缅北禁地

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Staff Profile

Professor Jen Bagelman

Professor in Human Geography, Deputy Director for the Institute for Social Science

Background

I was born on Dene Territories (Yellowknife, NWT) and grew up on Coast Salish territories (Vancouver Island, Canada) where I completed my BA and MA at the University of Victoria. After finishing my PhD at the Open University, I taught at both Durham University and Exeter University. I am now based at 缅北禁地, as Professor in Geography & Deputy Director for the Institute of Social Science.

Intersecting research specialisms:

  • Migration and displacement
  • Environmental justice
  • Community-led climate 'resilience' (Arctic: Inuit Nunangat)
  • Reproductive geographies
  • Creative methods (ie: VR, film, body-mapping) for political and policy change
Research

My work explores how diverse migrant and Indigenous communities respond to intersecting challenges, notably displacement, while sustaining collective life. I approach displacement as a lived, intersectional condition shaped by overlapping histories of colonialism and environmental harm, rather than a discrete issue or event. As a community-engaged scholar, I collaborate with communities to co-design creative and participatory research methods that respond to these issues and contribute to political and policy change. This work is organized across two main research streams:

The first stream of my work explores how Inuit respond to relocation and displacement across Inuit Nunangat (Canadian Arctic). I co-lead a three-year POLAR Knowledge Canada / UKRI NERC–funded project, Carving out Climate Testimony, which brings together Inuit youth with UK and Canadian collaborators to explore how unikkausivut (Inuit forms of storytelling) articulate connections between climate change, displacement, and wellness. The project is inspired by and supports Inuit youth who are leading this work within their communities. I extend this research on a three-year New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) project, ArcticRoutes, which further examines these intersections across Inuit Nunangat.

My current work builds on decades of collaborative research with diverse Indigenous communities. This includes involvement in a five-year Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada–funded project, Seascape Stories, which documented how energy development projects disrupt Indigenous relations to, and sovereignty over, land and water. The project foregrounded Indigenous marine epistemologies as sources of critique and as foundations for alternative, more just futures.  

The second stream of my research examines how climate and conflict intersect producing conditions of displacement and how practices of “sanctuary” can challenge—and at times inadvertently reproduce—the hostile treatment of refugees and other displaced peoples. My manuscript, Sanctuary City: A Suspended State, and a forthcoming co-authored book with Nick Gill (McGill-Queen’s University Press) explore these dynamics. I am Co-I on a new ESRC-funded project (2025) examining sanctuary in relation to employment pathways for displaced medical experts in the UK. Beyond Global North sanctuary movements, I study how women living in Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camps mobilise sanctuary to establish alternative networks of maternal care. As part of this work, I lead a GCRF–UKRI Network Grant, Migrant Mothers: Digital Health Network, which brings together scholars from Kenyatta and 缅北禁地 Universities with UNHCR practitioners and refugee midwives to examine to examine the diverse experiences of birthing across borders.

Within the university, I am the Deputy Director for the Institute for Social Science where I aim to elevate exciting Social Science research. In this role I co-lead Migrations Collective, which connects academic and non-academic partners to think and work together towards migrant justice. Across all of my roles, I enjoy working alongside earlier-career researchers, supporting their ambitions. I have mentored many successful applications to funded schemes (including Marie Curie Fellowships, ESRC, SSHRC) and remain deeply committed to fostering collaborative, supportive and creative research environments.

Beyond the university, I volunteer in my community to support various sanctuary initiatives. With my sister, Carly, I run a non-profit organization called Glean. Outside of work, I'm crafting, surfing, yoga-ing or being walked by my dog.



Teaching

I am passionate about working with students as I see education as a powerful catalyst for generative change. I have written on and, in keeping with a ‘service-led’ teaching model I aim to make coursework relevant to and useful for communities and policymakers that extend beyond the classroom. In the past my students have created beautiful community maps that have been used by NGOS and urban designers and that have informed campus policies to embed diversity and ensure more sustainable food practices.

I warmly welcome the opportunity to work with students interested in the themes outlined on my research page.

Publications

  • Articles

    • Pain R, Bagelman J, Kowikchuk B, Kuptana C, Lugt E, Tedjuk D, Gauthier M. . Progress in Physical Geography 2026, 50(1), 127-137.
    • Gauthier M, Lugt E, Bagelman J, Kuptana C. . Canadian Journal of Action Research 2025, 25(3), 125-149.
    • Bagelman J. . Urban Affairs Review 2025, 60.
    • Johnston C, Bagelman J, Tosch J. . Cultural Geographies 2025, 32(1), 127-138.
    • Watt-Cloutier S, Kuptana C, Lugt E, Bagelman J, Smith C. . Canadian Geographic 2025.
    • Bagelman J, Jessen Williamson K, Weibe S. . Georgetown Journal of International Affairs 2025. In Press.
    • Bagelman C, Bagelman J. . Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 2025, 50(2), e12683.
    • Bagelman J, Williamson K, Wiebe S, Gauthier M, Dresher D. . Canadian Public Administration 2025, 68(3), 519-537.
    • Ndegwa P, Gitome J, Mainah M, Mwoma T, Kituku J, Kahumbi N, Bagelman J. . Acta Scientific Women's Health 2024, 6(2), 39-46.
    • Bagelman J, Jones D. Communicating Beyond the Academy. Royal Geographical Society 2023.
    • Stephens AC, Bagelman J. . Citizenship Studies 2023, 27(3), 329-346.
    • Luckett T, Bagelman J. . Cultural Geographies 2023, 30(4), 621-627.
    • Gill N, Riding J, Kallio KP, Bagelman J. . Hospitality and Society 2022, 12(2), 123-143.
    • Bagelman J. . Fennia 2021, 199(1), 133-135.
    • Bagelman J, Mwoma T, Kituku J, Gitome J, Kahumbi N, Ndegwa P, Muthoni M. . International Journal of Pregnancy & Child Birth 2021, 7(3), 58-62.
    • Bagelman J, Gitome J. . Dialogues in Human Geography 2021, 11(3), 391-394.
    • Bagelman J, Gitome J. . Dialogues in Human Geography 2021, 1(3), 352-373.
    • Schmid-Scott A, Marshall E, Gill N, Bagelman J. . Revue Européenne des Migrations Internationales 2020, 36(2&3), 137-160.
    • Bagelman J, Kovalchuk S. . Social Sciences 2019, 8(11), 310-324.
    • Simpson M, Bagelman J. . Annals of the American Association of Geographers 2018, 108(2), 558-568.
    • Tedesco D, Bagelman J. . Millennium 2017, 45(3), 380-402.
    • Bagelman J, Weibe S. . Political Geography 2017, 60, 76-85.
    • Bagelman J. . GeoHumanities 2017, 3(2), 371-395.
    • Bagelman J, Bagelman C. . ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies 2016, 15(2), 365-392.
    • Bagelman J. . Citizenship Studies 2016, 20(8), 1012-1037.
    • Bagelman J, Tedesco D. . International Political Sociology 2015, 9(1), 90-91.
    • Bagelman J. . International Political Sociology 2015, 9(1), 101-105.
    • Bagelman J. . Alternatives: Global, Local, Political 2013, 38(1), 49-62.
    • Bagelman J, Vermilyea J. . Borderlands E-Journal 2012, 11(1), 1-15.

  • Authored Book

    • Bagelman J. . London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.

  • Book Chapters

    • Leshem N, Bagelman J. . In: Peter Merriman; Anna Secor; Shanti Sumartojo, ed. The Routledge Handbook of Cultural Geographies. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2026.
    • Hopkins P. . In: Merriman P; Secor A; Sumartojo S, ed. The Routledge Handbook of Cultural Geographies. London: Routledge, 2026. In Press.
    • Bagelman J, Bagelman C, Gitome J. . In: Andrea Aramburú, Dibyadyuti Roy, Joe Sutliff Sanders, ed. Comics and the Global South: Methodologies from and within Majority Worlds. Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2026, pp.255-270.
    • Bagelman J. . In: Vickie Zhang and Ben Anderson, ed. The Promise of Cultural Geography. Bristol and Durham, UK: Cultural Geography (Un)limited Editions, 2025, pp.155-156.
    • Bagelman J, Bagelman C. . In: Sydney Calkin and Cordelia Freeman, ed. The De Gruyter Handbook of Feminist Political Geography. Berllin: De Gruyter, 2025. In Press.
    • Bagelman J, Kowikchuk B. . In: Polar Regions of Earth - Recent Developments and Climate Changes. 2025. In Press.
    • Bagelman J. . In: Jonathan Darling; Harald Bauder, ed. Sanctuary Cities and Urban Struggles: Rescaling Migration, Citizenship, and Rights. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2019.
    • Bagelman J. . In: Cecilia Menjívar, Marie Ruiz, and Immanuel Ness, ed. The Oxford Handbook of Migration Crises. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019.
    • Cook I, Bagelman J. . In: Kobayashi, A, ed. International Encyclopaedia of Human Geography. Elsevier, 2019.
    • Squire V, Bagelman J. . In: Peter Nyers and Kim Rygiel, ed. Citizenship, Migrant Activism and the Politics of Movement. Abingdon: Routledge, 2012, pp.146-164.
    • Bagelman J. . In: Arnd-Michael Nohl, Karin Schittenhelm, Oliver Schmidtke, Anja Weiß, ed. Kulturelles Kapital in der Migration: Hochqualifizierte Einwanderer und Einwanderinnen auf dem Arbeitsmarkt. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2010, pp.235-244.

  • Digital or Visual Media

    • Bagelman J, Jessen Williamson K. . 2025.
    • Bagelman J, Smith C, Jessen Williamson K. . Environment Canada, 2025.
    • Jessen Williamson K, Bagelman J. . WWF, 2023.
    • Bagelman J, Bagelman C. . BERA: British Educational Research Association, 2023.
    • Bagelman J. . Massolit, 2023.
    • Wiebe S, Monk D, O'Connor C, Bagelman J. . 2015.
    • Tully J, Bagelman J, Wiebe S. . 2015.

  • Online Publications

    • Bagelman J, Leshem N. . Toronto Star, 2024. Available at: .
    • Lugt E, Bagelman J, Vibeke Mou A, Jessen-Williamson K. . Victoria, BC, [Canada]: The Narwhal, 2024. Available at: .
    • Bagelman J. . London: The Independent, 2022. Available at: .
    • Bagelman J, Cinnamon J. . The Conversation, 2018. Available at: .
    • Bagelman J, Cinnamon J. . 2018. Available at: .
    • Bagelman J. . 2016. Available at: .
    • Bagelman J. . OpenDemocracy, 2015. Available at: .
    • Bagelman J, Wiebe S. . New York Times Company, 2014. Available at: .

  • Performance

    • Squire V, Closs Stephens A, Yuval-Davis D, Bagelman J. . 2017.

  • Report

    • Bagelman J. . Statistics Canada, 2014.

  • Reviews

    • Bagelman J. . Fennia 2018, 196(1), 108-110.
    • Bagelman J. . The AAG Review of Books 2018, 6(3), 169-170.