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Our academic themes at the Centre for Spatial and Social Justice

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:

• .  A practice-led monograph exploring the poetics of salt in an investigation of migration, trade, empire, slavery, and colonialism. 
• , a series of podcasts by Deanna Dadusc and collaborators Camille Gendrot, Anna Carastathis and Aila Spathopoulou. 
• , an investigatory film by Anne Daguerre and Nick Lazar. 

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: 

• '', an AHRC-funded project led by Lesley Murray and Jess Moriarty that seeks to understand gender violence through mobilities, including exhibitions and a bilingual book 
• Grabher, B (2025) '.' In Consumer Behaviour in Tourism and Hospitality, September 2025. Research 'between Culture and Salt', which explores the event-based regeneration process of Salzkammergut European Capital of Culture.

'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:

•  An ESRC-funded project by Linda Tip and Tessa Ubels with collaborators Linda Morrice, Ilse Derluyn and Elaine Ortiz.
• . A funded research project by Maria Sourbati and Claire Dungey.
•   An AHRC-funded research project by Paul Sermon.

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:

• . Chris Magill. A project addressing what works to address violence against women and girls, included follow-on funding to secure the benefits of police-led, perpetrator-focused initiative focusing on sexual violence in the Night-Time Economy.
• . Nuffield Foundation-funded project by Amy Clarke and Lucy Welsh.
• Jon Robbins (ed), bringing together research on wrongful convictions and miscarriages of justice.

'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

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.