I am a professor of environmental geography, and research innovative grassroots responses to environmental problems, particularly climate change.

My Fellowship was about how we can build more affordable eco-homes – good-quality, low-cost, comfortable and easy-to-maintain housing for all. I have built an eco-home myself, and have spent years working with others, particularly eco-communities, seeking to build a better, more liveable and ecological life. I wrote a book from my Fellowship – Eco-Homes: People, Place and Politics (Zed Books, 2016). My Fellowship led me to further explore how environmental alternatives can be more inclusive, have a greater focus on social justice, and therefore be of greater use and relevance to more people. I am now working with several eco-communities worldwide exploring issues of affordability, racism and justice.

I hope this Fellowship helps me share good practice between eco-builders, inspires others to think differently about eco-homes and share the amazing variety of examples I had the honour of visiting. The Fellowship enabled me to take a risk, visit new places and ask new questions, and started a decade-long journey of understanding that I am still on.