edX Online
Instructor photo

Susan Parnell

Chair in Human Geography at University of Bristol

About me

Prof Susan Parnell is the Chair in Human Geography at the University of Bristol School of Geographical Sciences. She has previously served at the Department of Environmental and Geographical Sciences and was on the Executive of the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town. She has held previous academic positions at the University of Witwatersrand, at School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London and visiting research fellowships from the LSE, Oxford University, Durham University, the British Academy and was a Leverhulme Visiting Professor at University College London. She is a widely published author of scholarly papers. She serves on the Editorial Boards of many ISI ranked academic journals dealing with urban and development issues. Sue’s early academic research was in the area of urban historical geography and focused on the rise of racial residential segregation and the impact of colonialism on urbanisation and town planning in Sub-Saharan Africa. Post democracy in South Africa much of her work focused on issues of urban transformation. Susan is also involved in research in the areas of urban food an poverty in African cities. Sue has served on the boards of several local NGOs working on poverty alleviation, sustainability and gender equity, is a regular keynote speaker and is part of national and international advisory research panels.