Staff Profile:Dr Alex Arnall

Name:

Dr Alex Arnall

Job Title:

Associate Professor

Responsibilities:

• Impact lead: Global Development Research Division
• Co-lead: Climate, Culture and Society (CCS) Research Cluster
• Programme Director: MSc in Food Security and Development
• Teaching: Theories and Practices of Development; Global Issues in Nutrition and Health
• University of Reading PI for the HEFCE-funded Innovative Food Systems Teaching and Learning (IFTSAL) programme

Areas of Interest:

My research focuses on three inter-connected areas:

1. Climate change and disaster risk reduction
This research deploys empirically-grounded and theoretical analysis to examine how societies in developing countries anticipate, experience and respond to climate-related shocks and stresses, such as flood and drought. I have contributed to debates that emphasise the political dimensions of climate change adaptation, and the need to understand the perceptions of marginalised groups directly affected by global environmental change.

2. Forced migration, displacement and relocation
This work, based on empirical research, aims to understand the contexts, experiences and effects of historical and present-day involuntary movements of people. The research has focused on three areas: understanding the political drivers of forced migration; exploring processes of livelihoods change and restoration during relocation programmes; and investigating displacements resulting from international land acquisitions.

3. Rural mobility and dynamics
Under this theme I aim to understand, both theoretically and empirically, the complex nature of human mobility and livelihoods in rural areas. I am particularly interested in how the movements people, things and ideas contribute to (or undermine) resilience to global environmental and economic change.

Research groups / Centres:

• Global Development Research Division
• Walker Institute for Climate Systems Research
• Research Centre for the study of Developing Economies and Emerging Markets

Key facts:

Alex is a human geographer conducting research and teaching on environmental change and human migration/mobility. He has a PhD in Geography from the University of Oxford, an MSc from Imperial College and a BSc from the University of East Anglia. Prior to joining the University of Reading, Alex worked as a Consultant for the international firm, Environmental Resources Management, and then as a Research Officer at the Institute of Development Studies, leading the Institute's work on Adaptive Social Protection. He has also carried out consultancy for a number of international NGOs and development agencies, including GIZ, Save the Children, Oxfam GB and WWF. Alex's most recent research has been based in central and southern Mozambique, and he also has work experience in South Africa, Angola, Uganda, Brazil, the Maldives and Russia.

Current and Recent Research:

• Negotiating conflict: Environmental violence, economic development and the everyday practices of islanders, 2017-2019 (Co-I; ESRC-DFID Development Frontiers)
• Marginal or Marginalised? Investigating Discourses of International Land Acquisition in Southern Mozambique, 2015-16 (PI; British Academy).
• Perceptions and Understandings of Climate Change and Migration: Conceptualising and Contextualising for Lakshadweep and Maldives, 2012-15 (Co-I; The Research Council of Norway).
• Involuntary Resettlement and Livelihoods Restoration in Flood-Affected Communities in Mozambique, 2011-13 (PI; British Academy).

Current PhD students:

I am particularly interested in supervising research students working on the topics listed below, and I welcome enquiries from prospective applicants:

• Global environmental change (including climate change) and its intersections with human migration/mobility;
• Environmental shocks and stresses (e.g. flood and drought) and human displacement;
• Planned resettlement and its impacts of people's lives and life courses/chances; and
• Rural mobility and its contribution to livelihoods and resilience.

I am lead supervisor for the following PhD students:

• Emma Bryant: Climate change, resilience and human mobility in Turkana County, Kenya (ESRC Scholarship)
• Daniela Salite: Culture and adaptation to drought in Gaza Province, southern Mozambique (Commonwealth Scholarship)
• Sarrok Talhada: Exploring interactions between large-scale commercial investments in land and small-scale agriculture in Mozambique (Commonwealth Scholarship)

In addition, I provide supervision for:

• Loiuse Abongu: Perceptions of climate risk and adaptation in Cameroon (Commonwealth Scholarship
• George Dakurah: Climate uncertainty and household food security in Ghana (Commonwealth Studentship)
• Bismark Guba: Climate and food security in northern Ghana: investigating local level adaptation strategies (Ghana Education Trust Fund)
• Rinchen Lama: Agency, vulnerability and large-scale infrastructure interventions in the Himalayas (University International Research Studentship)
• Mark Neuse: Resettlement and agricultural interventions in Ethiopia
• Maxwell Okrah: Fiscal decentralisation in Ghana (Henley Business School Postgraduate Scholarship)

Completed PhD students

• Paul Kamlongera: Deagrarianisation and rural diversification in rural Malawi (Commonwealth Scholarship)
• Hamza Adam: Rural livelihood diversification and gender in northern Ghana (Ghana Education Trust Fund)

Publications:

Y

Jump to: 2017 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2010 | 2005 | 2004

Number of items: 16.

2017

• Kelman, I., Upadhyay, H., Simonelli, A. C., Arnall, A., Mohan, D., Lingaraj, G. J., Nair, S. and Webersik, C. (2017) Here and now: perceptions of Indian Ocean islanders on the climate change and migration nexus. Geografiska Annaler: Series B Human Geography. ISSN 1468-0467 doi: 10.1080/04353684.2017.1353888
• Kothari, U. and Arnall, A. (2017) Contestation over an island imaginary landscape: the management and maintenance of touristic nature. Environment and Planning A, 49 (5). pp. 980-998. ISSN 0308-518X doi: 10.1177/0308518X16685884

2015

• Arnall, A. (2015) Resilience as transformative capacity: exploring the quadripartite cycle of structuration in a Mozambican resettlement programme. Geoforum, 66. pp. 26-36. ISSN 0016-7185 doi: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2015.08.015
• Twyman, C., Smith, T. and Arnall, A. (2015) What is Carbon? Conceptualising carbon and capabilities in the context of community sequestration projects in the global South. WIREs Climate Change, 6 (6). pp. 627-641. ISSN 1757-7799 doi: 10.1002/wcc.367
• Arnall, A. and Kothari, U. (2015) Challenging climate change and migration discourse: different understandings of time-scale and temporality in the Maldives. Global Environmental Change, 31. pp. 199-206. ISSN 0959-3780 doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2015.01.011

2014

• Arnall, A., Kothari, U. and Kelman, I. (2014) Introduction to politics of climate change: discourses of policy and practice in developing countries. The Geographical Journal, 180 (2). pp. 98-101. ISSN 1475-4959 doi: 10.1111/geoj.12054
• Arnall, A. (2014) A climate of control: flooding, displacement and planned resettlement in the Lower Zambezi River valley, Mozambique. The Geographical Journal, 180 (2). pp. 141-150. ISSN 1475-4959 doi: 10.1111/geoj.12036

2013

• Arnall, A., Thomas, D. S.G., Twyman, C. and Liverman, D. (2013) Flooding, resettlement and change in livelihoods: evidence from rural Mozambique. Disasters, 37 (3). pp. 468-488. ISSN 0361-3666 doi: 10.1111/disa.12003
• Davies, M., Bene, C., Arnall, A., Tanner, T., Newsham, A. and Coirolo, C. (2013) Promoting resilient livelihoods through adaptive social protection: lessons from 124 programmes in South Asia. Development Policy Review, 31 (1). pp. 27-58. ISSN 0950-6764 doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7679.2013.00600.x
• Arnall, A., Thomas, D. S. G., Twyman, C. and Liverman, D. (2013) NGOs, elite capture and community-driven development: perspectives in rural Mozambique. Journal of Modern African Studies, 51 (2). pp. 305-330. ISSN 1469-7777 doi: 10.1017/S0022278X13000037

2012

• Cutter, S., Osman-Elasha, B., Campbell, J., Cheong, S. M., McCormick, S., Pulwarty, R., Supratid, S., Ziervogel, G., Calvo, E., Mutabazi, K., Arnall, A., Arnold, M., Bayer, J. L., Bohle, H. G., Emrich, C., Hallegatte, S., Koelle, B., Oettle, N., Polack, E., Ranger, N. and Rist, S. (2012) Managing the Risks from Climate Extremes at the Local Level. In: Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 291-338. ISBN 978-1-107-60780-4

2010

• Arnall, A., Oswald, K., Davies, M., Mitchell, T. and Coirolo, C., (2010) Adaptive social protection: mapping the evidence and policy context in the agriculture sector in south Asia. Working Paper. 345. Project Report. Institute of Development Studies, Brighton . pp92. ISBN 978185864948X ISSN 2040-0209
• Jones, L., Jaspars, S., Pavanello, S., Ludi, E., Slater, R., Arnall, A., Grist, N. and Mtisi, S., (2010) Responding to a changing climate: exploring how disaster risk reduction, social protection and livelihoods approaches promote features of adaptive capacity. Working Paper. 319. Project Report. Overseas Development Institute, London. pp27. ISBN 9781907288258 ISSN 1759 2909

2005

• Arnall, A. and Parr, D. (2005) Moving the nanoscience and technology (NST) debate forwards: short-term impacts, long-term uncertainty and the social constitution. Technology in Society, 27 (1). pp. 23-38. ISSN 0160-791X doi: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2004.10.005
• Foxon, T.J., Gross, R., Chase, A., Howes, J., Arnall, A. and Anderson, D. (2005) UK innovation systems for new and renewable energy technologies: drivers, barriers and systems failures. Energy Policy, 33 (16). pp. 2123-2137. ISSN 0301-4215 doi: 10.1016/j.enpol.2004.04.011

2004

• Arnall, A., Furtado, J., Ghazoul, J. and de Swardt, C. (2004) Perceptions of informal safety nets: a case study from a South African informal settlement. Development Southern Africa, 21 (3). pp. 443-460. ISSN 1470-3637 doi: 10.1080/0376835042000265432

This list was generated on Mon Sep 25 12:01:07 2017 BST.

Qualifications:

BSc (University of East Anglia); MSc (Imperial College); DPhil, (University of Oxford)