I trained as a social anthropologist and thus have an abiding interest in people and their cultural practices, that is, what they think, why they think in those ways and how this helps them to understand their universe and rationalise both their own behaviour and that of others. My interests extend to virtually all socially patterned phenomena, to understand the many, varied ways people have of being in the world and the different values and things they consider integral to ‘the good life’. I lecture to undergraduate and MSc students in Global Development at the University of Reading. I am Programme Director of the MSc in Environment and Development in the School of Agriculture, Policy and Development. I supervise a growing number of doctoral students.

My research interests include Economic anthropology and contested (inter)cultural interpretations of value; Governance, including the role of ‘traditional’ institutions in managing land, livestock and environmental resources, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa; System-wide drivers of agrarian change and ecosystem resilience; and Scientific/agricultural/local knowledge systems and interfaces, modes of learning and innovations.

For more of the same, you can view my professional profile on the University of Reading website

I am a fan of Melvin Bragg’s In our Time on Radio 4 and of the Guardian’s Environment pages.