Professor Katherine Gough

MA (Cantab), PhD (University College London)

  • Professor of Human Geography

Academic Career

  • Professor of Human Geography, Loughborough University, 2012 onwards
  • Reader in Urban Geography, Loughborough University, 2010-2012
  • Assistant Professor and Associate Professor, Department of Geography, University of Copenhagen, 1997-2010
  • Visiting Research Fellow, LLILAS, University of Texas at Austin, 2020
  • Visiting Scholar, CLAS, University of Cambridge and bye-fellow Newnham College, 2019
  • Visiting Professor, Department of Geography, Umeå University, Sweden, 2018
  • Visiting Professor, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark, 2015
  • Visiting Research Fellow, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge and Sidney Sussex College, 2007-2008

Editorial Responsibilities

  • Editor of International Development Planning Review, 2011-2018 (Editorial Board Member 2008-2011)
  • Associate Editor of Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 2010-2013 (Editorial Board Member 2008-2010)
  • Member of Editorial Board of EchoGeo, 2021 onwards
  • Editorial Board Member of Geoforum, 2019 onwards
  • Editorial Board Member of Ghana Journal of Geography, 2014 onwards
  • International Advisory Board Member of Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 2011-2020

Katherine's research focuses on geographies of everyday life in the global South. Broadly located within critical development studies, her research cuts across the fields of social, economic, political and urban geography. Her primary research areas are: housing and home; entrepreneurship and livelihoods; mobility and rural-urban dynamics; urbanisation and climate change; and urban governance and planning. Katherine has conducted research in numerous countries across Africa, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region, with a particular focus on Ghana and Colombia. She is committed to collaborating with global South scholars and working closely with local communities to co-develop her research.

Katherine has five ongoing research projects:

  • Building on ‘Vulnerability to Extreme Weather Events in Cities’ (VEWEC), Katherine is leading another British Academy project ‘Reducing the Impact of Extreme Heat to Improve Well-being in Cities’ (REFIT), which is co-developing affordable options for remodelling homes and workplaces to reduce heat stress and improve the well-being of urban residents in Ghana. A collaborative project with the University of Ghana, University for Development Studies (Tamale), and BRI/CSIR (Kumasi).
  • Hotspot of Multiple Stressors: Research-based Management in the Gulf of Guinea (HOTSPOT2) Combining expertise in marine environment and anthropogenic stressors, coastal degradation and fisheries management, and livelihoods and mobility, this project is investigating the causes and consequences of degradation on Ghana’s coastal environment. Funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, Katherine is Co-I on this collaborative project with DTU (Technical University of Denmark) and the University of Cape Coast, Ghana.
  • Advancing Creative Industries for Development in Ghana (ACIG) This project is exploring how creative industries can contribute to sustainable economic growth and development in an African context. Funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, Katherine is Co-I on this collaborative project with Copenhagen Business School, Denmark and the University of Ghana.
  • ESRC/Colciencias funded project ‘Paz Alto Cauca’ aims to strengthen the capacity of local communities in three ‘post-conflict’ zones in northern Cauca, Colombia to successfully plan and develop their land and livelihoods in accordance with the Peace Agreement. Katherine is PI on this collaborative project working with the Universidad del Valle, Colombia.
  • Building on longitudinal data collected over a 30-year period in diverse low-income settlements in the city of Pereira, Colombia, Katherine is analysing how the ‘self-help’ houses and families living in them have changed over time.

 

 

Katherine teaches social, economic and urban geography at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. She draws widely on her research in the global South in her teaching, including running a fieldwork course to Ghana.

Current PhD Students

  • Hannah Brown, Productive uses of water in low-income urban areas of Santo Domingo, (Loughborough University)
  • David Galibourg, Faecal contamination of informal vegetable value chains in low- and middle-incomes countries, (Loughborough University)
  • Kobina Ankomah-Graham, ‘For my brothers’: Unpopular culture and shifting masculinities in Ghana’s creative cities (University of Ghana)
  • Wilhemina Tetteh, Gender dynamics of film production in the Ghanaian film industry (University of Ghana)

Recently Completed PhD Students  

  • Anthony Perrett (2022) Energy access and urban livelihoods: the impact of clean energy on low-income urban enterprises in Accra, Ghana (Loughborough University)
  • Jedidah Tetteh (2021) The relationship between income-generating activities of women, dietary behaviours and feeding practices of infants and young children in urban Ghana (Loughborough University)
  • Ebenezer Amankwaa (2017) Water and electricity access for residential livelihood activities and poverty reduction in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (University of Ghana)
  • Edith Basalirwa Mwebaza (2016) Perceived value of entrepreneurship education among University Graduates in Uganda (Makerere University Business School)
  • Marshall Kala (2015) Entrepreneurship and poverty: the case of the youth in small-scale mining in Ghana (University of Ghana)
  • Moonga H. Mumba (2014) Informal networks and youth self-employment in Zambia (University of Zambia)
  • Agnes N. Nassuna (2014) The intrapreneurial environment and performance of microfinance institutions in Uganda (Makerere University Business School)
  • Stefanie Gregorius (2014) Transitions to adulthood: the experiences of youth with disabilities in Accra, Ghana (Loughborough University)
  • Irene Velez Torres (2014) Political geographies of displacement by dispossession in Colombia: The case of afrodescendant communities in the Alto Cauca (University of Copenhagen)