Professor Sarah Marie Hall

Biography

My research sits in the broad field of geographical feminist political economy: understanding how socio-economic processes are shaped by gender relations, lived experience and social difference. My research interests and contributions can be boiled down to three key areas: everyday life and economic change; social reproduction, care, ethics and consumption; and feminist praxis. 

I came to the University of Manchester in October 2012 as a Hallsworth Research Fellow in Political Economy. In September 2015 I took up the position of Lecturer in Human Geography and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2018, Reader in 2020 and Professor in 2022. I am a member of the Morgan Centre for Research into Everyday Lives and Manchester Urban Institute, where co-chair the Urban Justice, Gender and Social Difference Feminist Collective. From 2019-2020 I held an ISRF Political Economy Research Fellowship on the theme of reproduction and austerity. In February 2021 I begin a £1.5m UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship on the theme of Austerity and Altered Lifecourses, a 4+ year project across the UK, Spain and Italy.

Further information

Service and Leadership

In addition to my academic position, I am also Co-Editor of Area, a member of the Geoforum Editorial Board, a member of the Department for Work and Pensions Methods Advisory Group, a committee member of the Economic Geography Research Group and Gender and Feminist Geographies Research Group of the Royal Geographical Society, and a member of the Management Committee of the Women's Budget Group, an international network of feminist researchers, policy experts and activists. 

I have also acted as an Academic Advisor to Ethical Consumer Magazine (2011-2012), and since 2014 have provided research expertise and training to a number of organisations including Shelter, Citizens Advice, Oldham Council, RECLAIM, Oxfam, and LGBT Foundation.

I have a keen interest in research ethics, and I teach, research and publish on this subject. I have also held a number of related service roles at discipline, school and University level, including University Research Ethics Committee 2 member (2014-2019), Chair of School Ethics Committee (2016-2018), Ethics Signatory, School of Environment, Education and Development (2015-2019) and Geography Dissertation Ethics Officer (2014-2018).

I also try to be an advocate for PhD and Early Career colleagues, and I am fortunate to supervise across the North West. From Jan 2019-Sept 2020 I was also the PGR Human Geography Discipline Co-Ordinator, as well as the departmental representative for the Geography and Environment Pathway of the North West Social Science DTP.

Creative works

I have been involved in the making of multiple collaborative creative works, developed to share research findings, some of which include:

‘How austerity alters lives and futures’, Animation

‘Oral Histories and Futures’, Animation

‘Everyone’s Got an Opinion on Brexit’, Podcast and Website

‘Involving Young People in Discussions about Devolution’, Toolkit

'Being seen, being heard: young people's politics in devolution deals', Film

'Creating, Making and Distributing 'zines for Research Impact', Film

‘Everyday Austerity' zine

'Everyday Austerity: Six Families, Two Years, One Researcher', Public Exhibition