The Urban Institute welcomes Polly as a new student assistant for the Urban Radar podcast where she will book booking facilities, support content development, promote and undertaken post-production editing.
Polly is a student in her second year undertaking a BA in Human Geography that explores the relationship between people and the planet.
In first year, she particularly enjoyed the optional module of housing and home that focussed on the contests of the home, as both a haven and a place of domestic violence and democide. Her second year has focused heavily on methodology, engaging with qualitative methods and theory alongside quantitative statistical analysis. Polly particularly enjoyed the Urban Theory module, which applies urban thinkers/perspectives to current urban issues and prompts critical thinking about the space we live in and who this space is for. Polly has a thematic interest in food studies and geographies of health and through the use of photographic essay explored masculinity and stigmatised bodies (e.g diabetics) within the private and public kitchen space.
When Polly is not studying, she volunteers at the ChangeLab program, a community-led development group partnered with Community Land Trust Sheffield. This social action group aims to develop accessible methods of communicating the need for fair land and property ownership. The project so far has included research, on-campus vox-pop style interviews, and attendance at the Broomhall Homework Club to support the children with their homework.
After completion of her degree Polly would like to work with communities and may take up teaching.
I am so excited to be a part of Urban Radar, a podcast that works to make discussions concerning urban issues more inclusive and widely accessible
Polly Clifton