I was an undergraduate in Geography at the University of Southampton, UK. Whilst studying there, I developed a particular interest in climate change research. This led me to undertake a PhD in ENV at UEA (the School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia), supervised by Mike Hulme, Irene Lorenzoni and Tim Osborn. As a postgrad, I was based in the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, which was a great introduction to interdisciplinary climate change research, and academic life more generally. My PhD, ‘An Iconic Approach for Representing Climate Change’, was awarded in 2008. After submitting my PhD, I was a Lecturer for a year or so, convening the MSc Climate Change at UEA, based in the Climatic Research Unit.

After my PhD, I wanted to develop my knowledge of climate change adaptation. I was also keen to work overseas and explore how climate change was seen in a different national context. I moved to the University of Melbourne in 2009, to work with Jon Barnett and the adaptation group based in the Department of Resource Management and Geography. My postdoc was funded through the Australian National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF). I still collaborate with several of the fantastic colleagues I met during my postdoc, and continue to take an active interest in the cultural politics of climate change in the Australian context.

I moved back to the UK in 2012 to work in the Geography department at the University of Exeter, to join a growing community of environmental change researchers (E&S Research Group tab). This community includes colleagues at the UK’s Met Office, also based in Exeter. I was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2014, Associate Professor in 2016 and to Professor in 2023.

I led the Geography department’s Environment and Sustainability Research Group during 2016-2017. From 2012-2017 I held an ESRC Future Research Leader fellowship. I then held a Leverhulme Research Fellowship from 2021-2023. I am Co-Director of the ESRC funded ACCESS Network (2022-2027), where I lead the ACCESS Leadership College. Alongside computational social scientist Prof. Travis Coan, I am Co-Director of the Centre for Climate Communication and Data Science (C3DS). I have brought together much of my research in a book, called ‘The Visual Life of Climate Change‘. It will be published in December 2025 by Bristol University Press.

I have had two year-long periods of maternity leave, in 2015-16 and 2017-18. Like many parents (though especially mothers) I balanced a fulfilling but demanding career, with the demands of caring for young children, by working part-time. I worked a 60% (3 day week) contract for more than 5 years, between 2016-2021. I was back at work from my second maternity leave, with a large teaching load and no active research funding, for just 18 months before the pandemic hit. During the pandemic, I was primary and secondary carer for two disabled family members, which meant we had to shield throughout this time (including a six-month period with no school or childcare). The Leverhulme Fellowship was pivotal in allowing me to re-establish my research. Partly because of these experiences, I strive to model and support a more diverse academic culture. For example, I have been involved in the Athena Swan initiative, I was a University Autism Champion, I have initiated events such as a Writing Retreat for academics particularly impacted by the pandemic, and worked with colleagues to map the decolonisation of the Geography department curriculum. In my own research practice, I have sought to amplify under-represented voices, such as through supporting Global South colleagues in the Climatic Change Special Issue in my role as Guest Editor. My experience is also shaped by being a parent myself, and as a carer for people with visible and invisible disabilities. From 2023 I have been Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) for the Geography department.