Simon and Hallsworth Fellowships
For early-career researchers with a doctoral degree.
Applying
Applications will be judged principally on the creativity and excellence of the research described, but also on their fit with expertise in the nominated school and the University environment generally. Your proposed research project must:
- demonstrate a clear link between the length of fellowship (3 years) and the research proposal;
- be relevant to the nominated Fellowship scheme.
Where you will be based
Fellows will be required to be based at the University during their period of tenure.
Exceptionally a Fellow may be permitted to conduct research elsewhere.
Requests for leave of absence for research purposes for more than four weeks per annum during the appointment should be submitted with detailed information as a part of the formal application, or exceptionally subsequently to the Chair of the Simon and Hallsworth Fellowships Appointment Committees.
Teaching
The Fellowship is a full-time commitment, and the scheme provides for the Fellow to be invited to undertake a limited amount of teaching.
Limited is defined as a maximum of up to five hours per week averaged out over the academic year.
Requirements
| Hallsworth Fellowship | The ability to make an original contribution to research in the broad field of political economy or Chinese political economy. |
|
Hallsworth Fellowship with focus on External Engagement and Impact |
The ability to make an original contribution to research in the broad field of political economy with application to Faculty research themes and an emergent track record of conducting research in collabortion with non-academic partners including the private, public or third sector |
| Simon Fellowship | The ability to make an original contribution to research in the broad field of social science. |
The following list applies to both the Simon and Hallsworth funds.
- A PhD to have been awarded by the closing date for applications and not more than four years prior to the closing date for applications. (The Fellowship Committee will take into account special circumstances i.e. career breaks in respect of the four-year postdoctoral experience regulation.)
- Demonstrable potential for high-quality research in relevant subject areas through, for example, a record of research and publications appropriate to the level of post-doctoral experience.
- The ability to construct a creative, excellent, and achievable research proposal that is relevant to their nominated academic centre’s (ie School) overall research plans.
- The ability to function as an independent researcher, including managing large research projects and meeting deadlines.
- Candidates must not have held, or currently hold, a permanent academic position (rolling temporary contracts do not, in this case, equate to a permanent position).
- The potential to reach the requisite research profile to secure an academic post upon completion of the Fellowship.
- The following would be a distinct advantage:
- A degree (undergraduate or postgraduate) from a Higher Education Institution within the British Commonwealth.
For questions relating to the Fellowships please see our list of frequently asked questions
A condition of the award for all Simon and Hallsworth Research Fellowships is to produce a poster about your project as requested.
Applications should be made via The University of Manchester's online application system.
- Hallsworth Research Fellowship including the Hallsworth Research Fellowship in Chinese Political Economy
- Hallsworth Research Fellowship with focus on External Engagement and Impact
- Simon Research Fellowship
You should also attach a short CV (ideally no more than two pages) listing your publications.
Your research proposal should be no more than 2,000 words (2,500 words for the External Engagement and Impact Fellowship) and relevant to your nominated academic centre's (ie School) overall research plans.
Your proposal must clearly identify your nominated host school (you may wish to do this at the top of your proposal) from those listed in the further particulars.
Failure to do this will result in immediate elimination from the competition.
Your proposal should also provide a short statement outlining what steps you will take to engage with areas outside of the academic community.
Further advice and guidance on the impact agenda can be found here:
- Impact toolkit - Economic and Social Research Council
Please ensure that you provide your three nominated referees (at least one should be outside of your current institution) with a copy of your research proposal to enable them to offer comments, should they be asked by the University to provide a reference.
Further information
- Contact: simonandhallsworth@manchester.ac.uk
Fellows
Meet our current and recent Simon and Hallsworth Fellows.
2023 appointments
- Elisa Gambino (School of Environment, Education and Development / Global Development Institute) - 'African hubs, Chinese trade and global circulation in West Africa'
- Barbora Černušáková (School of Social Sciences) - researching the experiences of Roma working-class households with predatory credit providers and predatory debt enforcement
- Torik Holmes (Hallsworth Fellow with focus on External Engagement and Impact, School of Social Sciences / Sustainable Consumption Institute) - 'The political economies of plastics recycling: examining and supporting Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s attempts to address persistent challenges'
2022 appointments
- Alka Raman (School of Arts, Languages and Cultures) - 'Indian Cottons in Western Europe: Knowledge Transfer, Technological Change and the Political Economy'
- Peter Lockwood (School of Social Sciences) - 'This plot is not for sale: competing with corruption on Nairobi's urban frontier'
- Tao Wang (Hallsworth Fellow in Chinese Political Economy, School of Social Sciences) - 'Is blood thicker than water? Chinese views of Taiwan and economic nationalism'
2021 appointments
- Alison Bennett (School of Arts, Languages and Cultures) - 'From the tusk to the table: Cultural political economies of the Global East African Ivory Trade, c. 1840-1989'
- Jonathan Benson (School of Social Sciences) - 'A political economy of democracy and the market'
2019 appointments
- Tom Gillespie (School of Environment, Education and Development) - 'The urban political economy of Africa's real estate frontier'
- Aarti Krishnan (School of Environment, Education and Development) - 'Agfood tech' for sustainable development? The cases of India and Kenya'
- Nick Jepson (Hallsworth Fellow in Chinese Political Economy, School of Environment, Education and Development) - 'Bridging the gap or laying a trap? Development finance and sovereign debt resolution along China's Belt and Road'
2023 appointments
- Hannah Dickinson (School of Environment, Education and Development) - 'Banking on Ocean Life? The European Blue Biobank and Promissory Ocean Futures'
2022 appointments
- Freddy Foks (School of Arts, Languages and Cultures) - 'Emigration State: Race, Nation and Citizenship in the UK, 1850-1980'
- Patricia Irizar (School of Social Sciences) - 'The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of ethnic minority people: patterns and mechanisms'
- Laura Forster (School of Arts, Languages and Cultures) - 'Intimate radicalisms: feeling political in nineteenth-century Britain'
2021 appointments
- Laura Pottinger (School of Environment, Education and Development) - 'Natural textile dyeing: the aesthetics and practices of slow making'
2019 appointments
- Luke de Noronha (School of Social Sciences) - 'Borders, racism and resistance in the 'hostile environment': an ethnographic study'
- Frances Houghton (School of Arts, Languages and Cultures) - 'The modern mind at sea: medical care and masculine culture in the Royal Navy, 1939-1945'
Career progression
Follow the career progression of some of our alumni.
Currently Lecturer in Sociology, The University of Manchester
Background
I started out as an undergraduate biology student before moving into the sociology of science for an MA and PhD at the University of Nottingham. After graduating I worked for eighteen months as a postdoctoral research associate in sociology at the University of Sheffield before moving to Manchester for a year’s contract as a temporary lecturer. I then applied for the Simon Fellowship and took up the position in 2012. During the fellowship I successfully applied for a Lectureship in Sociology at the University of Manchester.
Contribution to my professional career
Without a doubt the Simon Fellowship has been vital to my development as an academic and specifically as a sociologist. The School of Social Sciences at Manchester is fantastic and Sociology has been an extremely welcoming and nurturing place that also plays home to many creative, insightful and world-leading researchers.
It can sometimes be difficult to find support for research that mixes tools from the humanities disciplines and involves forays into collaboration between natural and social sciences. In this regard the freedom offered by the Simon Fellowship was crucial to my research interests and to further developing my theoretical and methodological approach.
Whilst being Simon Fellow I have written two collaborative papers, a sole-authored paper, co-authored a monograph for Palgrave Macmillan and a textbook for Manchester University Press, and I am currently writing a further monograph for Routledge.
Currently Lecturer of Social Statistics, University of Manchester.
Background
I studied Psychology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. I then worked for four years researching treatment outcomes for Latina and African American women with substance abuse problems, and evaluating a re-entry program for Latino and African American men who were in jail and about to be released into the community. I went back to study for a Master’s Degree in Public Health at Boston University in 2004, and moved to the UK in 2006 to do a PhD in Epidemiology and Public Health at UCL. I came to the University of Manchester in 2010 with a 2-year ESRC/MRC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, and in 2012 I was awarded a Hallsworth Fellowship. That year I was also given an ESRC Future Research Leaders award, and was allowed to keep both.
Contribution to my professional career
I am very grateful to the Hallsworth Research Fellowship for the immense contribution it has had to my professional career. I was able to have four years of protected research time, which has benefitted me tremendously. During the fellowship I had research stays in international universities, developed new collaborations, strengthened existent ones, and was free to work on my research interests. During the length of the fellowship I published over 20 journal articles and several book chapters. I also had the freedom and time to collaborate with colleagues outside academia, and to disseminate the fellowship findings to non-academic audiences. These opportunities have expanded my intellectual development, and have pushed my research in unexpected directions. The experiences and outputs afforded to me by the Hallsworth fellowship and ESRC Future Research Leaders award led me to take up the post of Lecturer of Social Statistics in 2016.
Currently Lecturer in Development Politics, Global Development Institute, University of Manchester.
Background
I completed my PhD in the Department of Development Studies at SOAS, University of London in 2015. At SOAS, I was also a Senior Teaching Fellow in the Departments of Development Studies and the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy. I then worked at the London School of Economics and Political Science as an LSE Fellow in International Development until 2017 (when I took up my Hallsworth Research Fellowship).
Contribution to my professional career
One of the main reasons I left the LSE to pursue an independent research fellowship in Manchester was the opportunity to extend my research agenda from having focused on a single country (Rwanda) to developing a more comparative focus. During my Hallsworth Research Fellowship, I also received supplementary funding from the Effective States and Inclusive Development Research Centre to pursue two main projects. The first was a comparative study of successful African Development experiences (Rwanda, Ethiopia, Botswana and Mauritius). The second was a study of state-business relations in Africa, with a focus on diversified business groups (with research also in Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Uganda).
During my fellowship, I published six journal articles (five of which were single-authored), one book chapter, five working papers, one book review and several blogs. I also co-organised a conference on Development Politics in Manchester in 2018, hosting over 200 scholars and development practitioners from around the world. I was also on the organising committee for the Development Studies Association conference in 2018.
In the final year of my fellowship, I received four permanent job offers. One of these offers was from the University of Manchester's Global Development Institute, which I was glad to accept.
Lecturer in Modern French History, University College London
Background
I completed my BA History and MA Modern History at Royal Holloway, University of London, then did my PhD at King's College London, which I was awarded in February 2013. Both my MA and PhD were funded by the AHRC, and I also secured an Institute of Historical Research Scouloudi Doctoral Fellowship for the fourth year of my PhD. During and immediately after my PhD, I taught at Royal Holloway and King's College London, before moving to the Sorbonne in April 2013 as a post-doctoral research co-ordinator for the project LabEx Écrire une Histoire Nouvelle de l'Europe. In September 2014 I left this position for a one-year Lectureship in Modern European History at the University of Manchester, during which time I applied for a Simon Fellowship, which I began in September 2015. I left my Fellowship in December 2017 to take up a permanent position as Lecturer in Modern French History in the French Department at University College London.
Contribution to my professional career
The Simon Fellowship provided me with a fantastic opportunity for my career development. Firstly, the flexibility of the Fellowship allowed me to tie up a number of existing publications and side projects, as well as move onto my new project, which raised my research and publication profile. This resulted in a number of published or soon-to-be published works: five articles for an online encyclopaedia, one journal article, my first monograph, a book chapter, and a co-edited volume. The research I carried out on my new project formed the basis of the future publication plans that I detailed during my final job interview, and it was thanks to the time afforded to me by the Simon Fellowship that I was able to both carry out preliminary research and reflect on its longer-term significance to my career.
Secondly, the ability to continue to teach as part of the Fellowship allowed me to hone my experience in this area. I had the time to tweak my existing undergraduate course, gather useful student feedback and evaluations, and trial new teaching methods. I also had the opportunity to engage in MA teaching for the first time, and to supervise numerous dissertations, all of which allowed me to demonstrate the range and depth of my expertise to future employers.
Thirdly, the Fellowship provided me with an opportunity to feel like part of a wider academic community, in this case the History Department. Although carrying out research can often be a solitary affair, the options are there for those who want to have a presence in their respective department, and Fellows are made to feel like fully integrated members of staff. The advice and help offered by my colleagues, especially regarding job applications and references, greatly contributed to me securing a permanent position.
Finally, I believe that having secured such a competitive Fellowship demonstrated to future employers that I am able to attract research funding and that my research has the potential to interest an interdisciplinary audience, an important part of today’s academic environment. The fact that Simon Fellowships are awarded by a panel of scholars from multiple disciplines also helped me to think about how to pitch my work to scholars who are not specialists in my own field, and this helped when it came to securing my permanent job as a historian in a language department.
Ultimately, I am extremely grateful to have had this Fellowship and for the opportunities it provided me. I can say with certainty that I would not have secured my permanent job without the Simon Fellowship.
Currently Reader in Human Geography at the University of St Andrews
Background
Following my first degree and PhD in Geography at the University of Wales Swansea I worked as a Research Assistant at the University of Sheffield (Landscape Architecture) and fixed-term Lecturer at the University of Liverpool (Geography). I then moved to Manchester as a Research Associate before securing an ESRC Fellowship.
To continue my research I applied for a Hallsworth Fellowship which I began in 2011 in the Cathie Marsh Institute.
Contribution to my professional career
Having a Hallsworth Fellowship was an incredible privilege which I appreciate increasingly. It gave me the intellectual freedom, time and resources to pursue research ventures thoroughly and creatively and, crucially, to develop my independence as a researcher in terms of research ideas and professional skills.
The context of the Cathie Marsh Institute and School of Social Sciences at the University of Manchester, particularly the opportunity for communications and collaborations with exceptional academics, allowed me to pursue my goal to develop as a mixed-methods, interdisciplinary-literate social scientist.
Without doubt, these benefits afforded by my Hallsworth Fellowship enabled me to secure a Lectureship at The University of Manchester and subsequently my current post at the University of St Andrews.
The Fellowship was also a time of great productivity in terms of outputs: I published two edited books and a co-authored book, several book contributions, a number of papers in leading peer-reviewed journals, presented at international conferences of a number of disciplines (geography, sociology, demography, statistics), and undertook impact work contributing to a REF Impact Case Study.
In addition, the networks and collaborations in the UK and internationally that I cultivated during the Fellowship led to other research projects funded by the British Academy/Leverhulme, Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Economic and Social Research Council. Particularly notable of these is the ESRC Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE) through which I continue my collaboration with Manchester.
Currently Lecturer in Human Geography, University of Manchester
Background
I completed a BA in Human Geography, MRes in Globalisation and Development, and PhD in Human Geography at the University of Liverpool, before coming to Manchester to start the Hallsworth Research Fellowship in 2012.
Contribution to my professional career
The fellowship provided me with significant opportunities for career development. It enabled me to conduct important and original longitudinal research; to generate publications and a plan for further writing; to present and promote my work to international audiences; to apply for research funding; to supervise PhD students; to organise events and conference sessions; and to generate impact from my research. Being placed at the University has also provided me with opportunities to teach and to become involved in administration at discipline and university level. As such, I have been able to develop my career trajectory in all three of the key elements of an academic career: research, administration and teaching. In April 2014 I was offered a permanent, full-time lectureship in Human Geography here at the University of Manchester, which started on 1st September 2015. I am also chair of the School of Environment, Education and Development Ethics Committee.
Since completing the Fellowship, I have worked on a number of research projects, including Working-Class Youth Voice and Inter-generational Justice in Manchester's Devolution, 2016-2018 (with Dr Laura Pottinger, University of Manchester; funded by ESRC IAA) and Gender, Race, Disability and Austerity, 2016-2018 (with the Women's Budget Group and Dr Laura Pottinger, University of Manchester; funded by Barrow Cadbury Foundation).
Currently Research Fellow in Sociology/Sustainable Consumption Institute, University of Manchester
Background
I completed by undergraduate degree in Human Geography at the University of Durham, before taking up a graduate scheme position in marketing working for Yell Plc. After several other marketing roles working for Airtours and The Co-operative Bank, I decided to return to academia to pursue a Masters in Human Geography Research at the University of Sheffield. Once back in academia I knew I wanted to stay and was successfully awarded an ESRC +3 grant to complete a PhD. My thesis explores hairdressing and the practices of women's haircare with a focus on materiality and temporality. After several Research Associate positions at the University of Sheffield, I was awarded the Hallsworth Fellowship in 2015.
Contribution to my professional career
The Hallsworth Research Fellowship has been an invaluable platform from which to develop my academic career. Not only has it enabled me to devote myself to an intensive three year research project on a subject I have chosen and feel passionate about, but it has given me countless opportunities to develop other key academic skills. During the fellowship I have had the chance to convene an undergraduate module, supervise dissertations students, become part of the editorial team of a journal, organise large scale impact events, attend international conferences, network with key stakeholders and much more.
Overall, the fellowship has given me the space to develop my research agenda and future plans. It has also afforded me the time to publish my work in key academic journals, and to think about other avenues of research funding. I am now a permanent research fellow based in Sociology/Sustainable Consumption Institute.
Lecturer in Globalisation and Political Economy of Development, University of Manchester
Background
I completed my Bachelor's in Economics and Geography in Trinity College, Dublin (Ireland) before completing Master's and PhD degrees at the Graduate School of Geography, Clark University (USA). In September 2013, I was awarded a three-year fixed term lectureship in the Institute for Development Policy and Management (now Global Development Institute) at the University of Manchester. During the second year of that lectureship, I successfully applied for a Hallsworth Fellowship, which I subsequently commenced in September 2015. Shortly after commencing the Hallsworth Fellowship, I was awarded an ESRC Future Research Leader Award which I held simultaneously with the Hallsworth Fellowship for the final two years (September 2016-August 2018) of the Hallsworth Fellowship. I was also awarded a continuous Lectureship in Globalisation and Political Economy at the Global Development Institute in March 2016.
Contribution to my professional career
The Hallsworth Fellowship provided me with invaluable time to make a step change in my research - conducting new empirical research, significantly deepening my publication record and broadening my research agenda.
I have significantly pushed forward my empirical research during the period of the Hallsworth Fellowship, expanding the geographical scope of my pharmaceutical industry work with new fieldwork on pharmaceutical industry dynamics and their development implications in Ghana, Kenya and Ethiopia.
The Hallsworth Fellowship provided me with invaluable time to focus on writing and to significantly enhance my publication record. During the course of the fellowship, I have published seven journal articles (in leading development studies and geography journals, including co-editing a special issue), three book chapters, 18 blogs (including The Conversation, Geography Directions, Rising Powers and Interdependent Futures and the Global Development Institute) and two working papers.
I have made presentations, and organised sessions, at 20 workshops or conferences (including Development Studies Association Annual Conference, the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers, the Royal Geographical Society-Institute of British Geographers and the Society for Advancement of Socio-Economics) during the Hallsworth Fellowship. Participating in
such events has facilitated me to get a foothold in a number of different research communities, to get feedback on my research and to expand my research network. Using some of the time of the fellowship to organise smaller workshops related to my research as well as a major conference (Development Studies Association annual conference) has also further allowed me to get very actively involved in different research communities and learned societies.
I am indebted to the Hallsworth Fellowship for providing me with a platform to enhance my research at this crucial and often precarious stage of an academic career.
Currently Lecturer in Global Urbanism, The University of Manchester
Background
After working in social housing following my first degree in Government from the London School of Economics, I undertook an MA in Planning Policy and Practice at London South Bank University, focusing on participatory planning in marginalised urban communities in Colombia for my dissertation. I completed my PhD on place-making in urban informal settlements in Mexico in December 2009, at the University of Sheffield's Department of Town and Regional Planning, and joined the Global Urban Research Centre at The University of Manchester in January 2010. I was awarded a Hallsworth Fellowship in 2011, which I undertook at the Global Urban Research Centre (GURC).
Contribution to my professional career
The Hallsworth fellowship offered a great opportunity to pursue publications from PhD, resulting in a total of six articles published in peer-reviewed journals. Additionally, I published a Spanish-language book based on my PhD thesis, Haciendo de la ciudad un lugar: el caso de los asentamientos informales en México (2012), as a result of being awarded the INFONAVIT-Redalyc Ibero-American Prize for Research Theses on Sustainable Housing.
The fellowship also gave me the opportunity to undertake further original research into a theme which had emerged from my PhD research but which I had not had time to pursue, namely urban land and conflict in the context of urbanisation. In all, I carried out a further 90 interviews in two cities in Mexico over the course of three research trips, exploring the effects of land conflict on urban poor communities.
I was able to present these publications and findings at international conferences and seminars, giving or contributing to 14 presentations including at the Universidad Veracruzana (Xalapa, Mexico), Development Studies Association Conference (London), Royal Geographical Society Conference (London), Latin American Studies Association Congress (Washington, DC), World Planning Schools Congress (Perth, Australia).
I was also involved in co-organising several conference sessions and workshops. As a result of one of these events, I am editing a special issue of the journal Urban Studies on 'Urban land and conflict in the global South', due for publication in 2014. This will build on the GURC working paper I published in 2012, Land tenure and urban conflict: A review of the literature.
The Hallsworth fellowship provided me with the time, space and funding to undertake these critical post-doctoral activities, which combined with ongoing teaching experience, led to my successful application for the post of Lecturer in Global Urbanism at the School of Environment, Education and Development (2013).
Currently Senior Lecturer at The University of Manchester.
Background
My first degree was in Politics, Philosophy and Economics at the University of Oxford, followed by an MSc and DPhil in Sociology at Oxford. After completing my DPhil in 2014, I worked as a postdoctoral Research Fellow on the British Election Study (run by the Universities of Oxford and Manchester). I started work as a Hallsworth Fellow in 2017, as a team member of the British Election Study affiliated with the Politics Department and Cathie Marsh Institute for Social Research
Contribution to my professional career
The Hallsworth Fellowship provided invaluable support for my continuing research on voter switching, survey methodology and voter turnout both in the UK and cross-nationally.
The ability to pursue this research and professional development during my Hallsworth Fellowship led directly to my successful application as a Senior Lecturer at Manchester (continuing my work as co-director of the British Election Study) and my promotion to co-investigator for the successful 2019-2023 British Election Study bid.
During my Hallsworth Fellowship, I published seven journal articles including in the Journal of Politics, Party Politics, and Electoral Studies.
I also co-authored an Oxford University Press book: Electoral Shocks: The Volatile Voter in a Turbulent World (2020) and have a contract with Oxford University Press to write a 2022 book with the British Electoral Study team exploring realignment in the 2019 General Election.
My Hallsworth research included constructing a comparative dataset of nearly 200,000 respondents in 106 inter-election panel studies, giving the most comprehensive view of the components and drivers of electoral volatility. Correctly analysing the data required the development of new tools, including a new technique for weighting continuous variables and corrected measures of aggregate turnout (which has been systematically mismeasured across many countries including an underestimate of around 10 percentage points in Britain). I am preparing to submit several papers from this project to top political science journals. These data will provide a vital source for understanding electoral behaviour across many future projects I intend to undertake.
The Hallsworth Fellowship also allowed me to continue my work on the British Election Study. During my Hallsworth Fellowship, I helped design six waves of the British Election Study Internet Panel (waves 14-20) and the 2019 British Election Study probability sample. This has provided a vital source of data both for my own research and that of the wider political science community.
I won (along with the BES research team) £2.8 million in research funding across four grants in my time as a Hallsworth Fellow including as a co-investigator of the British Election Study (2019-2023) and as a co-investigator on a pilot for a new Ethnic Minority British Election Study (2020).
Currently Deputy Chief of Staff for Analysis and Oversight of Priority Programmes, Executive Office of the President, Republic Indonesia, and Honorary Research Fellow in Innovations and Social Change, Manchester Institute of Innovation Research, The University of Manchester
Background
Although I was trained as an Industrial Engineer at Institute of Technology, Bandung, Indonesia (1990-1994), my engineering career did not last long, for I was attracted much more to multidisciplinary engagements. Between 1994-2004 in addition to teaching in the university and contributing as columnist in national newspapers, I set up three Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) in the country working in the area of development, advocacy, and research.
Awarded Chevening Scholarship by the British Government, I read MSc in Information Systems Engineering, University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST, 2000-2001) to understand the roles of information technology in political communication.
After a brief return to Indonesia, I did PhD in Policy Research in Engineering Science and Technology at Manchester Business School (2004-2007) and joined the school as researcher upon completion. I worked in the area of innovation, social change, sustainability, knowledge dynamics and foresight.
I was awarded MBS' Outstanding Academic of the Year 2009 before being awarded a Hallsworth Fellowship in 2010-2012, which I undertook at the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research (MIOIR).
Contribution to my professional career
The Hallsworth fellowship provided me an incomparable opportunity to pursue my academic career that then significantly contributed to my professional one. The fellowship allowed me not only to publish more papers from my PhD, but also to further my original research into a theme that my PhD had hinted: political economy of innovations and social change in Southeast Asia. I completed fieldwork research using semi-ethnography, in-depth interviews and focus groups in Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, and Cambodia in my attempt to identify factors that play role in third-sector innovation.
I was able to present the findings at numerous conferences and had an opportunity to co-organise conferences that led to special issues, ie New Models of Inclusive Innovation for Development (with R. Heeks and C. Foster, 2013), and Social Media for Development (with B. Nicholson and N. Rangaswamy, 2015). I also managed to complete a series of research reports on political economy of media in Indonesia (four reports, 2011-2013, Nugroho, et al.).
In addition, through this research, I was able to explore, learn, and deepen some methodological skills and techniques. For example, my paper on combining foresight with network analysis (with O. Saritas, 2009) was translated and re-published in Russian (2011).
These all have made up a strong foundation to my attempts to influence policy-making processes - particularly in my country Indonesia. My research into media innovation and civic engagement (co-funded by Ford Foundation, 2010-2011) has been used by the government as a basis for the revision of the Broadcasting Law.
The government then tasked me, among others, to set-up a team to use foresight method in identifying the country's future development programmes - that led me to engage much more closely with the government and policy making processes.
The Hallsworth fellowship had given me time, space and funding to undertake these important academic activities, which combined with ongoing research and teaching experience, led to my successful return to Indonesia: firstly as Special Advisor to the Head of the President's Delivery Unit for Development Monitoring and Oversight (2012-2014, Senior Official/Echelon 1 level), then as Deputy Chief of Staff for Analysis and Oversight of Priority Programmes at the Executive Office of the President (Deputy Minister level).
Currently Lecturer in Sociology at The University of Manchester.
Background
I hold a degree (Laura) from University of Bologna. After moving to the UK, I worked at Napier University and at the University in Edinburgh, where I also completed an MSc Degree (University of Edinburgh). I subsequently worked on a series of externally funded research posts on GM crops and foods, pharmacogenomics and genetic testing, behavioural genomics, biometrics and identity technologies - at the University of Reading, Lancaster University and University of Manchester respectively.
I then completed a funded PhD degree (Nov 2014, University of Manchester and National University of Singapore) examining the process of securitisation in the urban domain. I took up a one year lectureship in Sociology (University of Manchester), before being awarded my Simon Fellowship.
Contribution to my professional career
My work is interdisciplinary and always pursues interconnected themes with implications for a number of sociological, practitioner and policy debates. I am very grateful for my Fellowship award. It allowed me to complete poignant sociological and interdisciplinary research on a substantively novel and topical field - pandemic preparedness and its social implications - and to establish myself in this emergent field. The fellowship was vital in allowing me the intellectual space to delve into this emergent domain, to theorise it and to produce a range of impactful outputs.
I am very indebted to the Simon Foundation for supporting a range of key activities via this fellowship - from my international conference presentations to contributions to policy, practitioner and public events. The fellowship facilitated my access to a range of research sites, in the UK and internationally, including my visit to the UK High Level Isolation Unit (London Free Hospital), and to other labs, hospitals, schools of tropical medicine and research facilities. It supported a two week research visit to the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (the EU Agency, in Stockholm), two visits to the National Centre for Disease Prevention in Rome (the latter of which was to contribute to a EU policy brokerage event), access to policy events and practitioner activities at Antwerp School of Tropical Medicine, at the EU molecular biology laboratory (Heidelberg), and at Chatham House (London).
Currently Lecturer in International Political Economy at King's College London.
Background
I studied Physics and Philosophy at New College, University of Oxford 1997-2001. After taking a year out, I went to The University of Manchester to undertake a Masters in Development Studies, and stayed to complete a PhD in International Political Economy. Following my PhD I held a number of short-term contracts as a research assistant and as a temporary lecturer at the Brooks World Poverty Institute and at the University of Liverpool. In 2011 I was awarded a Hallsworth Fellowship, which I undertook at the Brooks World Poverty Institute. I was then appointed as Lecturer in International Political Economy at King's College London in 2013.
Contribution to my professional career
My time spent as a Hallsworth Fellow was central to my finding a permanent academic job. It gave me the critical space needed to secure the publication record that is a key requirement for university research jobs. In addition, the fellowship gave me the time and funding to take my research agenda forward beyond that of my PhD. The flexibility of the scheme was important here. My original plan was to study a particular international trade agreement, but when this was unexpectedly not ratified in time I had to rethink. When that research proved to be impossible, I was able to pursue a number of other projects instead, building on previous research I had done concerning the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
During my fellowship I was able to attend a number of academic conferences and other meetings relevant to my research. It enabled me to maintain existing, and establish new, networks of like-minded researchers and people within the WTO. This led to further collaborative research grants and book projects that took my research agenda into new areas and cemented ongoing relationships with other trade scholars. Overall, the Hallsworth Fellowship undoubtedly played a significant role in building the experience and outputs needed for me to secure a permanent lectureship.
Currently Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Edinburgh.
Background
I studied International Relations at the University of Manchester, gaining my PhD in December 2011. In 2012 I moved to the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN) as Lecturer in International Relations, returning to the University of Manchester to take up the Hallsworth Research Fellowship in 2013.
Contribution to my professional career
As a result of my work during the Hallsworth Fellowship I was successful in obtaining a Lectureship in International Relations at the University of Edinburgh. During the fellowship my research was published in internationally-recognised and world-leading journals, and formed the basis of a new research monograph. Additional outputs including chapters in edited volumes, reports, and blog/opinion pieces of appeal to non-academic audiences were produced, along with the dissemination of research findings at national and international conferences.
The Hallsworth Fellowship allowed me to enhance my research profile through additional activities such as a visiting fellowship and guest external lectures. I occupied a two month visiting fellowship at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, Stockholm in late 2015, and completed guest lectures and undertook undergraduate and postgraduate student supervision at the University of Manchester.
Currently Research Coordinator at the National Strategic Centre for the Right to Territory (CENEDET), in Quito, Ecuador
Background
I studied Philosophy at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, and then travelled widely for several years. I returned to academia in 2003, completing a Masters and a PhD in International Political Economy at Manchester. In 2009 I took up a two year teaching fellowship in Politics at Manchester. I then shifted to Geography for my Hallsworth, which I began in 2011. Halfway through my Hallsworth I secured a permanent position as Lecturer in International Political Economy, again at Manchester. I was allowed to complete my Hallsworth before taking up the post. I have since been granted leave to take up a temporary position at an Ecuador-based research institute directed by the eminent human geographer David Harvey.
Contribution to my professional career
My Hallsworth fellowship was absolutely indispensable for my intellectual and professional development. It offered me unparalleled freedom to pursue my research interests, and enabled me to develop my theoretical approach and empirical knowledge in radically new directions, while significantly strengthening my publication record and constructing new networks in the realms of development studies and human geography.
The fellowship enabled me to conduct fieldwork in Ghana and Uganda, and to travel extensively for the dissemination of my research findings. It provided me with the base that I needed for the securing of a permanent academic position, and for opening new possibilities for research and collaboration.
The results of the research that I conducted during the fellowship have been published in leading journals in the fields of political economy, human geography and development studies. I was also able to publish two books during the fellowship - a single-authored monograph published by Verso, and a co-edited volume with Erik Swyngedouw, published by Edinburgh University Press. During my fellowship I presented my work at international conferences in Canada, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, Turkey and the UK. The fellowship was a wonderful experience in both personal and professional terms, for which I will always be very grateful.
Currently Lecturer in Sociology, University of Manchester
Background
I completed my undergraduate studies at the University of Warwick, spent some time travelling and working, and then returned to university to study the social sciences. My Masters dissertation was a comparative analysis of critical consumption in Europe. My PhD looked at politics and daily life in squats and cultural centres in Barcelona. I took up a short-term research position in the Sustainable Consumption Institute (2012-2013) before being awarded a Hallsworth Fellowship in September 2013. Halfway through, I secured a permanent position as Lecturer in Sociology, also at Manchester. I was allowed to complete my Hallsworth before taking up the post.
Contribution to my professional career
The Hallsworth Research Fellowship was fundamental for my development as a researcher, allowing me time and space to consolidate my research profile in the areas of social movements and political sociology; and to combine my interests and work in consumption habits around food and living arrangements with questions of scale and sustainability. The period allowed me to publish extensively around these topics, read, elaborate a strong theoretical perspective, gather new data that I am still in the process of analysing and writing up, and to prepare a book proposal.
Most valuably, the fellowship permitted me a significant degree of freedom to creatively forge a coherent research agenda based on the research I'd been part of in the past, while deepening my contributions to each field with new work. In other words it was possible to cross-pollinate - both theoretically and empirically - between the projects I'd been involved in directly after my PhD, around the organisation of eating habits and living arrangements (often quantitative and larger-scale), with my existing interests in social movements studies and theories of consumption (which I'd looked at using qualitative and case study approaches). I was also able to play a role in Sociology and the Sustainable Consumption Institute in teaching and contributing to the research culture of both spaces, through the organisation of reading groups, seminars and writing collaborations. Most practically the fellowship was invaluable in my subsequent appointment as lecturer, but it has also encouraged me to be ambitious and creative in my approach to research and teaching.