School of Social and Political Science

Research interests

My research explores the global politics of climate, energy, and food system transformations, predominantly from a Marxist perspective. While primarily based in the subfields of International Relations, political theory, and environmental politics, my work is transdisciplinary - i.e. indifferent to disciplinary boundaries.

My first book is called Navigating the Polycrisis: Mapping the Futures of Capitalism and the Earth. It brings complexity thinking and Marxist theory together with insights from the earth system sciences, ecological economics, energy studies, and critical security studies to investigate the possible futures of the world-system - including both dystopian and concrete utopian futures. It argues that critical IR and political theorists need to devote more systematic attention to possible futures in an age of intersecting and (often) mutually amplifying crises - encompassing crises of climate, capitalism, energy, food, geopolitics, and far-right populism.

My most recent articles explore the possibilities of post-growth transformation in international relations, abolitionist perspectives on ecological security, the EU's polycrisis and possible futures, and climate emotions and mental health under what I call burnout capitalism. I'm also working on a few new articles and book chapters about the polycrisis and possible futures of the UK, critical perspectives on "collapse" futures, the "care crisis" of contemporary capitalism, and the potential role of climate assemblies in democratically planning a just transition.

For my next book project I am interested in exploring the intersections between ecological crises and global mental health crises. I want to illuminate the multidimensional drivers of contemporary psychosocial crises - which include depression, burnout, loss of meaning, and neo-fundamentalisms - illustrate how they may hinder our capacities to emotionally process and respond to ecological crises, and investigate how we can develop collective responses that promote healing, alleviate polarization, and strengthen climate justice activism. I am also interested in pursuing a shorter book project on citizens assemblies and their potential to help rejuvenate democracy and enable a transition pathway towards democratic ecosocialism.

I love the ocean, forests, rivers, mossy rocks and trees, cats, old time fiddle, and mushroom foraging. I also hope to encounter an otter sometime in Edinburgh.