dr. RJ (Robert) Coates

My research and teaching interests are in political ecology, environmental governance, and disaster studies, with a special focus on urban peripheries. I have undertaken significant field research in Brazil, especially on vulnerability to floods and landslides in the context of rapid urbanisation, and I intersect these themes with the critical geographies of citizenship and the state. I have also written on the governance of extractive development vis-a-vis environmental protection, and am interested in (wild)fire hazards in the context of debates on governance and territory.

My PhD thesis, The Ecology of Citizenship: understanding vulnerability in urban Brazil, was awarded in 2017 at King's College London. I also hold degrees in Globalization & Latin American Development (ILAS, University of London, 2011), Postcolonial Politics (Aberystwyth, 2003), and International Relations (Nottingham Trent, 2001). Prior to my PhD I worked as a programme officer, trainer, and teacher for VSO in the UK, Guyana, and Jamaica, and as a travel writer for Rough Guides and Insight Guides in the Caribbean and Brazil.

Publications:

https://research.wur.nl/en/persons/robert-coates

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Robert_Coates7