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Dr Alex Tasker
Teaching Fellow in Human Ecology/Health and Environment
Dept of Anthropology
Faculty of S&HS
- Joined UCL
- 1st Sep 2019
Research summary
Alex's current
research focuses on the exploration of informal creativity and networks in
communities at the peripheries of state and development systems. Working as a
Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Refugee Studies Centre he is developing further
studies around informal agriculture within refugee settlements, examining the
dynamic and emergent relationships between the environment, indigenous and
migrant communities, and policy-level actors. These topics engage with key
questions of self-reliance, identity, livelihoods, and health.
Teaching summary
Alex's current
teaching is informed by experience of course design and delivery at
undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and research around informal networks
and creativity in marginalised populations. He has taught at undergraduate and
postgraduate courses at UCL, Oxford, Sussex, and Kingston and currently holds a
Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). Alex has a particular
interest in bringing in cross-disciplinary research that bridges theoretical
and applied aspects of the discipline into his teaching practice.
Biography
Alex's first
degree was as veterinarian with a specialist interest in Medical Physics and
Bioengineering. Following a period in general practice that included working in
developing countries, Alex returned to academia to study Anthropology, Environment,
and Development at UCL. His work with the Gabra nomadic pastoralist group in
Norther Kenya led into his PhD at Sussex, supervised between The Science Policy
Research Unit (SPRU) and the Institute of Development Studies (IDS). Alex's
doctoral research focused on exploring knowledge co-creation between
pastoralist and development actors through informal networks, using a combined
qualitative and network analytical approach.