Close
I am a Lecturer in Environment, Politics and Society, interested in the relationships between society, space and geological materials. My work is concerned with tracing out the politics of these connections, set in the context of urban processes and low-carbon transitions.
My research has primarily focused on sand, as a material at the heart of built environments globally, and has more recently extended out to engage with the extractive geographies of platinum, polyhalite and diatomite, informed by insights from Ghana, South Africa, the UK and New Zealand.
I am interested in using creative methodologies as a means of research and dissemination and have collaborated with creative writers, community groups, artists and students to do so.
- More about Dr Dawson
I hold a PhD in Human Geography and Urban Studies from the London School of Economics (LSE) (2015-2020), through which I was able to spend time in Accra, Ghana. My research in Accra centred on the ways in which sand became part of the city, prior to its emergence as built form, thinking about its expansive economies, labours and ecologies. By tracing sand from extraction zones at the edges of the city, through its transportation on trucks, to its multiple points of consumption, I engaged with the politics of what I called the ‘ante-lives’ of urban form.
Following my PhD, I was awarded an ESRC Postdoctoral fellowship at LSE (2020-21), where I continued work on sand. I developed a series of creative outputs, including a documentary and podcast. I extended my thinking about sand through the Anthropocene and engaged with the growing policy space surrounding sand’s global governance, including working with United Nations Environment Programme GRID-Geneva and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
Subsequently, I worked as part of an interdisciplinary team of geographers and geologists on a British Academy-funded project based at the University of Huddersfield (2021-present). This project, ‘Mining for Meaning: the Geoethics of Extractive Industries’ is concerned with contributing to the growing discourse around Geoethics. Focusing on the extractive industries, we are engaging with three mining sites in the UK, South Africa and New Zealand respectively, grappling with what Geoethics might mean in and between these spaces.
- Teaching
I teach on the following modules:
- Environment, Politics and Practice (GEOG0085)
- Urban Political Ecology (GEOG0062)
- Geopolitical Events (GEOG0056)
- Environment and Society (GEOG0022)
- Publications
To view Dr Dawson's publications, please visit UCL Profiles:
- Research Interests
At present, my research engages with geological materiality, extraction processes, cities and post-carbon transitions. This work is underpinned by theoretical engagements with Urban Political Ecology (UPE), Political Geology and critical resource geography, grounded in the extractive and logistical spaces of sand, polyhalite, platinum and diatomite.
- Theoretical frameworks: Urban Political Ecology; Political Geology; Critical Resource Geography; post-carbon transition.
- Materialities/resources: sand; platinum; polyhalite; diatomite.
- Key geographies: Accra, Ghana; London, North York Moors, UK; North West Province; South Africa; Otago, New Zealand.
I’m currently working on the following research projects:
- Mining-for-Meaning: the Geoethics of Extractive Industries. Working with a team of geographers, geologists, students and community groups, I’m looking at the ethics of extraction. Specifically, I’m in interested in analysing the politics of platinum extraction in South Africa, particularly in the context of platinum’s use in catalytic converters and its designated futures in green hydrogen production.
- Swedish Research Links: Research Network Grant. I’m collaborating with scholars working on the politics of sand extraction in East and West Africa to build out a comparative research agenda.
- Making sand move. Through a critical logistics lens, I’m unpacking the politics of sand’s mobilities in London, UK.
- Art of the Anthropocene. We’re researching student experiences of taking part in a creative course in LSE’s Department of Geography and Environment, which I designed and delivered in 2022. This research will be used to develop the course for future practitioners and offer broader insights into the use of creative pedagogy in geographical learning.
- Impact
Within academic debates, my work on sand has contributed to thinking about cities and materiality and considered what a closer theoretical engagement with geological materials can offer to Urban Political Ecology (UPE). I have been involved in sand-centred workshops in Ghent and Berlin and am part of a sand research network across East and West Africa.
Beyond academia, I have worked with community groups, artists, creative writers and students to deliver workshops, exhibitions and courses, including:
- Art of the Anthropocene creative course at LSE: learning sessions, student exhibition, panel and workshop.
- Geopoetics of Foulden Maar, New Zealand: creative writing workshop and online exhibition.
- Marikana Evidence, On the Ground, South Africa: Photography workshop and exhibition.
- Urban Futures 2022, London: Working with LSE students and FAT Studio to deliver community workshops at the intersection of art and urban futures.
- Urban Futures 2020, Accra: working with artists and creatives to deliver an exhibition, panel and school workshops at the intersection of art and urban futures.
In the policy-making space, I have worked with UNEP-GRID Geneva as an author on the 2022 report, ‘Sand and Sustainability: 10 Recommendations to Avert a Crisis.’
I have also worked with Northwestern’s Institute for Sustainability and Energy, and WWF, on a series of webinars, culminating in the ‘The Global Sand Crisis Seminars Call to Action Report.’
- Research Grants, Prizes and Awards
Prizes
- LSE Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa Thesis Prize. Director’s Prize (2022)
- ASAUK Audrey Richards Best Thesis Prize. Runner-up (2022)
Grants
- LSE Eden Centre Catalyst Fund (2021-present)
- ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship (2020-2021)
- ESRC 1+3 PhD (2014-2020)
