What we do

Research in the Centre for Spatial and Social Justice (CSSJ)

Our researchers work with communities at local, regional, national and international levels to develop and illuminate modes of resistance to oppression, marginalisation, inequality, exclusion and inaccessibility.

We adopt co-designed and creative methodologies and methods in seeking to understand and challenge injustice. Our focus is around four key themes of: migration and borders; place, mobilities and belonging; digital inequalities and inclusion; and violence and injustice. Across these themes, we are interested in the intersections of disability, gender, race, ethnicity, class, religion or belief, generation and sexuality.

Join us in our research

Our academic themes at the Centre for Spatial and Social Justice

Our focus is around four key themes:

Research into migration and borders 

Our research on migration and borders critically examines diverse forms of mobility, their restriction, and the global and local inequalities that organise them. It engages with people affected by border violence, displacement, and forced immobility across North–South divides, with particular attention to the conditions they encounter in sites of arrival, including the United Kingdom and the European Union.

We conduct research with partners, for example, in France, Germany, Italy, Greece and the UK. 

Achievements in this area include:

Saltworks shows floating debris in water

Katy Beinart's 2026 book Salted Earth explores the poetics of salt in an investigation of migration, trade, empire, slavery, and colonialism. 

Research on place, mobilities and belonging 

Our work on place, mobilities and belonging spans research that attends to the meanings attached to movement and settlement across multiple scales in urban and rural locales. It critically engages with topics such as place-making, urban regeneration and gentrification, housing inequalities, im/mobilities and accessibility. Our research cuts across other themes in the centre, such as violence in crime, with, for example, a recent study on the immobilities of gender violence.

We conduct research with partners, for example, in Indonesia, Malaysia, Chile, Mexico, Finland, Bulgaria, Romania, Denmark and the UK.

Achievements in this area include: 

 

Two people leaping into open water research and photograph by Sadie Rockliffe

'Held in the Leap' (detail) by Sadie Rockliffe, whose research explores the lived experiences of visually impaired (VI) individuals in blue spaces, with a focus on wellbeing, interdependence, and accessibility.

Research on digital inequalities and inclusion 

Research within this theme focuses on digital media technologies in contexts of society and health; how we, as a society, co-create and interact with our digital worlds, and how this impacts our lives and creates inequalities. Research in this area actively mobilises creativity and innovation to build an inclusive digital society, drawing on a diverse range of methodologies and collaboration with communities, user groups in human-centred design processes and other stakeholders. 

We conduct research with partners in, for example, Singapore, the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium and the UK.

Achievements in this area include:

Photograph of moving legs passing a station bench

Research into violence and injustice

Our research on violence and injustice addresses harm in all its forms, including state violence. It places particular emphasis on gender-based violence, especially violence against women and girls. It also focuses on social injustices that arise through interactions with criminal justice institutions. 

We conduct research with partners in, for example, Mexico, Ireland and the UK.

Achievements in this area include:

Graphic novel poster design The Walk Home by Ash Sarkar and Sabba Khan

'The walk home' by Ash Sarkar and Sabba Khan, was a submission to the research project 'Trans-sensory stories of gender-based violence' which included exhibitions in Brighton and Mexico.

 

Our research and knowledge exchange impact

The Centre for Spatial and Social Justice seeks to transform people’s lives and spaces through challenging spatial and social inequities.

We work with a wide range of partners including government and local authorities and services, local and international businesses and industries, communities, NGOs and arts organisations.

As our researchers work within and across a range of disciplines from sociology, criminology, architecture, arts and humanities, our research partners reflect this diversity and multi-disciplinary impact. Some of our local and national external research partners include Brighton and Hove City Council (UK), Brighton and Hove Buses, Grace Eyre, Kinship Kitchen and Transport for London. Our international external research partners include Asociatia Politeia (Romania) the Copenhagen Municipal Authority and Bucharest Municipality.

Our members have initiated and taken lead roles in wide-reaching, impactful projects including:

  • Sadie Rockliffe’s research on inclusive open water swimming sessions in Brighton 
  • Amy Clarke project 'Brighton Bound', with collaborators Cath Senker and Ben Rogaly, which reveals the role of stories of migration and movement in the making of Brighton and Hove.

 

Our research and enterprise output

Research undertaken by the centre members is innovative, multi-disciplinary, and often collaborative, with clear social and economic impact.

Details of research publications and other outputs fostered by the centre and achieved by its members, along with funded projects delivered by the centre, can be accessed on the Centre for Spatial and Social Justice's database of research.

Visit our database of research

Our recently funded projects 

Our recent publications and other research outputs