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Centre for Spatial, Environmental and Cultural Politics
  • What we do
  • Join us for study, work or visit
  • Who we are

Welcome to the Centre for Spatial, Environmental and Cultural Politics

Unique in its approach, the Centre for Spatial, Environmental and Cultural Politics undertakes interdisciplinary research to address global and planetary challenges such as climate change, human migration, social inequalities and resource access or depletion.

We explore the environmental, spatial and cultural dimensions of ecological and social challenges in specific places, to offer new knowledge and practice for the creation of more sustainable and socially just societies.

  • For latest activities, events and opportunities - visit our Centre for Spatial, Environmental and Cultural Politics research blog site.
  • We welcome new members and associates. Please visit our 'Join us for study, work or visit' pages 

 

PhD applicants - Find out more about studying within the centre

Contact the centre regarding membership enquiries, doctoral study, research collaboration or to receive regular updates on our news and events.

CentreSECP@brighton.ac.uk

SECP_Wind_turbine

What we do

Climates

Join us for study, work or visit

SECP_man_on_bike

Who we are

Discover our latest research activity
Visit our blog site for work-in-progress, events and opportunities.

Discover our research in detail 
Explore our centre on the university's database of research and knowledge exchange. 

Head and shoulders portrait of Professor Julie Doyle Co-Director and co-founder of the Centre for Spatial, Environmental and Cultural Politics

Professor Julie Doyle (above) and Dr Nichola Khan, Co-Directors of the Centre for Spatial, Environmental and Cultural Politics.

Head and shoulders portrait of Dr Nichola Khan

An introduction to the Centre for Spatial, Environmental and Cultural Politics from the Co-Directors, Professor Julie Doyle and Dr Nichola Khan.

Global challenges – climate change, human migration, resource access or depletion, and the many social inequalities – require interdisciplinary research and productive, efficient knowledge exchange. In this way, we can work together to interrogate and address the complex interconnections between their spatial, environmental and cultural dimensions. The Centre for Spatial, Environmental and Cultural Politics (SECP) was created to give  researchers from across the disciplines opportunities to combine their expertise and to develop relationships with global partners in order to face these challenges. 

The research work we undertake addresses urgent ecological and social challenges through a unique focus upon their interconnected dimensions. Collaborative research combines theories and methods from geography, the social sciences, the physical sciences, the arts, media and communication studies, and humanities, to offer interdisciplinary perspectives on large and small-scale global challenges. With this commitment to collaborative research, we co-create research projects with a range of non-academic partners from policy, communities, arts, education, and the public and private sectors, seeking to transform people’s lives at the local, national and global level.

Our researchers at the Centre for Spatial, Environmental and Cultural Politics (SECP) explore ways the spaces, environments and cultures are governed, represented and experienced within local, national, international and everyday contexts. We span the politics of environment, race, nationality, gender, culture, ethnicity, North-South and East-West divides – including how they are spatially shaped and imagined, ideologically inspired or limited, and diversely lived and experienced.

The research centre’s themes respond to the changing world around us and the best opportunities our research has for impact, making a difference and motivating real-world change. Details of these can be seen on our What we do pages. To give some examples here, we have long-standing depth across: research into Environmental politics and climate change including extractivism, climate justice, climate activism and engagement, minority land rights, conservation, feminist political ecology, histories and genealogies of conceptual debates and dominant framings; research into Migration and mobilities including undocumented migrants, asylum seekers and legal provision, borders and bordering, housing, diasporic identities and communities; and research into Decolonial practices and anti-racist politics including legacies of empire, neo-imperialisms and activisms, settler colonialisms, indigenous communities, colonial and intergenerational trauma, post-Brexit literature, race in sport and popular culture.

With the goal of contributing to the creation of more sustainable, inclusive and socially just societies, the centre places collaborative and participatory research as central to the production of transformative knowledge and practice in achieving more ethical and sustainable communities. We seek to challenge and subvert power relations through insights into their spatial, cultural and political dynamics, and provide alternative modes of living and being. As such, we take an ethical commitment to tackling issues of governance, science and technology, and politics. Through innovative outputs like podcasts, ‘zines and multi-modal research articles, many of our members have worked collaboratively with each other for the first time as a direct result of the Centre for Spatial, Environmental and Cultural Politics. These include funded doctoral studentships, research outputs, funding applications and external events.

We look forward to meeting partners, associates, collaborators and students who can join with or benefit from our research work.

Professor Julie Doyle and Dr Nichola Khan

 

News from the Centre for Spatial, Environmental and Cultural Politics

SECP on the University of Brighton news pages

Brighton to host public talk over contested historical statue of Cecil Rhodes

Brighton to host public talk over contested historical statue of Cecil Rhodes

The University of Brighton will host an online public talk on 12 November exploring turbulent debates over the statue of Cecil Rhodes at Oxford University.

3 November 2021

Brighton academic in BBC discussion of Afghan migrant experience

Brighton academic in BBC discussion of Afghan migrant experience

University of Brighton's Dr Nichola Khan will feature on Radio 4's Thinking Allowed on 6 October, discussing the experience of Afghan migrants in England.

4 October 2021

Pioneering Football 4 Peace International project hits 20th anniversary

Pioneering Football 4 Peace International project hits 20th anniversary

A global football-based project established in Brighton is marking the 20th anniversary of its mission to promote peaceful co-existence amid conflict.

15 June 2021

Climate champion architect in summit on design in the age of emergencies

Climate champion architect in summit on design in the age of emergencies

Sustainable architecture activist Duncan Baker-Brown will talk in a major summit on 25 March on how to tackle sustainability issues in architecture.

23 March 2021

Displaying 1 to 4 of 5 Next Previous |

Our researchers write for

Logo for news service The Conversation

  • Individual action won’t achieve 1.5℃ warming – social change is needed, as history shows: Matthew Adams
  • Football must stop blaming British South Asian communities for under-representation: Dan Burdsey
  • Now’s the time to rethink your relationship with nature: Matthew Adams
  • How the media can help young people create zero carbon societies
  • From billboards to Twitter, why the aesthetics of protest matters more today: Olu Jenzen 

News and events from our blog site

Research News | Matt Adams on his upcoming AHRC Fellowship – Pavlov and the kingdom of dogs: Storying experimental animal histories through arts-based research

Research News | Matt Adams on his upcoming AHRC Fellowship – Pavlov and the kingdom of dogs: Storying experimental animal histories through arts-based research

Image: Five dogs undergoing experiments on gastric secretion in the Physiology Department, Imperial Institute of Experimental Medicine, St Petersburg.

Research | Frozen Future: making connections with anti-extractivist researchers and activists

Research | Frozen Future: making connections with anti-extractivist researchers and activists

Image: ‘Observing Extraction’.

Workshop reflections | What does water mean to you? Lilith Film Club and SECP’s Brighton Fringe Event

Workshop reflections | What does water mean to you? Lilith Film Club and SECP’s Brighton Fringe Event

Water has many practical and symbolic meanings, across cultures, geographies and identities.

Workshop | Toxic Fragments – Clay Workshops, 7 & 10 July

Workshop | Toxic Fragments – Clay Workshops, 7 & 10 July

“Harvesting empathy and coping with ecological grief through touching” Thursday 7th July – 2:00pm-7:00pm – Open to all, drop in anytime during these times Sunday 10th July – 2:00pm-7:00pm – Open to all, drop in anytime during these times At Fishing.

 

Visit our news and events posts on our SECP blog site.

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