Ruth Evans

Ruth's research focuses on geographies of care, childhood, youth, 'family' and intergenerational relations in diverse contexts, including transnational families, bereavement and chronic illness. She is currently leading a project on Care, Inequality and Wellbeing in Transnational Families in Europe.

She recently led a Leverhulme Trust-funded project, Death in the Family in Urban Senegal: Bereavement, Care and Family (2014-16). Download the Research Report and Executive Summary and see the project blog for the press release, Rapport et Résumé (versions français) and more information.

Ruth completed a collaborative research project with colleagues at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana on Access to Land, Food Security and the Intergenerational Transmission of Poverty in the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana (2012-15), including a video here and articles in Geoforum (2015) and Geo: Geography & Environment (2019).

Research has also focused on Inheritance, Access to Resources and Family Relations in Senegal(2011-12), with articles published in Social & Cultural Geography (2014), Gender, Place and Culture (2016) and Emotions, Space & Society (2021). She also conducted research with Geoff Griffiths on Palm Oil, Land Rights and Ecosystems Services in Liberia (2012-13) (reports are available below).

Ruth and Caroline Day led dissemination workshops with young people with caring responsibilities in Zambia in 2014. Watch the video or read more about the research here.

Ruth also completed a study on stigma, gender and generational inequalities in asset inheritance and the intergenerational transmission of poverty in Tanzania and Uganda (with Caroline Day), funded by the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (2010-11). Read more about the project here. 

From 2008-2010, Ruth conducted a qualitative, participatory study of young people's caring responsibilities for their siblings within child- and youth- headed households in Tanzania and Uganda, funded by the RGS-IBG and the University of Reading (2008-10). (See Research Report and articles below).

Her book (co-authored with Prof. Saul Becker, 2009, The Policy Press), Children Caring for Parents with HIV and AIDS: Global Issues and Policy Responses draws on findings from an ESRC study of the experiences of children caring for parents and relatives with HIV in Tanzania and the UK, conducted while Ruth was based at University of Nottingham (2006-2007). For more information about the research, read the news article: Children caring for parents with HIV and AIDS or download the Stakeholder Report (PDF 1652KB) and Executive Summary (PDF 539KB).

While based at the University of Hull (2001-2002) and University of Birmingham (2003-2006), Ruth worked on a number of research projects that investigated the social exclusion/inclusion of children and young people and their participation in policy initiatives in the UK. Ruth's doctoral research at the University of Hull (2002-2004) explored the gendered 'street careers' of children and youth and the impacts of HIV in Tanzania.