Dr Hannah Sender

Summary

My research focuses on urban change, health and inequalities in Lebanon and the UK. I am interested in how rapid urban change – particularly of small towns – affects people’s everyday lives, and how urban planning processes can dispossess people of their futures. In my doctoral research, I worked with young residents of small towns in the Beqaa Valley, to explore rapid urban change as a result of forced migration from Syria. In my subsequent thesis and published work, I have explored dispossession through the lens of displacement and proposed new ways of thinking about displacement as a future-affecting process. 

As a Research Fellow, I have developed creative and collaborative methodologies which support people to be researchers of their own lives and environments. I teach qualitative methodologies to young and adult Citizen Social Scientists, and at post-graduate level. I am passionate about developing ethical research processes, which enable people to challenge inequalities in quality of life, and in academic research.

My research practice is grounded in the discipline of urban planning, and is informed by my extensive experience of working in multi-disciplinary teams in Lebanon, Kenya and the UK. I regularly draw on my academic and professional background in the Humanities and the Arts, to push the boundaries of traditional research methodologies.