I am a cultural anthropologist conducting teaching and research on how people design, make and mediate the world around them and the consequences of this for social and ecological relations. I am based in the Design & Screen Cultures (D&SC) Teaching and Research group, School of Design and also contribute to the MFA Film Art. My work is namely directed by the philosophical movement of phenomenology and practices of academic writing and image making. I am particularly interested how the world can be perceived and shaped through surfaces and how notions of form—e.g. object, texture, weave—intersect with matters of politics, race and ecology.

I led the Design Anthropology theme within the European Research Council (ERC) FP7 grant Knowing From the Inside (KFI): Anthropology, Art, Architecture and Design. I am published within Designing Anthropological Futures (edited volume, Bloomsbury) Cultural Anthropology (journal, American Anthropological Association) and Design Issues (journal, MIT). My journal article 'Designing Environmental Relations' is translated and published in Chinese in a special edition of Design Issues.

In recent years, I have contributed to the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation Centenary Programme and co-edited Surfaces: Transformations of Body, Materials and Earth (edited volume, Routledge) featuring writings from an international collective of anthropologists working with practices of art, architecture, craft and design.

I am a member of the University's Institute for the Study of Science, Technology and Innovation (ISSTI), the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST), the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) and the Central and East European Society of Phenomenology (CEESP).