Research Team

Pia Christensen, Principal Investigator
John Horton, Co-investigator
Peter Kraftl, Co-investigator
Sophie Hadfield-Hill, Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Jane Ellis, Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Principal Investigator: Prof. Pia Christensen

Pia is a Professor of Anthropology and Childhood Studies in the Institute of Education, University of Warwick. She has conducted extensive ethnographic research with children and young people in families, schools and local communities in Denmark and England. Her research includes innovative mixed-methods research into children's mobility in the city. Her theoretical interests focus on how children's agency is constituted in their everyday lives, and how concepts of life course can be applied to the study of children. She has written about methodological and ethical questions in research with children. She has published widely on children's understanding and agency in health, learning, engagement with risk, food, time and space.

Responsibilities on project: leadership, coordination and management of project; ensure systematic ethnographic data and comparative analysis.

Co-investigator: Dr. John Horton

John is a Senior Lecturer in Social Science at the Centre for Children and Youth, The University of Northampton. He has worked on more than twenty externally-funded research projects about children and young people's everyday issues and experiences in diverse institutional and policy contexts. This includes a recently completed two year AHRC/EPSRC-funded project, in collaboration with Peter Kraftl, exploring pupil participation in school design and refurbishment in the UK. He has published over 20 articles on childrens geographies, childhood policies and services, embodiment and everyday practice, many in collaboration with Peter Kraftl.

Responsibilities on project: oversee fieldwork in case studies areas; data analysis; dialogue with policy makers and urban planners; develop role of children in planning and designing new urban growth areas.

Co-investigator: Dr Peter Kraftl

Peter is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography, The University of Leicester. He has been involved with over 15 policy and consultancy projects which have explored young people’s opinions of, and participation in, outdoor play, health service provision, anti-social behaviour programmes and employment/education services. This includes a recently completed two year AHRC/EPSRC-funded project, in collaboration with John Horton, exploring pupil participation in school design and refurbishment in the UK. He has published over 20 articles on childhood, education, architecture and utopia; many explore relationships between these four areas. A number of these have been theoretical papers written in collaboration with John Horton.

Responsibilities on project: oversee sampling in case study areas; practical development of research methods; develop ethical best practice guidelines; data production; implement communications strategy.

Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr Sophie Hadfield-Hill

Sophie is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Children and Youth, The University of Northampton. She completed her PhD at the Department of Geography, University of Leicester. Her PhD thesis focused on the ‘greening’ of leading companies and financial institutions in India. Her broad research interests include environmental and social justice, corporate social responsibility and sustainable living.

Responsibilities on project: conduct field research in case studies communities; data analysis; dissemination.

Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr Jane Ellis

Dr Jane Ellis is a Research Fellow in the Institute of Education at University of Warwick working on the ‘New Urbanisms, New Citizens’ project. She has undertaken several multi-method research projects focussed on gender-based violence and its prevention. She has worked for central and local government, voluntary and community sector organisations including the NSPCC. Her research interests include Children’s Rights in practice, school-based violence prevention, children and social policy and participation.

Responsibilities on Project: conduct field research in case study communities; data analysis; dissemination.

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GIS/GPS Specialist: Dr Claire Jarvis, University of Leicester

Claire Jarvis is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography, The University of Leicester. She has been involved as an investigator with a range of ESRC, NERC and HEFCE funded projects concerning geographical information science and spatial literacy. Most recently, her research interests include mobile geographical information technologies and 3D virtual/augmented environments.

Responsibilities on the New Urbanisms, New Citizens project: oversee GPS/digital field research in case study areas; practical development of digital research methods; digital data analysis and visualisation.

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Postdoctoral Research Fellow: Dr Jen Dickie, University of Leicester

Jen Dickie is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Geography, The University of Leicester. She completed her PhD at the Department of Geography, University of Leicester. Her PhD thesis focused on the impact of vegetation change on soil erosion in dryland environments. More recently, she has worked as a research associate and teaching developer for SPLINT (Spatial literacy) CETL, with a focus on the role of mobile technologies for developing integrated field learning.

Responsibilities on the New Urbanisms, New Citizens project: conduct GPS/digital field research in case studies communities; practical development of digital research methods; data visualisation.

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