Ally is a human geographer with an interest in energy geographies and political geology.
She has undertaken research across the energy sphere and currently works on projects including EPSRC Net0i looking at contextualising the data in relation to energy in a commercial setting, on the Managemnet Board of Supergen Energy Storage Network + (2019-2025), and part of the ESRC Research Centre on Joined Up Sustainability Transformations (JUST) led by The University of Manchester (see the LU press release here). Ally is also Project Lead for Inclusive Natural Environment Futures (INEF) that aims to understand barriers for students from minority ethnic groups in pursuing careers in the natural environment sector. This is funded 2025/2026 as part of NERC's Opening Up The Envrionment programme.
Linked to the theme of political geology, much of Ally's emerging research involves exploring the relationship between social and earth processes with a specific focus on the underground. This includes exploring the conceptualization of subsurface governance, thinking critically about the role of the underground as part of the NetZero Transition, and exploring more extreme ways our relationship with earth is evolving - for instance energy from Magma!
Ally often takes an interdisciplinary approach in her research, working collaboratively with other disciplines. This began during her doctoral research which she completed in 2013 and was funded by a competitively won studentship from the UK Energy Research Centre .The research 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 continues to persue collaborations across the disciplines and with wider stakeholders.
Ally has been publishing her research since 2011 in peer-reviewed journals and conferences on topics including subsurface governance, speculative geology, energy demand, invisible energy policies, community energy and pedagogic work on teaching sustainability in HE. She was also an invited contributor to The Royal Society's Report (2023) on Long Term Energy Storage; Chapter 5 Non-Chemical and Thermal Energy Storage and to the Supergen Energy Storage Network+ Report (2025) on Energy Storage: gaps and opportunity analysis
Ally mainly teaches on LEC's UG Geography programme including:
- LEC 227 'Geosocial Spaces' which explores society's relationship with earth processes (convenor)
- LEC 202 'Being a Geographer; Issues, ethics and skills' (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:
Ongoing
- Rachael Glassey - Move fast and break things?: Balancing pace and public support in the transition to clean power in the North of England. Start Oct 2025.
- Kathy New - Exploring adaptive thermal comfort in non-domestic buildings. Kathy has published a number of peer-reviewed papers and reports which you can find here.
Completed
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).
External Examiner for Liverpool John Moore's University (2024-ongoing)
ESRC academic representative on UKERC's Funders Panel 2019-2023
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS-IBG)
Previously Secretary of the RGS-IBG Energy Geographies Research Group (2018-2020) http://www.energygeographies.org @EnergyGeography
Ally is LEC's academic lead for Athena SWAN. LEC were awarded a Silver Award in Autumn 2023, for more information about our approach to Athena SWAN see here.
Ally is passionate about EDI in HE and about understanding the experinces and barriers posed to minority groups in accessing a HE education, particulaly in Geography and Earth and Environmental Science subjects (GEES). As part of this work, Ally leads on a blog series called LEC Voices which aims to share a diverse range of experinces from staff and students across LEC.
Ally was previsouly Senior Admissions Tutor for LEC's UG Geography degree programmes. For more information about our degrees see here.
