Ally is a human geographer with a background in energy geographies. She has undertaken research across the energy sphere including recent work on the role of invisible energy policy in Higher Education Institutions (HEI's) and is a part of the Supergen Energy Storage Network +. Additionally, much of Ally's emerging research involves exploring the relationship between social and earth processes with a specific focus on the underground. This often has an energy theme but not exclusively so and recent work has involved exploring the conceptualization of subsurface governance. This profile of research has in part been developed through an ongoing collaboration with the British Geological Survey (BGS) and takes a critical perspective exploring societal interactions with the subsurface.
Ally often takes an interdisciplinary approach in her research, working collaboratively with other disciplines. This began during her doctoral research which was funded by a competitively won studentship from the UK Energy Research Centre and took an interdisciplinary approach to assessing renewable energy potential in upland communities. Since then she has worked collaboratively with geoscientists, engineers and computer scientists and has also been involved in research with Energy Lancaster, a cross-faculty research centre that aims to address societal challenges around sustainability and security of energy. Ally now leads Energy Lancaster's theme on 'Energy & Society'.
Ally mainly teaches on LEC's UG Geography programme including:
- LEC 227 'Geosocial Spaces' which explores society's relationship with earth processes (convenor)
- LEC 304 'Geography Joint Honours - Extended Essay' module (convenor)
- LEC 203 'Research Skills in Human Geography' (convenor)
- LEC 101 'Global Environmental Challenges' (contributor)
In addition to this, she has a number of both UG and PG dissertation students exploring topics such as the use of subterranean spaces in cities, the role of social media in natural hazard response, Governance of groundwater in the UK, the Value of geology in settlement patterns and Community Energy, amongst others.
PhD Students:
- Jack Hemingway, exploring the Resilience of Groundwater Governance in Southern Africa. This is in collaboration with BGS and funded through the ESRC NWSSDTP. Read Jack's blog post for more info.
- Joseph Earl - 'Coastwatchers:A citizen observatory for mitigation of coastal hazards'. Funded through a Faculty of Science and Technology Studentship award.
PhD students funded through the Centre for Global and Eco-Innovation:
- Kathy New, looking at adaptive thermal comfort in non-domestic building
- Caitlin Thompson, looking at micro-hydro in rural Kenya
Masters by Research students:
- Mike Lusty, looking at the role of citizen science in coastal management (completed, 2019).
- Stephen King, exploring the underlying tensions in delivering long-term collaborations for clean and sustianable growth (completed, 2021).
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS-IBG)
Secretary of the RGS-IBG Energy Geographies Research Group http://www.energygeographies.org @EnergyGeography
Ally is Senior Admissions tutor for LEC's UG Geography Programme. For more details of LEC's programmes please see here, and details of how to visit us in LEC can be found here.
As of 2021, Ally is also LEC's academic Athena SWAN lead. For more information about our approach to Athena SWAN see here.
