job Titles:
  • Social Worker and Khizra Mosque Youth Support Worker

Nafhesa Ali

Job Titles:
  • Research Associate
  • Assistant Professor in Sociology at Northumbria University
Nafhesa is an Assistant Professor in Sociology at Northumbria University and an interdisciplinary Sociologist with expertise in migration and the everyday lives of racialised and minority communities. Nafhesa actively works to promote inclusive research methods and participatory research that aims to decolonize methodological approaches and pedagogy through creative methodologies.

Nuura Ahmed

Job Titles:
  • Funded Research Intern
Nuura is a second-year environmental science student who is the events officer in the Somali Society and has an interest in sustainability. She will be helping to write reports, create blogs, and assist with social media for the project. Separately from the TIES project, Nuura is working on a fundraising campaign with Islamic Relief and Human Appeal to send aid to Somalia and Northeastern Kenya to help communities affected by climate change and drought.

Paul Anthony Knowles

Paul Anthony Knowles is a PhD student in the English and American Studies department and his research is focused on the short story and ecocriticism. He is concerned with how literature can expose the anthropocentric violence inflicted on the past, present, and future of a landscape and his research promotes an ecocentric reconceptualization of human relationships with the more-than-human world.

Paul Tobin

Job Titles:
  • Senior Lecturer / Associate Professor in Politics

Pawan Kumar Srikanth

Pawan Kumar Srikanth joined AMBS and the SCI as a fully funded PhD student in January 2022 researching pathways to circulating critical metals. He holds an M.E. in Environmental Engineering and a B.E. in Civil Engineering.

Pritish Behuria

Job Titles:
  • Lecturer in Politics, Governance & Development

Qaisra Sharaz

Job Titles:
  • Director of MACFEST

Richie Nimmo

Job Titles:
  • Senior Lecturer in Sociology

Saabira Abdirahman

Saabira is a second-year biomedical science student with an interest in environmental campaigning and is the chair of the UoM Somali Society. She will be helping to write reports, create blogs, and assist with social media for the project. Separately from the TIES project, Saabira is working on a fundraising campaign with Islamic Relief and Human Appeal to send aid to Somalia and Northeastern Kenya to help communities affected by climate change and drought.

Saima Ansari

Job Titles:
  • Research Associate
  • Researcher
Saima Ansari is a post-doctoral researcher. Her current work focuses on challenging Eurocentric views on environmental behaviour through an intersectional lens, highlighting the experiences of marginalised communities. Her interests include intersectionality, Islamic feminism, and the experiences of marginalised communities. She is dedicated to illuminating the challenges faced by underrepresented groups.

Salah Abdisamad

Job Titles:
  • Community Representative

Sampriti Mahanty

Job Titles:
  • Lecturer at UCL

Sandra Jazmin Barragán Contreras

Job Titles:
  • Research Associate

Shefali Kapoor

Job Titles:
  • Head of Neighbourhoods, Manchester City Council ( MCC )

Sherilyn MacGregor

Job Titles:
  • Principal Investigator )
  • Professor of Environmental Politics
Sherilyn MacGregor is a Professor of Environmental Politics, jointly appointed to the Sustainable Consumption Institute and the Politics Department at the University of Manchester. Her research explores themes of environmental (un)sustainability, gender (in)equality, and theories and practices of citizenship. Her 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.

Simin Fadaee

Job Titles:
  • Senior Lecturer in Sociology

Soham Banerjee

Soham is a PhD student in Politics at The University of Manchester, where he currently investigates the spatial politics of international climate finance. More specifically, he is interested in understanding the extent of partisan alignment in distribution and allocation of international climate funds in India and its impact on the overall climate policy narrative in the country. His broader research interests include politics of climate change, climate finance, climate negotiations and Indian politics.

Stanley Wilshire

Job Titles:
  • Economist
Stanley is a political economist and PhD student interested in the relationships between the political, economic and technical challenges involved in driving rapid and just transitions within capitalist societies.

Stefan Bouzarovski

Job Titles:
  • Professor of Geography

Steffen Hirth

Job Titles:
  • Honorary Researcher

Tally Katz-Gerro

Job Titles:
  • Co - Investigator )
  • Honorary Reader
  • Professor in Sociology at the University of Haifa
Tally Katz-Gerro is a Professor in Sociology at the University of Haifa and honorary Reader at the University of Manchester. She specializes in culture, consumption, environment, sustainability and inequality. She currently serves as Vice President for Global Engagement at the University of Haifa.

Tanya Solovey

Tanya is a PhD student in Sociology supervised by Helen Holmes, working on the ‘affective aspects of upcycling of post-consumer textiles'.

Teodora Noszkay

Teodora is a PhD candidate in English Literature, supervised by Dr. Anke Bernau and Dr. Robert Spencer. Her research examines how aesthetic representations of vegetal matter provide imagined modes of resistance to the conscription of plants and people in processes of capital accumulation.

Tonny Kukeera

Job Titles:
  • Lecturer in Innovation and Sustainable Business

Torik Holmes

Job Titles:
  • Research Fellow

Ulrike Ehgartner

Job Titles:
  • Honorary Researcher

Wendy Walker

Job Titles:
  • Research Support Officer ( Finance Lead )

Yasmine El Gabry

Job Titles:
  • Head of Office for Afzal Khan MP

Yeqi Jin

Yeqi is a first-year PhD candidate in the Department of Politics. Her research focuses on the influence of international bureaucrats on the climate policies of intergovernmental organisations.

Yixiao Zhang

Yixiao is a PhD student in the Department of Politics supervised by Dr Paul Tobin and Professor Matthew Paterson, examining global climate governance and US-China climate leadership.

Zarina Ahmad

Job Titles:
  • Researcher
Zarina Ahmad is Doctoral student in the Politics Department. Her thesis is part of the TIES project, focusing on Environmentally Sustainable Food Practices of Pakistani Heritage Women in the UK. Zarina has had a long career in climate justice activism specialising in the nexus of gender and racial justice. Zarina will work with Sherilyn, Nafhesa and Catherine on the Leverhulme sponsored project on Environmental Sustainability in Immigrant Households. Zarina was listed at Number 18 in the Women's Hour Power List in 2020 for her work on increasing participation in environmentalism in Scotland.