My research interest lie in the gendered and racialised embodiment of international relations, development, war, refugee governance and humanitarianism, with a focus on how people engage with and experience global politics. I have previously researched the relationship between embodiment, narrative, and gender in counterinsurgency warfare. My first book, entitled 'Gendering Counterinsurgency' was published with Routledge in 2017 and focuses on the US counterinsurgency efforts in Afghanistan. In the book I argue that the practice of counterinsurgency relies on distinct gendered and racialised conceptualisations which are crucial to its practice.

My current research focuses on hosting-at-home as a practice of humanitarian hospitality. As a part of this research I spent the Autumn of 2024 in as a Visiting Fellow at the Refugee Studies Centre (RSC) at the University of Oxford.  I am co-authoring a book manuscript with Dr Gabrielle Daoust (University of Northern British Columbia) entitled 'Humanitarianism in the Home: Hosting-at-Home and the Politics of Hospitality' (Forthcoming Routledge February 2026). Focusing on humanitarian responses within the Global South and North, Humanitarianism in the Home critically examines hosting-at-home – that is, people providing shelter in their own home to displaced people – as a widespread yet underexamined and underappreciated response to large-scale displacement. 

I enjoy working with NGOs and policy makers. I have done work on safeguarding in the humanitarian and development sector and on the concept of vulnerability in collaboration with Save the Children. I have worked on an internal report for them as well as fed into their Safeguarding in Emergencies Toolkit. I have faciliated workshops for Saferworld, Conciliation Resources and International Alert, resulting in a report Doing Research in Conflict Settings: Gender Mainstreaming and Ethics. I have peer reviewed the Independent Commission for Aid Impact report on The UKs Approach to Safeguarding in the Humantiarian Sector.  

I have co-edited books on the embodiment of militarism (Embodying Militarism: Exploring the Spaces and Bodies In-Between Routledge 2018) and on the discipline of International Relations (What's the Point of IR? Routledge 2018). I have published in Security Dialogue, International Political Sociology, Critical Military Studies, Geoforum, Social Policy, and International Feminist Journal of Politics.

I am a co-founding editor of the Bristol University Press series 'Gender and Sexuality in Global Politics' and I would welcome manuscripts and informal discussions about manuscripts to the series. Please do get in touch! 

I'm the host of the podcast series Global Takes on Trump  which discusses what the second Trump presidency means for global politics. The series feature experts from Sussex who discuss Trump's impact on their research area. Check it out where you normally get your podcasts.