Kenny Lynch, Professor of Development and Community at the University of Gloucestershire, presents his inaugural lecture.
The Lecture
In his inaugural lecture, Kenny will explore his initial interests in research, which started with food production and supply in Tanzania, where the country experimented with a distinctly African form of development under the initial presidency of Julius ‘Mwalimu’ Nyerere.
Later, Kenny’s teaching and research took him to other parts of the world, including several field trips of undergraduate students from Gloucestershire to South Africa to explore the legacy of Apartheid in South Africa. There he learned with the students about the response to the challenges the country faced under the first democratic president, Nelson ‘Madiba’ Mandela.
He will explore the links between his early research and the work he is doing now, which focuses on what access to basic necessities like food and sanitation can tell us about the challenges faced by fast-growing cities. His lecture aims to explore some of the findings of this research, as well as what lessons can be learned from Mwalimu and Madiba for the 21st century.
The Speaker
Following the completion of his MA in Geography at the University of Aberdeen, Kenny studied for his PhD in Geography at the University of Glasgow. Having undertaken academic appointments at the Universities of Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Kingston University, he joined the University of Gloucestershire in 2005, progressing from the role of Senior Lecturer in Geography to his current position as Professor of Development and Communities.
A Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and Royal Geographic Society, Kenny holds a wealth of experience as a peer reviewer for numerous international journals he has served on committees and panels of the Royal Geographical Society, the Geographical Association, The Australian Research Council, the South African National Research Foundation, as a trustee of the Diocese of Gloucester Academies Trust, and a currently serves as a member of the Editorial Boards for both the South African Geographical Journal and GEOVerse, an undergraduate journal of geography.
Kenny is an experienced PhD supervisor and examiner, and has published widely in international journals. His research focuses on the relationship between the city and countryside in the developing world where rapidly growing cities interrupt and mix identities, livelihoods, practices and attitudes. His work has focused on urban and peri-urban agriculture, zoonotic disease transmission in rapidly growing cities and access to sanitation.
As well as working with geographers, Kenny has also collaborated with sociologists, criminologists, economists and clinicians amongst others in his work, publishing research on learning and teaching, housing, restorative justice and street markets in the UK.
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