Feature image: “Culvert community, Freetown, Sierra Leone” by Salamatu Kemokai
The Simon Bryceson Fund was created from donations in memory of Simon Bryceson, a University of York Alum (BA Politics, 1982). The Fund is designed to support PhD students associated with the IGDC (or whose work broadly relates to the theme of global development) with fieldwork bursaries to enable them to travel and undertake vital field research as part of their studies.
In this blog, we hear from four PhD researchers that won the Simon Bryceson award in 2025.
Salamatu Kemokai (PhD candidate in Environment and Geography)
Project title: ‘The Interaction between expert and local knowledge in flood adaptation’
My PhD project aims to identify and document local flood adaptation practices and generate innovative ideas on how diverse kinds of knowledge (local, scientific, and administrative) can be integrated to proffer contextual evidence-based solutions. It argues that these knowledge systems run parallel to each other, are used by different populations, and have not been integrated to legitimize the importance of their co-existence.
This research uses Sierra Leone as a case study, where limited attention has been given to documenting local knowledge in flood adaptation and examining the integration of different knowledge systems, including power dynamics. It applies a qualitative methodology, collecting both primary and secondary data through key informant interviews, focus group discussions and participant observation methods. Field work is critical for this study as the methodology requires in-depth real-time data collection involving physical interaction with participants and the research environment. It was quite an insightful experience that left me with a deeper understanding of the subject and context. Sometimes, I felt quite drained by not only walking around the communities, but witnessing the difficult realities of the people, and listening to their stories on how they have been impacted by floods.
The award is quite handy and uplifting, being my only successful scholarship application so far as a self-funding international student, paying annual tuition fees of over £23,000. It helped me with transportation cost to the research communities and refreshment for participants, serving as great motivation for them. I am currently organising transcripts, notes, photos, and transcribing audio recordings. The field work is the main data source for my research and will be used to inform the relevant chapters in due course.
Camila Teixeira (PhD candidate in Politics and International Relations)
Project title: ‘Struggle and Law: social movements and their mobilisation for social transformation through human rights law’
My PhD research aims to explore how social movements in Brazil and Colombia mobilize human rights law for social transformation. Specifically, I have examined two movements advocating for racial and ethnic rights in Colombia and Brazil. This research will compare the movements’ use of human rights discourse and legal strategies, investigating the transformative potential of human rights law.
The Simon Bryceson bursary contributed to fieldwork conducted in Brazil from March to April 2025. The Brazil case study will assess the legal strategies by the oldest indigenous organisation in the country, the Conselho Indigena de Roraima (CIR), in Roraima state, Amazon region. Funding from this prize covered expenses that I incurred personally, including accommodation and local travel within Brazil’s vast territory. During my visit to Brazil, I conducted 43 semi-structured interviews across three locations: Boa Vista (Roraima state capital), an indigenous territory in Roraima state (Malacacheta, hosting CIR’s 2025 General Assembly), and Brasilia.
This experience was vital for gathering primary data that cannot be accessed remotely, particularly interviews with movement leaders, members of CIR, NGOs, government officials, and academics who have knowledge about CIR and their legal mobilization efforts. The visit also allowed me to understand the local contexts that shape legal mobilization strategies.
Fieldwork in Brazil has generated rich empirical data that will form the foundation of my thesis. Three thesis chapters will analyse (i) CIR’s legal strategies (based on fieldwork in Brazil in 2025), (ii) Afro-descendant movements’ use of strategic litigation through a separate case study in Colombia (with fieldwork planned for 2026), and (iii) a comparative analysis of both case’s impacts on human rights law and social transformation. The findings will contribute to academic literature on legal mobilization in the Global South.
Quinn Chen (PhD candidate in Environment and Geography)
Project title: ‘Between the State and the Street: Governance, Informality, and Agency in Beijing’s Urban Villages’
My PhD research focuses on the everyday life of the people in Beijing’s urban villages, a vibrant community that has grown alongside the city’s rapid development. These neighbourhoods are home to many people who have moved to Beijing for work and opportunity. My project seeks to understand how urban village residents experience daily life, build community, and navigate challenges in housing, work, and local services. Using ethnographic and participatory methods, such as conversational interviews and participatory mapping, I aim to capture residents’ perspectives and stories in their own voices.
The Simon Bryceson Award provided vital support during my two-month fieldwork in Beijing in summer 2025. The award helped cover the cost of being accompanied by a trusted local contact during my visits to the villages. This support was crucial for ensuring both safety and respectful engagement with residents, allowing me to spend more time in the community and build trust.
Fieldwork was essential for this research because it is only by being present in the community that I could truly appreciate the contexts of their everyday life. These lived experiences cannot be fully understood through documents or secondary research alone. The data I collected will be central to my PhD thesis, particularly in chapters exploring community life and the ways residents adapt to the changing city around them. It will also inform future studies on participatory research methods and urban community studies. Thanks to this support, I am able to highlight the experiences of groups that are sometimes overlooked in discussions about urban development.
Jinn Fann (PhD candidate in Conservation)
Project title: ‘Exploring Museum Architecture as Industrial Catalyst: Fieldwork Across Three Cities’
My PhD research investigates how museums function as both reflections of and contributors to industrial transformation. Focusing on three pivotal moments in the global industrial timeline from the 19th century—I examine how museum construction and renovation during these eras were shaped by shifting industrial priorities, and in turn, how these cultural institutions contributed to innovation in funding, workforce, and material culture.
The fieldwork funded by the Simon Bryceson award allowed me to conduct in-depth, site-based research at institutions in the UK and Hong Kong. The funds supported travel, archival access, and a series of interviews with curators, operations teams, and learning departments—offering invaluable perspectives on decision-making, architectural planning, and institutional missions across time and place.
Fieldwork was critical to this project. These museums are not static containers but dynamic, evolving systems whose architectural layouts, renovation rationales, and cultural positioning must be experienced and analyzed in situ. The interviews, spatial observations, and access to internal documents enabled me to grasp how visions of industrial futures were materially and ideologically embedded in these institutions.
The data collected will form the backbone of two core chapters in my thesis—one on the spatial narratives of museum renovation in industrial cities and another on the institutional storytelling that bridges art, education, and entrepreneurship.