Alice Mah
Email: A.A.Mah@warwick.ac.uk
Room: E0.21a
Telephone: +44 (0) 2476 522205
Pronouns: she/her
Orchid ID: 0000-0001-8183-2527Link opens in a new window
Twitter: @toxicexpertiseLink opens in a new window
Profile
Alice Mah is Professor of Sociology at the University of Warwick, with research interests in environmental justice, corporate power, toxic pollution, and the politics of green industrial transformations. She holds a PhD in Sociology from the London School of Economics and was Principal Investigator of the European Research Council-funded Starting Grant “Toxic Expertise: Environmental Justice and the Global Petrochemical IndustryLink opens in a new window” from 2015-2020.
Alice is the author of Plastic Unlimited: How Corporations Are Fuelling the Ecological Crisis and What We Can Do About It Link opens in a new window(2022, Polity Press); Toxic Truths: Environmental Justice and Citizen Science in a Post-Truth AgeLink opens in a new window (with Thom Davies 2020, University of Manchester Press); Port Cities and Global LegaciesLink opens in a new window (2014, Palgrave Macmillan); and Industrial Ruination, Community, and PlaceLink opens in a new window (2012, University of Toronto Press), winner of the 2013 British Sociological Association Philip Abrams Memorial Prize.
Currently Alice is working on a book entitled Petrochemical Planet: Multiscalar Battles of Industrial Transformation (with Duke University Press), based on research from the Toxic ExpertiseLink opens in a new window project and the Philip Leverhulme PrizeLink opens in a new window.
Alice is Director of Research, Impact, and Sustainability in the Department of Sociology and Co-Director of the Warwick Environmental Systems Interdisciplinary CentreLink opens in a new window (WESIC).
Externally Funded Research Projects
- Deindustrialization and the Politics of Our TimeLink opens in a new window- Co-Investigator, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Partnership Grant (PI Steven High), $2.5 million CAD overall (2020-2027)
- Philip Leverhulme PrizeLink opens in a new window- Principal Investigator, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, £100,000 (2018-2023)
- Toxic Expertise: Environmental Justice and the Global Petrochemical IndustryLink opens in a new window - Principal Investigator, European Research Council Starting Grant (ERC), €1.5 million (2015-2020) See Results in brief: CORDISLink opens in a new window, European Commission and the online interactive Global Petrochemical MapLink opens in a new window.
Selected Recent Publications
- Mah, A. (2022) Plastic Unlimited: How Corporations Are Fuelling the Ecological Crisis and What We Can Do About ItLink opens in a new window. Polity Press.
- Feltrin, L., A. Mah, and D. Brown (2022), 'Noxious Deindustrialization: Experiences of Precarity and Pollution in Scotland’s Petrochemical CapitalLink opens in a new window,' Environment and Planning C https://doi/10.1177/23996544211056328.
- Mah, A. (2021) 'Future-Proofing Capitalism: The Paradox of the Circular Economy for PlasticsLink opens in a new window' Global Environmental Politics 21(2) https://doi.org/10.1162/glep_a_00594.
- Mah, A. (2021) 'Ecological Crisis, Decarbonisation, and Degrowth: The Dilemmas of Just Petrochemical TransformationsLink opens in a new window' Stato e Mercato, no. 121, pp. 51-78. https://doi/10.1425/101444. Available green open accessLink opens in a new window.
- Brown, D., A. Mah, and G. Walker (2021), 'The Tenacity of Trust in Petrochemical Communities: Reckoning with Risk on the Fawley Waterside (1997-2019)Link opens in a new window,' Environment and Planning E. https://doi.org/10.1177/25148486211045367.
- Davies, T. and A. Mah. (eds) (2020) Toxic Truths: Environmental Justice and Citizen Science in a Post-Truth AgeLink opens in a new window, University of Manchester Press. Available open accessLink opens in a new window.
- Verbeek, T. and A. Mah (2020). 'Integration and Isolation in the Global Petrochemical Industry: A Multiscalar Corporate Network AnalysisLink opens in a new window' Economic Geography 96(20) https://doi.org/10.1080/00130095.2020.1794809
- Jephcote, C, D. Brown, T. Verbeek, and A. Mah. (2020). 'A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Haematological Malignancies in Residents Living Near Petrochemical Facilities'Link opens in a new window Environmental Health 19(53): https://doi.org/10.1186/s12940-020-00582-1.
- Mah, A. and X. Wang (2019) 'Accumulated Injuries of Environmental Injustice: Living and Working with Petrochemical Pollution in Nanjing, ChinaLink opens in a new window.' Annals of the American Association of Geographers. 109(6): 1961-1977 https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2019.1574551.
Further Publications
- See full list of publications hereLink opens in a new window.
Research Students and Postdoctoral Researchers
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- Supervises PhD students and postdoctoral researchers in environmental, political, and urban sociology (and related interdisciplinary fields)
- See research students and postdoctoral researchers hereLink opens in a new window.
Teaching
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- The Sociology of Green Transformations
- Environmental Sociology
Media and Public Webinars
- "A Continuing Crisis: Corporations owning the Circular Economy NarrativeLink opens in a new window," interview with Chris Seekings in IEMA Transform Magazine about Plastic Unlimited, 26 May 2022.
- Climate and Colonialism: Reflections on COP26Link opens in a new window, BSA Postcolonial and Decolonial Project Transformation Study Group and Connected Sociologies Curriculum Project webinar, 27 January 2022.
- The Climate Footprint of PlasticsLink opens in a new window, China Environment Forum Wilson Center webinar, 1 December 2021.
- The Toxic Costs of Petrochemical and Plastics InvestmentsLink opens in a new window, Planet Tracker webinar, 23 September 2021.
- Governing Petrochemicals Panel, Global Governance of Plastic Pollution Conference, Graduate Institute in Geneva and UNCTAD, Link opens in a new window31 Aug 2021
- Virtual Blue COP Webinar on Plastic Pollution, the Climate Crisis, and Oceanic ChangeLink opens in a new window, 7 Dec 2019
- Spotlight on Scientists at the European Parliament,Link opens in a new window 7 July 2018
- BBC Radio 4 'Thinking Allowed' interview about port cities researchLink opens in a new window, 3 Dec 2014
- BBC Radio 4 'Thinking Allowed' interview about industrial ruinationLink opens in a new window, 27 March 2013
- British Sociological Association Annual Conference 2013 interview,Link opens in a new window April 2013