B.A. (Hons) Economics, University of Manchester
M.A. Latin American Studies, University of Liverpool
PhD. London School of Economics and Political Science
Dr Bradshaw joined the University in 1994 and over the years has been Programme Leader for various Development Studies and International Politics programmes, both at the undergraduate and postgraduate level. She has been involved with Equal Opportunities and Ethics since joining the University and is currently chair of the School of Law Ethics Committee and joint-chair of the University’s Gender Forum.
Her research focuses on the general field of gender and development, with a specific focus on Latin America. All the research she undertakes seeks to have a practical as well as academic application, through informing teaching, as the basis of advocacy initiatives seeking to influence policy makers, or being used to promote discussion and action among actors of organised civil society.
During a career break in the late 1990s she began working on women's rights issues in Nicaragua (funded by Progressio UK) and this relationship with Nicaragua continues to date. This has meant working closely with actors of the women's movements in Central America and in particular with the Nicaraguan feminist NGO, Puntos de Encuentro. Her work with Puntos involved designing training workshops, working on advocacy campaigns and undertaking research around women's rights. It took her into new and emerging fields such as social communication initiatives for social change, including working on their popular TV 'social soaps' Sexto Sentido and Contracorriente.
Living in Nicaragua when Hurricane Mitch struck in 1998, during the relief and reconstruction phase she worked with the Civil Coordinator for Emergency and Reconstruction (CCER), a consortium of NGOs, groups and movements formed in response to the hurricane, and was involved in a number of studies looking at post-disaster reconstruction. This interest in 'disasters' has continued, and informs her research, teaching and PhD supervision today. In 2013 she published the first book on the topic of 'Gender, Development and Disasters' (Edward Elgar). Her expertise in this field has led to work with various UN initiatives, including lobbying during the intergovernmental negotiations over the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction in 2015 as well as a number of media appearances.
Since 2015 Dr Bradshaw has worked with the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), a global initiative of the United Nations that worked closely with other United Nations agencies, multilateral financing institutions, as well as other international organizations in shaping the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. She was commissioned to write the report on Women and Economic Development for the High Level Panel of Eminent Persons charged with developing the first, draft set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Spanish
Pedagogic interests
Ensuring quality of content through research led teaching;
Supporting student learning through creative assessment;
Providing practical skills for enhanced employability;
Promoting diversity and equal opportunities within the curriculum
Teaching areas
Policy and policy evaluation;
Research Methods;
Gender and Development;
Humanitarian and post-disaster response.
Innovations
Joint development (with Professor. Joshua Castellino) and delivery of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) financed via the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network on Equality and Rights in the post-2015 era. Human Rights, Human Wrongs. Aired September 2016 and September 2017 with 1000+ students enrolled.
Research interests
Gender and development; Gendered disaster risk reduction and response; Poverty and poverty reduction strategies; The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; NGOs, social movements and civil society; Rights and rights based approaches; Gender roles and relations within households.
Public output from research and scholarly activity
Please see Middlesex University Research Repository for full listings and details
Recent authored monographs / books
Bradshaw, Sarah (2013) Gender, Development and Disasters. Edward Elgar: Cheltenham/Northampton
Recent peer-reviewed journal articles
Bradshaw, Sarah and Chant, Sylvia and Linneker, Brian (2018) Challenges and changes in gendered poverty: the feminization, de-feminization and re-feminization of poverty in Latin America. Forthcoming in Feminist Economics. ISSN 1354-5701
Bradshaw, Sarah and Chant, Sylvia and Linneker, Brian (2017) Gender and poverty: what we know, don’t know, and need to know for Agenda 2030. Gender, Place and Culture, 24 (12). pp. 1667-1688. ISSN 0966-369X
Bradshaw, Sarah and Linneker, Brian and Overton, Lisa (2017) Extractive industries as sites of supernormal profits and supernormal patriarchy? Gender & Development, 25 (3). pp. 439-454. ISSN 1355-2074
Bradshaw, Sarah and Chant, Sylvia and Linneker, Brian (2017) Knowing Gendered Poverty in the Global South: A Protracted Path to Progress? Spazio Filosofico, No. 20, pp 265-86.
Bradshaw, Sarah (2015) Gendered rights in the post-2015 development and disasters agendas. IDS Bulletin, 46 (4). pp. 59-65. ISSN 0265-5012
Castellino, Joshua and Bradshaw, Sarah (2015) Sustainable development and social inclusion: why a changed approach is central to combating vulnerability. Washington International Law Journal, 24 (3). pp. 459-494. ISSN 2377-0872
Recent chapters in edited books
Bradshaw, Sarah and Chant, Sylvia and Linneker, Brian (2019) Gender, Poverty and Anti-Poverty Policy in Latin America: Cautions and Concerns in a Context of Multiple Feminisations and ‘Patriarchal Pushback’. Forthcoming in Julie Cupples, Marcela Palomino-Schalsa and Manuel Prieto (eds) The Routledge Handbook of Latin American Development. Routledge: London.
Bradshaw, Sarah (2018) Sustainability and gender equality: exploring the post-2015 sustainable development agenda. Forthcoming in: Environment and Sustainability in a Globalizing World. Nightingale, Andrea and Böhler, T., eds. Issues in a Globalizing World Series. Routledge: London.
Bradshaw, Sarah and Linneker, Brian (2017) The gendered terrain of disaster risk reduction including climate change adaptation. In: The Routledge Handbook of Disaster Risk Reduction Including Climate Change Adaptation. Kelman, Ilan and Mercer, Jessica and Gaillard, J. C., eds. Routledge International Handbooks . Routledge: London, 129-139. ISBN 9781138924567
Bradshaw, Sarah (2016) Rereading gender and patriarchy through a "lens of masculinity": the "known" story and new narratives from post-Mitch Nicaragua. In: Men, Masculinities and Disaster. Enarson, Elaine and Pease, Bob, eds. Routledge Studies in Hazards, Disaster Risk and Climate Change . Routledge: London, 56-65. ISBN 9781138934177
Bradshaw, Sarah and Linneker, Brian (2015) The gendered destruction and reconstruction of assets and the transformative potential of ‘disasters'. In: Gender, asset accumulation and just cities: pathways to transformation. Moser, Caroline O. N., ed. Routledge, Abingdon, Oxon, 164-180. ISBN 9781138193536
Bradshaw, Sarah (2014) ‘From Structural Adjustment to Social Adjustment: A Gendered Analysis of Conditional Cash Transfer Programmes in Mexico and Nicaragua’, Global Social Policy, 2008, 8, 2, 188–207. Reprinted in: Gender, Poverty, and Development. Chant, Sylvia and Beetham, Gwendolyn, eds. Critical Concepts in Development Studies . Routledge, Abingdon, Oxon. ISBN 9780415711951
Bradshaw, Sarah (2014) Double disaster: disaster risk through a gender lens. In: Natural hazards, risks and disasters in society. Collins, A., ed. Elsevier, 233-251.
Recent published reports
Bradshaw, Sarah and Chant, Sylvia and Linneker, Brian (2017) Myths and Mystifications Around Gendered Poverty: Current Conceptual and Policy Concerns CROP (Comparative Research Programme on Poverty) CROP Poverty Briefs, No.39 (University of Bergen and ISSC)
Sarah Bradshaw and Brian Linneker with Nilo Nascimento, Indira Nahomi Viana Caballero, Heloisa Costa, Yumi Oki, Rogério Brittes W. Pires, Meri Juntti, Lian Lundy, Rebecca Wade (2017) Engendering Ecosystem Services for Urban Transformation: The Role of Natural Capital in Reducing Poverty and Building Resilient Urban Communities, ESRC-Newton Fund UK Project Report, Middlesex University, Abertay University, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais in Brazil, January 2017, pp 109.
Bradshaw, Sarah, Linneker, Brian, Nussey, Charlotte, and Sanders-McDonagh, Erin (2015) ‘Gender Evidence Synthesis of ESRC-DFID poverty alleviation joint fund’. October 2015, ESRC-DFID, UK.
Also Published by The Impact Initiative for International Development: Bradshaw, Sarah et al (2015) ‘New knowledge on the gendered nature of poverty and wellbeing’
Bradshaw, Sarah, with Linneker, Brian and Overton, Lisa (2016) ‘Gender and Social Accountability: Ensuring women’s inclusion in citizen-led accountability programming relating to extractive industries’. Report commissioned by Oxfam America, November 2015 published March 2016 as an ‘Oxfam research backgrounder’.
Bradshaw, Sarah (2016) ‘The Humanitarian-Development Divide’. Solutions Alliance: Brussels. Solutions Alliance Roundtable, Brussels February 2016
Bradshaw, Sarah with Linneker, Brian (2014) Gender and Environmental Change in the Developing World. IIED Working Paper. IIED, London.
Recent external presentations
Invited participant at workshop ‘Operationalizing the Leave No One Behind Agenda’. Overseas Development Institute / University of Cambridge, February 21-22, 2018.
Invited speaker at: UN High Level International Forum on Innovation for Sustainable Development. Organized by the State Government of Guanajuato and the UNSECO Office of Mexico. September 11th – 13th 2017, Guanajuato, Mexico.
Invited speaker at ‘Gender Justice and Extractive Industries: Setting the Change Agenda’. A strategic dialogue hosted by Oxfam America. March 23rd, 2017, Washington DC. https://policy-practice.oxfamamerica.org/static/media/files/Gender_Dialogue_Event_Report_08042017_ME.pdf
Invited speaker on ‘Gendered aspects of Climate Change’ at Global Communities workshop, funded by USAID. Managua, Nicaragua, 21st March 2017.
Invited speaker at the Round Table Discussion of the Ni Una Menos Protest Movement, hosted by the Institute for Latin American Studies and the Argentina Solidarity Campaign, Senate House, University of London, 29th of November 2016. Reported in Telam, The Aregentinian state media agency, http://www.telam.com.ar/notas/201612/172197-reino-unido-argentina-ni-una-menos.html
Invited speaker at round table: Parliament, policy and sustainable development: SDG 5. Betty Boothroyd Room, Portcullis House, Westminster, 24th November 2016.
Invited participant at the workshop ‘Feminist Playbook for Security and Sustainable Peace’ to discuss the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda rooted in UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) financed by the Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Centre, Oslo, June 2015.
Invited participant in the high-level expert group meeting on ‘The Urban Sustainable Development Goal, Targets and Indicators’, hosted by the UNSDSN and the Urban SDG Campaign, August, 2014.
Invited speaker at the Geographical Association’s Annual Teaching Conference – Crossing Boundaries - University of Surrey 14 – 16th April, 2014.
Invited expert to the UN ‘thinkers meeting' on the Political Saliency of Disaster Risk Management as part of the meeting series on The Future of Disaster Risk Management for the 2015 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction, San José, 24-25 March 2014.
Key note speaker at the Copenhagen Centre for Disaster Research 'Master Class on Disaster Risk Reduction', University of Copenhagen, 11- 12 December 2014
Opening plenary speaker at the United Nations Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality and the OECD/DAC Network on Gender Equality joint biennial workshop on 'Gender Equality, Women's Rights and Women's Empowerment: Cornerstones for achieving the MDGs and accelerating development beyond 2015'.
Invited participant at the High Level Panel's Academic Consultation on the Post-2015 Environment: Crafting a Current and Future Research Agenda, 13 June 2013, New York.
Recent academic presentations
‘Gender, Development and Disasters: Learning from what we don’t know’, Researching gender in development, conflict and security workshop, Birmingham University, 23 April 2018
‘Gendered Knowledges of Development: The role of ESRC and DFID research funding in constructing geographical knowledge of the global south’ Paper presented in panel: Geographies of Development: Positions and Critiques Institute of British Geographers / Royal Geographical Society Annual Conference, London 29th August – 1st September 2017.
Panel Organiser: From Gender Promises to Gendered Policy in Agenda 2030 at the European Association of Development Institutes (EADI), Nordic conference, Bergen, Norway 20th – 24th August, 2017.
‘What Do We Really Know About Gendered Poverty and Does it Actually Matter for those Designing Poverty Alleviation Policy?’ Presented in panel - Multidimensional Poverty: From measurement to politics: how to prevent and respond to poverty and inequality? European Association of Development Institutes (EADI), Nordic conference, Bergen, Norway 20th – 24th August, 2017.
Panel organiser: Feminist research through a masculinities lens at the Society for Latin American Studies Annual Conference, Glasgow, 6th – 7th April 2017.
‘Exploring gendered interactions with ecosystem services within a marginal urban community in Brazil’ paper presented at Engendering Habitat III: Facing the Global Challenges in Cities, Climate Change and Transport. GenderSTE, European Cooperation in Science and Technology, Madrid, 5th - 7th October 2016.
‘The humanitarian-development divide: Exploring contemporary understandings of humanitarianism in practice’ Paper to be presented at the 2016 ACUNS Annual Meeting “Meeting the Challenges of Development and Dignity”, 16-18 June 2016 Fordham University, New York City.
‘Gender and the post-2015 agendas: Contradictions within UN processes’. Paper presented at the ‘Gender equality norms and the politics of development cooperation’ conference hosted by the Danish Institute for International Studies, Copenhagen, 18th-20th May 2016.
‘The humanitarian-development divide: Exploring contemporary understandings of humanitarianism in practice’ Paper presented at the conference’ ‘A Quest for Humanitarian Effectiveness?” hosted by University of Manchester and Save the Children. University of Manchester, 14 – 16 September, 2015.
‘The transformative potential of ‘disasters’: The gendered destruction and reconstruction of assets’, Paper presented at the Gender Relations and Rising Inequalities International Conference, University of East Anglia School of International Development, 6 – 9th July 2015.
‘Bridging the Humanitarian-Development Divide’ paper presented at the annual Association of American Geographers conference, Chicago, April 21-25th 2015.
Chair of the panel: ‘The Ecosystem Approach: A new tool for Urban Development?’ at the annual Association of American Geographers conference, Chicago, April 21-25th 2015.
Gender, Climate Change and Sustainable Cities in the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda, paper presented at 'Engendering Cities: Designing Sustainable and Inclusive Urban Environments, conference of the Italian Presidency of the European Union under the patronage of UNESCO, Rome, 25 and 26 September 2014
Social protection in the post-2015 development agenda: what relevance has it for promoting gender equality in Latin America?' paper presented at the annual conference of the Society for Latin American Studies, Birkbeck, University of London 3rd - 4th April, 2014
View more publications
Funded Research
‘Environmental assets, poverty and wellbeing: Gendered understandings in urban Nicaragua’ Awarded under HEFCE Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) funding. PI January – March 2017
ADEPT: developing the ecosystem Approach to Derive Positive urban Transformations in the context of intersecting vulnerabilities. Awarded under RCUK-CONFAP Research Partnership scheme (with Meri Juntti and Lian Lundy) January 2015 - January 2016
Evidence Synthesis Research Award (ESRA) Gender Theme, ESRC/DFID Joint Poverty Alleviation Fund scheme (with Erin Sanders-McDonagh) June 2014 – May 2015'Bridging the humanitarian-development divide' awarded under the British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grants programme, April 2014 – July 2015.
Consultancies
'Gender and Environmental Change' report commissioned by International Institute for Environment and Development, UK, January - March 2014
'Women and Girls in Disaster' report commissioned by Department for International Development, UK, August 2013'Women's role in economic development: Overcoming the constraints' Background paper prepared for the High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, May 2013
'Women and Girls in Disaster' report commissioned by Department for International Development, UK, August 2013
'Gender and Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery' Production of a Training Course for Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery, United Nations Development Program, October 2009
'Gender and land rights in disaster management settings' Consultancy for the Food and Agricultural Agency (FAO), United Nations, June 2007
Through work with women's groups and movements in Central America Dr Bradshaw seeks to ensure all her research has a practical as well academic impact. Her most recent research/training initiative working with the Nicaraguan feminist NGO – Puntos de Encuentro - focussed on how the economic and the 'intimate' aspects of life are linked. The findings of the study were published in Nicaragua in 2011 as Decisiones Económicas e Intimas de las Mujeres (Women's Economic and Intimate Decisions) (see http://sidoc.puntos.org.ni/isis_sidoc/documentos/13137/13137_00.pdf ).
The document was circulated to key national and international non-governmental and governmental actors in Central America. The publication was accompanied by a series of activities undertaken by staff of Puntos in Nicaragua, including: Three regional workshops plus a 'national' workshop held in the capital, Managua, to discuss the key findings and what they mean for those working to promote women's rights, Publication of a 'workbook' based on the findings to be used by women's groups and other organisations to work on the theme with grass roots organisations etc; Regional and one national 'Points of View' sessions - presentation of the key findings followed by debate on the topic, included participation of representatives from local and national government; A 'popular' version of the key findings has also been published. Written to be understood by the 'average' Nicaraguan it was circulated as a supplement in the magazine La Boletina with an estimated readership of 150,000 women across the country. Academic presentations and articles have also been produced based on the findings.
More recently Dr Bradshaw has been involved with the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) with the Thematic Group responsible for setting the agenda on social inclusion, gender and human rights. The SDSN worked to support and influence the High Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the post-2015 development agenda (http://www.post2015hlp.org/ ), which David Cameron jointly chaired. The SDSN provided background reports to support their work including a report on 'Women's role in economic development' (http://www.post2015hlp.org/the-report/ ) for which she was lead author. The group seeks to generate 'solutions and remedies' from best practice around the world that would seek to address entrenched inequality, and provide the basis for vulnerable groups' access to the fruits of socio-economic development, and in this way influence the on-going inter-governmental process that will determine the new Sustainable Development Goals that will frame global development policy until 2030.
