About

I am a human geographer whose research interests fit broadly at the intersection of cultural and political geography regarding how the contemporary penal system is integrated into British society. Since October 2020, I am based in the Institute for Social Sciences, University of Oldenburg.

My monograph, The Prison Boundary: Between Society and Carceral Space interrogates the notion of a hard and fast separation between the inside and outside of prison by presenting a variety of case studies that demonstrate a complex and changeable boundary relationship. Continuing to focus on the everyday, performed, and practised experiences of carceral space, other research interests include the prison-military-complex, and conceptualising carceral space and carceral (im)mobilities. The latter is of particular imporatance to my work on carceral seas with colleagues in the Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity. I am also co-editor of Carceral Mobilities: Interrogating Movement in Incarceration and The Prison Cell: Embodied and Everyday Spaces of Incarceration.

I am also proud to be the Chair of the Carceral Geography Working Group of the RGS-IBG. Prior to joining Oldenburg, Jennifer was a Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Liverpool, UK where she retains an honorary affiliation. Previously, I was a Post Doctoral Research Associate on the ESRC-funded project entitled ‘Fear-suffused environments’ or potential to rehabilitate?  Prison architecture, design and technology and the lived experience of carceral spaces” with Prof. Yvonne Jewkes (Brighton) and Dr. Dominique Moran (Birmingham). Prior to this I was a Lecturer in Human Geography in the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University and a Research Assistant working in collaboration with staff at the School of Management and Business at Aberystwyth University. This research, which was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) under their Cultural Values Programme, interrogated the value of the Eisteddfod: not just as a powerhouse of local economic development and a bastion of the Welsh language but also as a source of cultural values, traditions, community development and cohesion, national pride and the international promotion of Wales.

My PhD (2013, funded by the Aberystwyth Postgraduate Research Studentship), examines the transactions between the ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ of the prison environment. I completed my undergraduate degree in Geography at Aberystwyth in 2008 graduating with first-class honours.  I then started a masters in political geography and passed with distinction in the summer of 2010 before starting my PhD research.

Thank you for visiting my website and feel free to contact me about any areas of my research or interests.