Professor of
Population Geography

I am a quantitative population geographer. I use spatial data, small-area models, large administrative, survey and 'smart' datasets to study how populations change and how opportunities and outcomes differ from place to place.

Migration and residential mobility are a key focus of my work: who moves where, and how those flows reshape the demographic makeup of local areas over time. This sits alongside a wider interest in spatial inequality, particularly in health. Recent work has classified places by the inclusiveness of their local economies and tested how that relates to life expectancy and lifespan inequality, and has compared how these inequalities have widened across countries with different welfare systems.

A second strand is simulation. I build synthetic populations that represent real individuals and households at fine spatial scale, and use dynamic microsimulation and agent-based models to estimate how different policy assumptions play out for particular groups and geographies. Related work measures access to everyday services such as schools, transport and food outlets, and examines diet, physical activity and obesity across different environments.

Underpinning this research is a commitment to shared data products and open, reproducible methods. I create datasets and research infrastructure so that other researchers can use and extend them for a wide range of purposes. I also work with 'novel' data sources, often termed 'smart data', including consumer data, wearable sensors and mobile phone and app derived data, to understand behaviours in ways traditional sources cannot.