Jennifer MacKay is a PhD student and Lecturer in Sociology within the Division of Psychology, Sociology and Education. 

I started my part-time PhD at QMU in January 2019, which aims to examine the critical differences of community waste reduction groups in Scotland and India through a feminist political ecology focus. My PhD supervisor is Eurig Scandrett.

I am also a Lecturer in Sociology at QMU, having started a part-time post in 2020. I teach Political ecology, environmental justice, popular education, public sociology and education, and I supervise undergraduate dissertations.

I have recently been a research fellow conducting and analysing research on fracking communities alongside Eurig Scandrett, and I am now currently involved in developing a collaborative research project on Citizen Science at QMU.

Before coming to QMU I wrote a chapter for a book edited by Anne Harley and Eurig Scandrett entitled ‘Environmental Justice, popular struggle and community development’, which was published in 2019. Prior to this I worked for NGO’s and ran a small charitable organisation called SEAD (Scottish Education and Action for Development) which focused on popular education methods, community development within international social and environmental justice projects and links with Scotland. I have a long history of being involved in activism and am particularly related to waste and the global anti incineration movement. I have worked with a number of environmental campaign groups in Scotland and globally.

My primary research areas are based in environmental, climate and social justice, zero waste, activism & social movements and feminist political ecology. I primarily focus on methods which involve participatory approach, namely popular education and the pedagogy of Paulo Freire.

Active Research Interests:

  • Political Ecology
  • Feminist Political Ecology
  • Environmental Justice
  • Waste and Zero Waste
  • Decolonizing knowledge
  • Feminist Pedagogy
  • Popular Education
  • Actor Network Theory

Research Methods:

  • Qualitative
  • Observational
  • Participatory/Popular Education
  • Ethnography
  • Feminist and Acton Research
  • Dialogical process
  • Video Participatory

I teach on modules within the BSc (Hons) Psychology and Sociology and BSc (Hons) Public Sociology degree programmes. Topics I teach include Public Sociology Education and political ecology, and I supervise undergraduate dissertation projects.