Dr Sarah Bradshaw

Biography

Dr Bradshaw joined the University in 1994 and over the years has been Programme Leader for various Development Studies and International Politics programmes, both at the undergraduate and postgraduate level. She has held the positions of Head of Department, Head of School, and was interim Academic Dean of the newly formed  Faculty of Business and Law. She is currently Head of the Centre for Policing and Strategic Lead for Policing Education for the University within the Police Education Consortium.  

She has been involved with Equal Opportunities and Ethics throughout her time at the University and has been Chair of School level Ethics Committees and a member of the University Ethics Committee. She was joint-chair and founder of the University’s Gender Forum. 

She was lead writer for the successful University level Athena Swan award (2021) and more recently the Race Equality Award (2023). 

Her research focuses on the general field of gender and development, with a specific focus on Latin America. All the research she undertakes seeks to have a practical as well as academic application, through informing teaching, as the basis of advocacy initiatives seeking to influence policy makers, or being used to promote discussion and action among actors of organised civil society.

From the late 1990s she has worked with Nicaraguan Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) and social and women's movements to promote women's rights. In particular working with the Nicaraguan feminist NGO, Puntos de Encuentro and this work took her into new and emerging fields such as social communication initiatives for social change, including working on their popular TV 'social soaps' Sexto Sentido and Contracorriente.

Living in Nicaragua when Hurricane Mitch struck in 1998, during the relief and reconstruction phase she worked with the Civil Coordinator for Emergency and Reconstruction (CCER), a consortium of NGOs, groups and movements formed in response to the hurricane, and was involved in a number of studies looking at post-disaster reconstruction. This interest in 'disasters' has continued, and informs her research, teaching and PhD supervision today. In 2013 she published the first book on the topic of 'Gender, Development and Disasters' (Edward Elgar). Her expertise in this field has led to work with various UN initiatives, including lobbying during the intergovernmental negotiations over the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction in 2015 as well as a number of media appearances.

In 2015 she worked with the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), a global initiative of the United Nations that worked closely with other United Nations agencies, multilateral financing institutions, as well as other international organizations in shaping the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. She was commissioned to write the report on Women and Economic Development for the High Level Panel of Eminent Persons charged with developing the first, draft set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  

Her recent funded research projects have have included exploring ecosystem services and urban transformations in Brazil (RCUK-CONFAP) and undertaking a Gender Evidence Synthesis on poverty alleviation (ESRC/DFID). She has worked with various international organisations and agencies including the United Nations, most recently working with the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development to define and re-launch their Gender and Development programme. 

As Thematic Lead for Gender and Intersectionality she led on developing an innovative approach for drawing lessons learned from the de-colonial and feminist approach adopted on the Gender Responsive Resilience & Intersectionality in Policy and Practice (GRRIPP) project as well as providing a deep, qualitative understanding of the impact of this £4.8 million GCRF Networking plus Partnering for Resilience grant.  

Teaching

Pedagogic interests

Ensuring quality of content through research led teaching;                                  Supporting student learning through creative assessment;                                      Providing practical skills for enhanced employability;                                          Promoting diversity and equal opportunities within the curriculum

Teaching areas

Policy and policy evaluation;                                                                                  Research Methods;                                                                                                Gender, Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity;                                                       Humanitarianism and post-disaster response.

 Innovation

Invited speaker at the IXX edition of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Summer School on the Latin American Economies on ‘The contribution of Feminist Economics to Development. ECLAC Headquarters Santiago de Chile, 27 -  28th August 2018.

Joint development (with Professor Joshua Castellino) and delivery of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) Human Rights, Human Wrongs financed via the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network on Equality and Rights in the post-2015 era. First aired September 2016 with 1000+ students enrolled. Aired annually. A taught module also delivered in Middlesex utilising the MOOC resources

 Provision of lectures on Feminist and theory and Post Structuralism for Kulturstudier In cooperation with the faculty of International Studies at Oslo and Akershus University College, Leon, Nicaragua March 2015; 2016; 2017

Invited to join the European Association of Development Institutes (EADI) mentoring scheme for early career academics from the Global South (June 2017)

Provision of lectures and PhD and Early Career Academics workshops at Centro de Desarrollo Urbano Sustentable, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, as part of ERASMUS+, 5 – 9th September 2016

Invited speaker at the Geographical Association’s Annual Teaching Conference – Crossing Boundaries - University of Surrey 14 – 16^th April, 2014.