The Space Between Things...

For a long time, I wasn’t sure I wanted a personal website.

Partly because the internet already feels crowded with polished biographies, carefully curated achievements, and the pressure to constantly present yourself as a “brand”. Academia can sometimes intensify that feeling. You are encouraged to publish, present, network, promote, and remain visible, often all at once. But I’ve increasingly found myself wanting a quieter space. Somewhere less formal than institutional “PURE” profiles and less performative than social media. A space where my ideas can unfold more slowly.

So this website is not only about research, although research will certainly live here. My work sits broadly across sociology, social and public policy, governance, evaluation, human/children’s rights, accountability frameworks and qualitative research. Much of it focuses on the relationship between institutions, people, and the structures that shape everyday life. My academic background is also somewhat interdisciplinary. I began in Public Administration (BSc) before moving into Diplomacy and International Relations (MSSc), and eventually Sociology/Social Policy (PhD).

Looking back, I think that journey explains why I am often drawn not only to global governance, institutions and policy systems, but also to the quieter human experiences that sit underneath them. But this space is also for reflections, policy thoughts, everyday observations, unfinished ideas, and the things I find myself returning to outside formal academic writing. Some posts may also contain unresolved thoughts, overwatered plants, and occasional attempts to make sense of academia before my tea goes cold.

Over the last decade, I have called 3 EU countries...until Brexit, and 6 cities home at different points in my life. Each place has shaped how I think about belonging, movement, identity, culture, language, and public life in ways I am still trying to fully understand. I suspect some of those reflections will find their way here too. There may also be occasional reflections on my Christian faith. Faith remains one of the lenses through which I make sense of the world, people, hope, and the responsibilities we carry towards one another.

I don’t want this website to feel like a digital CV. There are already enough places online where people are flattened into job titles and publication lists. I want this to feel more human than that. So, some posts may be research-focused. Others may simply begin with something small I noticed while watering plants, reading an article, sitting in traffic, watching a docuseries or listening to conversations people rarely realise are sociologically interesting.

Because they usually are...

I also like the idea that not everything written here needs to arrive fully formed. Research often rewards certainty, coherence, and polished conclusions, but some of the most meaningful thinking happens before ideas become tidy. At the very least, this website gives me somewhere to place thoughts that would otherwise remain trapped in notebooks, drafts, and the increasingly alarming number of tabs open on my laptop.

So perhaps this is simply a small corner of the internet for thinking out loud.