Nicola Ansell

Academic qualifications

PhD (Keele University)

Profile

After obtaining a BA in Geography from Cambridge University, I taught secondary school geography for three years and then took a break from teaching and spent 10 months travelling and working in Africa and South America. This experience prompted me to begin a PhD at Keele University, focusing on the ways in which southern African secondary schools (generally fail to) empower rural women. Following completion of the PhD and a temporary lectureship at Keele, I arrived at Brunel in 1999 as a lecturer in human geography. During my time here I have developed a deepening research interest in the impacts of social and cultural change on the lives of young people in southern Africa and in the Global South more broadly. Specific research projects have looked at the impacts of AIDS on young people’s migration; the ways in which education sectors are adjusting to the needs of AIDS-affected young people; and the impacts of AIDS on young people’s current livelihoods and future food security. I have also authored a book on Children, youth and development and launched an MA programme on Children, Youth and International Development.

Committee responsibilities

• School Postgraduate Courses Committee
• School Staff-Student Liaison Committee

Teaching responsibilities

Programme leader:

• MA Children, Youth and International Development

 

Module leader:

• International Development, Children and Youth
• Young Lives in the Global South
• Global Agendas on Young People’s Rights and Participation
• Dissertation

PhD supervision

• Virginie le Masson: Gender and climate change in the Himalayas (2nd supervisor)
• Rakibe Kulcur: Gender and environmental NGOs (2nd supervisor)
• Barbara Van Wijnendaele: Youth participation, empowerment and emotion in San Salvador (1st supervisor, awarded 2011)
• Annaliza Gaber: The production and functioning of young street life in Durban (1st supervisor)
• Elodie Marandet: International AIDS policies in Malawi and the new aid architecture (1st supervisor)
• Leo Zeilig: Student politics in Zimbabwe and Senegal (1st supervisor, graduated 2005)
• Susan Weller: Citizenship education and rural social exclusion (2nd supervisor, graduated 2004)

Research interests

Socio-cultural change in southern Africa; geographies of youth and childhood; geographies of gender; AIDS - impacts and interventions; education and critical pedagogy; overseas gap year projects; scalar politics; participatory research.

Research centres

• Centre for Human Geography (CHG)
• Centre for Child and Youth Research (CCYR)

Research projects and grants

• Averting 'New Variant Famine' in Southern Africa: building food-secure livelihoods with AIDS-affected young people (DFID-ESRC: £201,757, 2007-8) with Elsbeth Robson and Lorraine van Blerk
• Global-local dialogue in responses to the HIV/AIDS crisis in Lesotho's education sector: meeting vulnerable children's needs? (RGS: £2,000, 2003)
• Young AIDS migrants in southern Africa: dissemination (DFID: £6,404, 2002) with Lorraine Young
• Young AIDS migrants in southern Africa (DFID: £48,604, 2000)

Membership and affiliation

• Royal Geographical Society-Institute of British Geographers (committee member, Geographies of Children, Youth and Families Research Group; Geographies of Justice Working Group)
• Development Studies Association
• African Studies Association UK

Professional activities or recognition

• External Examiner: MA Development Studies (Children and Youth Studies), Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, 2008-11
• Editor: Geoforum
• Editorial Boards: Journal of Geography in Higher Education; Children’s Geographies; International Journal of Population Research

Conferences

• van Blerk L, Ansell N, Robson E, Hajdu F Active dissemination: the challenges of securing user engagement through a research project, RGS-IBG Conference, London, 1st-3rd September 2010
• Ansell N, van Blerk L, Robson E, Hajdu F AIDS and food insecurity: cause for concern? RGS-IBG Conference, London, 1st-3rd September 2010
• Ansell N Causes, experiences and consequences of migration and dislocation: exploring interactions with children’s rights, Invited roundtable contribution, Children’s Rights at a Cross-Roads: A Global Conference for The 20th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Addis Ababa, 30th November-2nd December 2009
• Ansell N, van Blerk L, Robson E, Hajdu F Learning from children about their lives: producing individual and collective accounts RGS-IBG Conference, Manchester, 26th-28th August 2009
• Robson E, Ansell N, van Blerk L, Hajdu F Young people’s livelihoods in rural southern Africa: between AIDS and political economy RGS-IBG Conference, Manchester, 26th-28th August 2009
• Ansell N, Robson E, van Blerk L, Hajdu F  Averting ‘New Variant Famine’: AIDS, food security and young people in rural Lesotho and Malawi Food security and AIDS in Lesotho, Institute of Southern African Studies, National University of Lesotho, 11th September 2008
• Ansell N, Tsoeu S, Mohale M Trading out of poverty? The socio-spatial impacts of Lesotho’s garment industry Food security and AIDS in Lesotho, Institute of Southern African Studies, National University of Lesotho, 11th September 2008  
• Ansell N, Robson E, van Blerk L, Hajdu F Averting ‘New Variant Famine’ in Southern Africa: building food-secure rural livelihoods with AIDS-affected young people Dissemination workshop, Maseru, 9th September 2008
• Ansell N, Robson E, van Blerk L, Hajdu F, Chipeta L Averting ‘New Variant Famine’ in Southern Africa: building food-secure rural livelihoods with AIDS-affected young people Dissemination workshop, Lilongwe, 28th August 2008
• Ansell N, Robson E, van Blerk L, Hajdu F, Chipeta L ‘New Variant Famine’ and livelihoods of AIDS-affected young people: early results from a study in rural Malawi and Lesotho Chancellor College, University of Malawi, 26th August 2008
• Ansell N, Robson E, van Blerk L, Hajdu F, Chipeta L Averting ‘New Variant Famine’ in Southern Africa: building food-secure rural livelihoods with AIDS-affected young people Dissemination workshop, Blantyre, 24th August 2008
• Ansell N, Hajdu F, Robson E, van Blerk L, Chipeta L Livelihood options for orphans and vulnerable children: the significance of social networks XVII International AIDS Conference, Mexico City, 4-8th August 2008
• Hajdu F, Ansell N, Robson E, van Blerk L, Chipeta L Food security and AIDS: the pivotal role of youth XVII International AIDS Conference, Mexico City, 4-8th August 2008
• Ansell N, Robson E and Hajdu F 'Averting ‘New Variant Famine’ in Southern Africa: building food-secure rural livelihoods with AIDS-affected young people Brunel University, 28th July 2008
• Ansell N, van Blerk L, Hajdu F, Robson E Mapping young lives in southern Africa: tracing and understanding the complex pathways of AIDS-affected children and youth ESRC Seminar on ‘Exploring time-space data’, Lancaster University, 1st May 2008
• Ansell N, Robson E, van Blerk L, Hajdu F, Chipeta L 'Building food-secure rural livelihoods with AIDS-affected young people: exploring the ‘New Variant Famine’ hypothesis' Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, Chancellor College, University of Malawi, 13th September 2007
• Ansell N 'Producing interventions for AIDS-affected young people in Lesotho’s schools: scalar relations and power differentials' RGS-IBG Conference, London, 29-31 August 2007  
• Ansell N 'Producing interventions for AIDS-affected young people in Lesotho's schools: scalar politics, sectoral blurring and the role of AIDS activists' AAG Annual Meeting, San Francisco, 17-21st April 2007
• Ansell N 'Rescaling children’s geographies: a critique of ‘the local child’' (Keynote lecture) New Directions In Children’s Geographies, Centre for Children and Youth, University of Northampton, 7th and 8th September 2006
• Ansell N 'Substituting for families? Schools and social reproduction in AIDS-affected Lesotho' RGS-IBG Conference, London, 30th August-1st September 2006  
• Ansell N 'Embodied learning: reacting to AIDS in southern African schools' Contested Bodies of Childhood and Youth, University of Durham, 17-18th July 2006
• Zeilig L and Ansell N 'Spatialities of student activism in African universities: cases from Senegal and Zimbabwe' AAG Annual Meeting, Chicago, 7-11th March 2006  

Other external activities

National Secretary, World Development Movement

Publications

Journal Papers

(2012) Ansell, N., van Blerk, L., Robson, E. and Hajdu, F., The spatial construction of young people's livelihoods in rural southern Africa, Geography 97 (3) : 135- 140

(2012) Ansell, N., Robson, E., Hajdu, F. and van Blerk, L., Learning from young people about their lives: Using participatory methods to research the impacts of AIDS in southern Africa, Children's Geographies 10 (2) : 169- 186

(2011) Hajdu, F., Ansell, N., Robson, E., Van Blerk, L. and Chipeta, L., Income-generating activities for young people in southern Africa: Exploring AIDS and other constraints, Geographical Journal 177 (3) : 251- 263

(2011) Ansell, N., van Blerk, L., Hajdu, F. and Robson, E., Spaces, times, and critical moments: A relational time - space analysis of the impacts of AIDS on rural youth in Malawi and Lesotho, Environment and Planning A 43 (3) : 525- 544

(2010) Ansell, N., The discursive construction of childhood and youth in AIDS interventions in Lesotho’s education sector: beyond global-local dichotomies, Environment and Planning D – Society and Space 28 (5) : 791- 810

(2010) Ansell, N. and van Blerk, L., Joining the conspiracy? Negotiating ethics and emotions in researching (around) AIDS in southern Africa, Ethics, Place and Environment: a journal of philosophy and geography 8 (1) : 61- 82

(2009) Ansell, N., Producing interventions for AIDS-affected young people in Lesotho's schools: Scalar relations and power differentials, Geoforum 40 (4) : 675- 685

(2009) Ansell, N., Robson, E., Hajdu, F., van Blerk, L. and Chipeta, L., The new variant famine hypothesis: moving beyond the household in exploring links between AIDS and food insecurity in southern Africa, Progress in Development Studies 9 (3) : 187- 207

(2009) Ansell, N., Childhood and the politics of scale: descaling children's geographies?, Progress in Human Geography 33 (2) : 190- 209

(2009) Ansell, N., Embodied learning: responding to AIDS in Lesotho’s education sector, Children's Geographies 7 (1) : 21- 36

(2009) Hadju, F., Ansell, N., Robson, E., van Blerk, L. and Chipeta, L., Socio-economic causes of food insecurity in Malawi, Society of Malawi Journal 62 (2) : 6- 18

(2008) Ansell, N., Substituting for families? Schools and social reproduction in AIDS-affected Lesotho, Antipode 40 (5) : 802- 824

(2008) van Blerk, L., Ansell, N., Robson, E., Hadju, F. and Chipeta, L., Youth, AIDS and rural livelihoods in southern Africa, Geography Compass 2 (3) : 709- 727

(2008) Ansell, N., Third World gap year projects: youth transitions and the mediation of risk, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 26 (2) : 218- 240

(2008) Zeilig, L. and Ansell, N., Spaces and scales of African student activism: Senegalese and Zimbabwean university students at the intersection of campus, nation and globe, Antipode 40 (1) : 31- 54 Download publication

(2007) Robson, E., Ansell, N., van Blerk, L., Chipeta, L. and Hajdu, F., AIDS and food insecurity: ‘New variant famine’ in Malawi?, Malawi Medical Journal 19 (4) : 136- 137 Download publication

(2007) van Blerk, L. and Ansell, N., Alternative care giving in the context of aids in Southern Africa: Complex strategies for care, Journal of International Development 19 (7) : 865- 884

(2007) Ansell, N. and Smith, F., Guest Editorial: Emerging Issues in Children’s Geographies, Children's Geographies: advancing interdisciplinary understanding of younger people's lives 4 (3) : 255- 257

(2007) van Blerk, L. and Ansell, N., Participatory feedback and dissemination with and for children: reflections from research with young migrants in Southern Africa, Children’s Geographies 5 (3) : 313- 324 Download publication

(2007) Ansell, N., Barker, J. and Smith, F., UNICEF child poverty in perspective report: a view from the UK, Children's Geographies 5 (3) : 325- 330 Download publication

(2006) van Blerk, L. and Ansell, N., Imagining migration: Placing children's understanding of 'moving house' in Malawi and Lesotho, Geoforum 37 (2) : 256- 272 Download publication

(2006) Robson, E., Ansell, N., Huber, US., Gould, WTS. and van Blerk, L., Young caregivers in the context of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa, Population, Space and Place 12 (2) : 93- 111 Download publication

(2006) van Blerk, L. and Ansell, N., Children's experiences of migration: moving in the wake of AIDS in southern Africa, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 24 (3) : 449- 471 Download publication

(2005) Ansell, N. and van Blerk, L., "Where we stayed was very bad...": migrant children's perpectives on life in informal rented accommodation in two southern African cities, Environment and Planning A 37 (3) : 423- 440 Download publication

(2005) Ansell, N. and van Blerk, L., Introduction: Children and youth in developing areas, Children's Geographies 3 (2) : 145- 147

(2005) Ansell, N. and Van Blerk, L., Joining the conspiracy? Negotiating ethics and emotions in researching (around) AIDS in Southern Africa, Ethics, Place and Environment 8 (1) : 61- 82 Download publication

(2004) Ansell, N., Secondary schooling and rural youth transitions in Lesotho and Zimbabwe, Youth and Society 36 (2) : 183- 202 Download publication

(2004) Ansell, N. and van Blerk, L., Children's migration as a household/family strategy: coping with AIDS in Lesotho and Malawi, Journal of Southern African Studies 30 (3) : 673- 690 Download publication

(2004) Ansell, N. and Young, L., Enabling households to support successful migration of AIDS orphans in southern Africa, AIDS Care 16 (1) : 3- 10 Download publication

(2003) Young, L. and Ansell, N., Fluid households, complex families: The impacts of children's migration as a response to HIV/AIDS in southern Africa, The Professional Geographer 55 (4) : 464- 476 Download publication

(2003) Young, L. and Ansell, N., Young AIDS migrants in Southern Africa: policy implications for empowering children., AIDS Care 15 (3) : 337- 345 Download publication

(2002) Ansell, N., Secondary education reform in Lesotho and Zimbabwe and the needs of rural girls: pronouncements, policy and practice, Comparative Education 38 (1) : 91- 112 Download publication

(2002) Ansell, N., 'Of course we must be equal, but …': imagining gendered futures in two rural southern African secondary schools, Geoforum 33 (2) : 179- 194 Download publication

(2002) Ansell, N., Using films in teaching about Africa, Journal of Geography in Higher Education 26 (3) : 355- 368

(2001) Ansell, N., 'Because it's our culture!' (Re)negotiating the meaning of lobola in southern African secondary schools, Journal of Southern African Studies 27 (4) : 697- 716 Download publication

(2001) Ansell, N., Book review on Land reform in Zimbabwe: constraints and prospects by TAS Bowyer-Bower and C Stoneham (Eds), published by Ashgate Publishing, Geography 86 361-

(2001) Ansell, N., Book review on On borders: perspectives on international migration in southern Africa by D McDonald (Ed), published in Cape Town by the Southern African Migration Project/Idasa and in New York by St Martin's Press, African Affairs 100 (400) : 504- 505

(2001) Ansell, N., Producing knowledge about 'third world women': The politics of fieldwork in a Zimbabwean secondary school, Ethics, Place and Environment 4 (2) : 101- 116

Book Chapters

(2009) Ansell, N. and Smith, F., Young people, care and social wellbeing. In: Smith, S., Pain, R., Marston, S. and Jones III, JP. eds. The SAGE Handbook of Social Geographies. Sage Publications Ltd 351- 367

(2009) van Blerk, L. and Ansell, N., Alloparenting in the context of AIDS in southern Africa: complex strategies for care. In: Bentley, G. and Mace, R. eds. Substitute Parents: Biological and Social Perspectives on Alloparenting Across Human Societies. Oxford : Berghahn Books 241- 265

(2009) Smith, F. and Ansell, N., Children/Childhood. In: Kitchen, R. and Thrift, N. eds. International Encyclopaedia of Human Geography. Elsevier 58- 64

(2008) Kesby, M., Ansell, N., van Blerk, L., Barker, J. and Smith, F., Moving forward: contributions to methodological innovation. In: van Blerk, L. and Kesby, M. eds. Doing Children’s Geographies: Methodological Issues in Research with Young People. London : Routledge

(2008) van Blerk, L., Barker, J., Ansell, N., Smith, F. and Kesby, M., Researching children’s geographies. In: van Blerk, L. and Kesby, M. eds. Doing Children’s Geographies: Methodological Issues in Research with Young People. London : Routledge

(2008) Wainwright, E. and Ansell, N., Geographies of sports development: the role of space and place. In: Girginov, V. ed. Management of Sports Development. Elsevier 183- 200 Download publication

(2008) van Blerk, L. and Ansell, N., Participatory feedback and dissemination with and for children: reflections from research with young migrants in southern Africa. In: van Blerk, L. and Kesby, M. eds. Doing children’s geographies. London : Routledge 313- 324 Download publication

(2007) Ansell, N. and van Blerk, L., Doing and belonging: toward a more-than-representational account of young migrant identities in Lesotho and Malawi. In: Panelli, R., Punch, S. and Robson, E. eds. Global Perspectives on Rural Childhood and Youth: young rural lives. London : Routledge 17- 28

(2007) Bushin, N., Ansell, N., Adriansen, H., Lähteenmaa, J. and Panelli, R., Further conceptualising context and identity in young rural lives. In: Panelli, R., Punch, S. and Robson, E. eds. Global Perspectives on Rural Childhood and Youth: young rural lives. London : Routledge 69- 80

(2006) Ansell, N., Education and sustainable development. In: Hill, J., Terry, A. and Woodland, W. eds. Sustainable Development: National Aspirations, Local Implementation. Aldershot : Ashgate 115- 135

(2005) Ansell, N., AIDS and migration. In: Gibney, M. and Hansen, R. eds. Global Migration in the 20th Century: An Encyclopedia. Oxford : ABC-CLIO 9- 12

(2000) Robson, E. and Ansell, N., Young carers in Southern Africa: exploring stories of Zimbabwean secondary school students. In: Holloway, S. and Valentine, G. eds. Children’s Geographies: living, playing, learning and transforming everyday worlds. London : Routledge 174- 193

(1999) Ansell, N., Sustainability: life chances and education in Southern Africa. In: Redclift, M. ed. Sustainability: life chances and livelihoods. London : Routledge 144- 157

Books

(2005) Ansell, N., Children, youth, and development. Routledge