Dr Jess Jones is the Deputy Dean of the School of Postgraduate Studies and Coordinator of PhD Programmes at the University of Makeni (UniMak). Her research interests focus on how individuals respond to non-organic triggers of social change, namely violent conflict, large and small-scale mining, so-called ‘development’ projects and global pandemics, in different ways. Jess’s work is interdisciplinary, bringing together issues, theory and research methods in geography, international development, and anthropology. Dr Jones is involved in both individual and collaborative academic and consultancy research projects. Her current research includes a study of women’s informal roles in politics, and a UNESCO project that explores the diversity of women’s futures in Sierra Leone. She has recently finished a consultancy for Purposeful Feminist Initiative – that evaluated their partner projects from a feminist perspective – and a study of the nuanced ways different people experience and respond to fluctuating fuel prices in Sierra Leone. Dr Jones presents her research at international conferences. She is also an active lecturer and has designed and taught modules – introduction to human geography, theories in international development, gender and natural resource management, disaster management, rural development, fieldwork classes and research methods – at undergraduate, master’s and PhD level at universities in the UK and Sierra Leone.
Dr Jones holds a PhD in International Development from the University of East Anglia, UK, a Master of Arts degree in International Development from the University of Sheffield, UK and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geography from King’s College London, UK.
Recent Publications:
(2021) An Ethnographic Examination of People’s Reactions to State-Led COVID-19 Measures in Sierra Leone. The European Journal of Development Research. https://rdcu.be/ceBBZ
