Lead supervisor:
Dr Rhys Dafydd Jones 
Other supervisor(s):
- Prof Rhys Jones
Start date: January 2026 (Full time)
Award: General
Subject Pathway:
Human Geography
Thematic Cluster:
Place, Environment and Development Cluster
In partnership with:
Entangled Belonging: Migrant Placemaking in Small-Town Wales
My WGSSS-funded PhD at Aberystwyth University explores how migrants experience, negotiate and develop a sense of belonging in small-town Wales.
The research considers how everyday mobilities, access to services and opportunities, social relationships, and encounters with local institutions shape experiences of place and participation. I am particularly interested in the relationship between the opportunities that places appear to offer and how these are experienced in everyday life.
Drawing on geographical debates around mobility, belonging, place and accessibility, the project aims to contribute to understandings of migrant experiences beyond major cities, while exploring the implications for more inclusive places and public policy.
The project is currently in its early stages, with its theoretical framing and research design continuing to develop.
Research Impact
My research aims to contribute to more inclusive understandings of mobility, accessibility and belonging in small-town Wales, particularly for migrant communities whose everyday experiences may be overlooked in conventional approaches to planning and service provision.
By examining how people navigate everyday opportunities, relationships and institutional arrangements, the project seeks to identify where formally available services and opportunities may not translate into meaningful access or participation.
I hope the findings will inform discussions with local authorities, transport and planning practitioners, community organisations and policymakers, supporting more context-sensitive approaches to accessibility, inclusion and place-based policy.
Alongside its potential policy relevance, the research aims to contribute to geographical debates around everyday mobility, migrant belonging and the relationship between place, inequality and lived experience.
Biography
I am an ESRC-funded PhD researcher in Human Geography at Aberystwyth University, supported by the Welsh Graduate School for the Social Sciences (WGSSS).
I graduated from Aberystwyth University in 2026 with a First Class BSc (Hons) in Geography. My undergraduate dissertation explored emotional walkability, migration and experiences of belonging in Aberystwyth, using walking interviews, participatory mapping and GIS.
My broader research interests include everyday mobilities, social and spatial inequalities, accessibility, belonging, migration and the relationship between geographical research and public policy.
I am particularly interested in combining qualitative and spatial perspectives to better understand how people experience and navigate places, and in developing research that can contribute to both geographical scholarship and policy practice.