Hope Steadman

steadman h

Geography (2022 cohort)

I'm interested in how and why digital technologies are used to mediate our relationship with the environment, and the extent to which these technologies produce or prevent environmental justice issues. My DPhil, which I’ll begin in the autumn of 2023, will study two UK ’smart’ cities and how technologies such as traffic management or smart homes have been implemented, and who has been involved in smart decision-making. I’ll look to understand who is or isn’t recognised in local smart city policymaking, why this might be, and who is impacted by environmental ’goods’ or ’bads’ as a result. These issues will be contextualised in the historical and political roots of each city.

I gained a BSc in Geography from the University of Birmingham, specialising in environmental geography, and winning prizes every year for receiving the top mark the school. My undergraduate dissertation on the neoliberalisation of flood risk management won the HPGRG dissertation prize in 2017. Since University, I have worked in the water industry, consulting and most recently in the technology industry. I have worked for over 3 years in start-ups as a Lead Product Manager, working on B2C mobile apps in both the e-commerce and insurtech industries with teams of software engineers, designers and data scientists.