I am an award-winning political geographer, researcher and facilitator exploring how people navigate uncertainty, collaborate across difference and shape political and technological futures. I use storytelling, worldbuilding and collaborative methods to make complex questions tangible and open them to discussion.
My academic research focuses on outer-space politics and diplomacy, infrastructure, sociotechnical imaginaries, and the relationships between technology, governance and geopolitical change. I hold a PhD in Human Geography from University College London, where I am currently a Visiting Postdoctoral Research Fellow. My award-winning research on more-than-human space diplomacy examines how the United States and Russia sustained cooperation on the International Space Station through stories, technologies, institutions, environments and everyday practices.
My current research develops this work in two directions. The first examines the US “space station gap” and the role of orbital imaginaries in shaping national policy, commercial-space ambitions and expectations around future space stations. The second develops worldbuilding as a method for collaborative and interdisciplinary research, particularly where participants are working with uncertainty, technological change and different forms of expertise.
I am also the co-founder and director of Speculative Worlds, an interdisciplinary research collective bringing together researchers, artists, educators and community partners to explore environmental, political and off-Earth futures. Since 2022, the collective has grown into a 30-person network across six universities. I have led funded programmes of workshops, exhibitions, symposiums and collaborative projects that have produced future narratives, films, artefacts, publications, public exhibitions and new interdisciplinary partnerships.
My facilitation practice uses scenarios, speculative materials, collaborative making and intellectually rich discussion to help groups examine assumptions, explore possible futures and work constructively across different priorities. I am particularly interested in cooperation without consensus: how people and institutions can build durable relationships and pursue shared work without erasing substantive political, professional or cultural differences.
Before entering academia, I served as a US Air Force intelligence analyst and Non-Commissioned Officer and worked at the US Mission to the United Nations. These experiences continue to inform my approach to analysis, diplomacy, leadership and decision-making in complex and uncertain environments.
I work across research, education, public engagement and collaborative worldbuilding. I welcome invitations to speak, write, facilitate workshops and collaborate on research and public-engagement projects concerning outer-space politics, technological change, collaboration and possible futures. My work ranges from peer-reviewed research and policy analysis to worldbuilding workshops, exhibitions and public-facing collaborations.