Gemma Bone Dodds

Gemma Bone Dodds is an Honorary Research Fellow at the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP).

Gemma works on economic system change, with specialisms in banking, finance and wellbeing economics. She is a Senior Fellow of the Finance Innovation Lab, a Fellow of the RSA and a Trustee of Wellbeing Economy Alliance Scotland.

Gemma's ESRC-funded PhD (May 2019) was in economic geography entitled ‘Diverse economies of debt: The possibilities for socially useful finance in peer-to-peer finance and reward-based crowdfunding’. This PhD was completed in collaboration with the Finance Innovation Lab to ensure engaged policy informed research and she worked with financial regulators, industry leaders and European partners to contribute to emerging UK and European finance policy.

Gemma has authored number of impactful papers including Banking for the Common Good (2015), which was fundamental in the creation of the Scottish National Investment Bank. She was one of the authors of the Chartered Banker Institute's Green Finance Certificate, and has written several recent papers on UK local banking ecosystems, including business plans for three regional banks in England and Northern Ireland.

Gemma has a keen interest in participatory approaches and is an experienced process designer and facilitator with over 10 years of experience supporting teams and sectors to work on economic systems change. She is the founder and director of All In Agency, a research and systems design consultancy focussed on creating an economic system that supports a just, healthy and sustainable world.

Research summary

Gemma's research interest include: UK banking reform, national investment banks and local banking; money, debt and finance; diverse economies; participatory design and systems change methodologies; holistic policy approaches; and wellbeing economics.

Selected publications

Books

• Bone Dodds, G. & Pollard, J. (2020), Islamic Finance: diversity within difference. In: Gibson-graham, J.K & Dombroski, K eds. The Handbook of Diverse Economies. Cheltenham UK: Edward Elgar, pp. 346-353, https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/the-handbook-of-diverse-economies-97817...

Journal articles

• Killoh, D. Bone Dodds, G. & Deas, S. (2020). "Nothing About Us Without Us". IPPR Progressive Review, 27(3), 265-275. https://doi.org/10.1111/newe.12219
• Bone, G. (2014). "Book Review Symposium: The democracy project: a history, a crisis, a movement, by D. Graeber". Global Discourse: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Current Affairs and Applied Contemporary Thought, Routledge. 373-377. https://doi.org/10.1080/23269995.2014.887943
• Bone. G. (2010). "The Copenhagen Global Summit on Climate Change: A View from the Ground" Globalizations: Globalization and Crisis, Routledge, 7(1). 299- 303. https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731003593919

Policy briefs/reports

• Bone Dodds, G. (2020). "Barriers to Growing the Purpose-Driven Banking System in the UK". Finance Innovation Lab. https://financeinnovationlab.org/insights/barriers-to-growing-the-purpos...
• Bone Dodds, G. (2019). "A Bank for the North East", Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies, All In, & The RSA. https://allin.agency/resources/ABankForTheNorthEast.pdf
• Bone Dodds, G. (2018). "Better Banking: A Public-Good Banking Network for Scotland". Common Weal. https://commonweal.scot/policy-library/better-banking-public-good-bankin...
• Bone. G. (2016). "Banking for the Common Good: Laying the foundations for safe, sustainable, stakeholder banking in Scotland". http://www.foe-scotland.org.uk/banking-common-good (2016)

Blogs

• Bone Dodds, G. (2020). "We must create a caring economy". WEAll Scotland. https://wellbeingeconomy.org/we-must-create-a-caring-economy
• Bone Dodds, G. (2019). "A Bank for the North East: putting banking reform back on the agenda". The RSA. https://www.thersa.org/blog/2019/06/north-east-banking-reform

In the media

• Bone Dodds, G. Nicholls, M. (2021). "New report explores barriers to growing the UK's purpose-driven finance sector'. Coop News. https://www.thenews.coop/152041/sector/credit-unions/new-report-explores...
• Janoo, A. Bone Dodds, G. (2020). "The Great Pause". Open Democracy. https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/great-pause/