缅北禁地

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Staff Profile

Dr Catherine Walker

NUAcT Fellow: Cities and Place

  • Address: Room 3.127 Henry Daysh Building
    School of Geography, Politics and Sociology
    缅北禁地
    缅北禁地 upon Tyne
    NE1 7RU
Background

I joined 缅北禁地 in February 2023 as a NUAcT Fellow in Cities and Place, specialising in research around young people, climate justice and education. I am 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, the aim of my NUAcT Fellowship is 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.


I was recently interviewed about my research interests for the NUAcT Early Career Researcher Stories podcast series. You can listen to this 15 minute interview, as well as other fascinating ECR stories at Podcasts - NUAcT (NU Academic Track Fellowships) - 缅北禁地 (ncl.ac.uk)


Since completing my PhD in 2016 I have worked and published in Human Geography primarily, particularly Geographies of Children, Youth and Families, Social Geographies and Environmental Geographies (see 'research' for details). However, my PhD is in Sociology and my research extends into and is informed by Environmental Politics, Sociology of Childhood and Generation, and Critical Environmental Education.


Qualifications

  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), 2025.
  • PhD Sociology - UCL Institute of Education, 2016. Thesis title: 'Environment and children's everyday lives in India and England: Experiences, understandings and practices' (supervised by Professor Ann Phoenix, UCL, and Professor Janet Boddy, University of Sussex)
  • MSc Globalisation and Latin American Development, Institute for the Study of the Americas, UCL, 2010.
  • BA Hispanic Studies, University of Nottingham, 2007.


Memberships and responsibilities

  • Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (with Institute of British Geographers).
  • RGS-IBG Geographies of Children, Youth and Families Research Group (GCYFRG) Mentoring Officer.
  • Member of the Political Studies Association.
  • Former Secretary (2017-2021) of the RGS-IBG Geographies of Children, Youth and Families Research Group.







Research

I have led or collaborated on research in the UK, Australia, Brazil and India that coheres around three areas relating to children, young people and environment:


  • young people’s role - actual and potential - in contributing to sustainability and climate adaptation agendas, including through disaster risk planning, everyday environmental activism, and environmental education (articles in , , , and )
  • progressing intergenerational and socially inclusive responses to climate change and sustainability challenges at multiple scales, from individual to societal (articles in , and )
  • nexus approaches to mapping, mitigating and conceptualising resource insecurities, with a focus on Brazil and India (articles in , , and ).


These publications have been generated from my work on the following research projects:


  • - linked PhD studentship, 2011-2015. Funded by the ESRC National Centre for Research Methods as part of the NOVELLA research node. Principal Investigators (PI)s: Professor Ann Phoenix (NOVELLA) and Janet Boddy (FLE).
  • - Postdoctoral Research Associate, 2016-2017. Funded by ESRC/FAPESP/Newton Fund. PIs: Professor Peter Kraftl, Professor Jose Balestieri.
  • Environmental Sustainability in Manchester - Postdoctoral Research Associate, 2018-2019 (pilot study leading to TIES study, below). Funded by University of Manchester Sustainable Consumption Institute. PIs: Professor Sherilyn MacGregor, Professor Tally Katz-Gerro.
  • - Co-Investigator, 2021 - Present. Funded by the Leverhulme Trust. PI: Professor Sherilyn MacGregor.
  • (YPAC) - Principal Investigator, 2021-2023. Funded by ESRC New Investigator Award. Project mentors: Professor Sherilyn MacGregor, Dr Natascha Klocker.


Upon completion of the YPAC project, I published a set of creative resources that had been co-created with others involved in the project (including other adult researchers, environmental educators and young people who took part and were trained as young researchers). These resources are available to view and download .


I am currently working on academic publications from the YPAC project.

Teaching

Although most of my time at present is dedicated to research, I teach on the following modules:


  • GEO1023 - Environment and Society
  • GEO2224 - Urban Sustainability in Barcelona
  • GEO8032 - Contemporary Global Challenges


I have a particular interest in climate and sustainability education and welcome discussion on how to make this supportive and empowering for students.


I welcome enquiries from prospective doctoral students interested in the following topics:

  • global and/or intergenerational perspectives on children and young people's experiences of and responses to environmental challenges
  • theorising climate justice and inclusive sustainability
  • critical environmental education
  • creative methods of (co)-researching with children and young people.


Publications

  • Articles

    • Walker C, van Holstein E. . Area 2025, 57(1), e12972.
    • Walker C, van Holstein E, Klocker N. . Geographical Research 2024, 63(1), 153-168.
    • Walker C. . Geography 2024, 109(3), 145-152.
    • MacGregor S, Ali N, Katz-Gerro T, Walker C, Ahmad Z. . Local Environment 2024, 29(5), 617-630.
    • Horton J, Kraftl P, Balestieri JAP, Marques AEC, Coles B, Delamaro MC, Dias RA, Hadfield-Hill S, Hall J, Leal RN, Soares PV, Walker C, Zara C. . Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space 2024, 7(4), 1555-1579.
    • Van Holstein E, Walker C. . Geoforum 2023, 146, 103869.
    • Hayes T, Walker C, Parsons K, Arya D, Bowman B, Germaine C, Lock R, Langford S, Peacock S, Thew H. . Children's Geographies 2023, 21(5), 803-818.
    • Walker C, Coles B. . Environment and Planning E 2021, 5(3), 1618-1638.
    • Walker C. . Children's Geographies 2021, 19(3), 267-274.
    • Walker C. . Sustainable Earth 2020, 3, 5.
    • Trajber R, Walker C, Marchezini V, Kraftl P, Olivato D, Hadfield-Hill S, Zara C, Monteiro SF. . Action Research 2019, 17(1), 87-107.
    • Walker C. . Children's Geographies 2019, 18(3), 351-363.
    • MacGregor S, Walker C, Katz-Gerro T. . Geoforum 2019, 107, 143-153.
    • Kraftl P, Balestieri JAP, Campos AEM, Coles B, Hadfield-Hill S, Horton J, Soares PV, Vilanova MRN, Walker C, Zara C. . Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 2019, 44(2), 299-314.
    • Walker C. . Children and Society 2017, 31(1), 72-83.
    • Walker C. . Contemporary Social Science 2017, 12(1-2), 13-26.
    • Boddy J, Phoenix A, Walker C, Vennam U, Austerberry H, Latha M. . Families, Relationships and Societies 2016, 5(3), 357-374.

  • Authored Book

    • Phoenix A, Boddy J, Walker C, Vennam U. . Bristol: Policy Press, 2017.

  • Bibliographies

    • Walker C. . Oxford Bibliographies in Childhood Studies 2024.
    • Walker C, Bowman B. . Oxford Bibliographies 2022.

  • Book Chapters

    • Walker C, Vance A. . In: Rawlings Smith, E; Pike, S, ed. Encountering Ideas of Place in Education: Scholarship and Practice in Place-based Learning. Abingdon: Routledge, 2024, pp.240-252.
    • Walker C, van Holstein E. . In: Wyn, J, Cahill, H, Cuervo, H, ed. Handbook of Children and Youth Studies. Springer Nature, 2023, pp.1-17.
    • Boddy J, Phoenix A, Walker C, Vennam U. . In: A. Phoenix; J. Brannen; C. Squire, ed. Researching Family Narratives. London: Sage, 2020, pp.15-36.
    • Winter J, Walker C. . In: A. Phoenix; J. Brannen; C. Squire, ed. Researching Family Narratives. London: Sage, 2020, pp.137-158.
    • Walker C. . In: A. Twum-Danso Imoh; M. Bourdillon; S. Meichsner, ed. Global Childhoods Beyond the North-South Divide. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave MacMillan, 2019, pp.207-229.

  • Editorial

    • Walker, C, van Holstein, E, Klocker, N. . Geographical Research 2025, 63(1), 59-64.

  • Online Publications

    • Walker C, Kavanagh AM, Ardron K, Bryan A, Runeckles H. . London: British Educational Research Association (BERA), 2025. Available at: .
    • Freeman D, Hammond L, Mayo-Hollaway C, Morgan A, Sinclair D, Walker C, Willy T. . Sheffield: Geographical Association, 2024. Available at: .
    • Walker C. . 缅北禁地, 2023. Available at: .
    • Weatherill C, Walker C. . Arcata, California, USA: Environmental Politics Blog, 2023. Available at: .
    • Yellowleas D, Walker C. . Spotify, 2023. Available at: .
    • Walker C. . Online: Discover Society, 2019. Available at: .
    • Walker C. . Online: Sage, 2014. Available at: .

  • Reports

    • Walker C, Rackley KM, Summer M, Thompson N, Researchers Y. . Manchester: University of Manchester, 2022.
    • MacGregor S, Walker C, Katz-Gerro T, Abdisamad S, Abdulrahman S. . Manchester: University of Manchester, 2019.