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I’ve worked in the Department of Geography at UCL since 2002. Before that, I studied at Cranfield University and the University of Oxford. I worked briefly as a water engineer in Cameroon in the mid 1990s, and have ended up undertaking social research there ever since. I’m involved in UCL’s Migration Research Unit and Also the UCL African Studies Research Centre.
- More about Professor Page
- 2022 to present, Professor of Human Geography and African Studies
- 2015 to present UCL African Studies Research Centre, Steering Committee
- 2015-2018 External Examiner, Geography and Development Studies, UEA
- 2012-2015 External Examiner, Dept of Geography Royal Holloway University of London
- 2009 to 2022, Associate Professor in Human Geography and African Studies, University College London
- 2006-2011, Reviews Editor, African Affairs
- 2003 to 2009, Lecturer in Human Geography, University College London
- 2002-2003 ESRC Post-doctoral Fellow, Geography, University College London
- 2001-2002 College Lecturer St Peter's College, University of Oxford
- 2000-2001 College Lecturer St Hugh's College, University of Oxford
- 1996-2000 D Phil., St Antony's College, University of Oxford
- 1993-1994 M Sc., Silsoe College , Cranfield University
- 1990-1993 BA, Pembroke College University of Oxford
- Member of UCL Geography Department's Migration Research Unit
- Member of the Developing Areas Research Group of the RGS (DARG) , the Royal African Society and the University of London's Centre of African Studies (CAS)
- Teaching
I teach on the following modules:
Undergraduate
- Thinking Geographically I (GEOG0151)
- Thinking Geographically II (GEOG0012)
- The Practice of Geography (GEOG0016, Convenor)
- Development Geography (GEOG0024)
- Dissertation (GEOG0037)
- Water and Development in Africa (GEOG0036)
- Independent Study (GEOG0042)
- Postcolonial Geographies of African Development (GEOG0054, Convenor)
Postgraduate
- Interdisciplinary Approaches to Global Migration (GEOG0127)
- Issues in Global Migration (GEOG0128)
- MSc Global Migration Dissertation (GEOG0102)
- Environment, Politics and Practice (GEOG0085)
- Publications
To view Professor Page's publications, please visit UCL Profiles:
- Research Interests
My research interests are broadly located within the field of development geography, bringing together my interests in migration, development and cities.
My principal concern at the moment is exploring the role of the African diaspora in the UK in bringing development to Africa. I am particularly interested in the way African individuals, families and associations accommodate change in unexpected and innovative ways outside the development mainstream. In addition, in response to current events, I am also writing on security issues in Cameroon.
Much of my early work focused on water supply in West Africa, as a way of linking different histories and places to broader development questions about communities, the state, infrastructure, services, participatory governance, deliberative democracy and the transformation of the landscape.
Land, politics and security in anglophone Cameroon
There has been a violent insurgency in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon since 2017 following the excessive use of force by the Government of Cameroon during protests by teachers and lawyers. Since then rebels aspiring to create a new state of Ambazonia have been operating a guerrilla war, that the central state has partially contained, but failed to end. Research on this theme has three strands (1) the role of the diaspora in the conflict (2) the role of land in Fako as a source of rents to sustain the status quo, and a site of more-than-clientelist politics and (3) an analysis of the internal contradictions of Cameroonian security policy with Dr Manu Lekunze (University of Aberdeen).
A house at home: domestic architecture and the African diaspora
One of the most common aspirations for many individuals in the new African diaspora and the new African middle class is to construct a house. As a result, spectacular buildings have sprung up in towns and villages across the continent. My research (with Dr Emile Sunjo from the University of Buea) explores the impact of this house-building on class formation, middle-class identity, urban land prices and urban planning. These new houses are dramatically different (in terms of their style, size, and decor) from their neighbours and are a dramatic, visible and common sign of the impact of migration and social change on the built environment. This project (1) analyses the form of these houses to better understand how migration is changing the built and social landscapes; and (2) uses the example of diaspora house-building to develop a theory that better integrates social change in Africa into our understanding of the relationship between migration and development - particularly in relation to the emergence of the new African Middle Class. The work has generated publications on housing, interior decoration, and dinner parties and draws on a range of interpretive frameworks including psychoanalysis.
Development through the diaspora: hometown associations in Africa and Britain
This project ran from 2004-2008. It was collaborative work with Professor Claire Mercer (LSE) and Dr Martin Evans. In Africa, we were assisted by Prof Cosmas Sokoni and Prof Banlilon Victor Tani. The project was funded by the ESRC and examined the contribution to development made by four hometown associations, two in Cameroon and two in Tanzania. It led to the publication of a book by Zed "Development and the African Diaspora: Place and the Politics of Home"
The history of Community Development
This project is based on archival work in Cameroon and the UK and focuses on two stories. First, the film Daybreak at Udi produced by the Crown Film Unit in Eastern Nigeria in 1949, won an Oscar. The film is interpreted alongside writings about colonial development in Eastern Nigeria and Cameroon from the same period. The project seeks to contribute to the critical history of community development in Africa, but it also addresses development studies, where it seeks to assert the long and complex history of participatory development practice, which is often forgotten.
Second, the story of the Man O'War Community Development and Leadership School, which operated in the 1950s on the Fako coast in Cameroon. The school brought young men from across Nigeria (including the Southern Cameroons) for short courses together to be trained and ready to take local leadership roles in postcolonial countries. Though several hundred Africans attended over the decade, its effects and impact were limited, but it gives a profound insight into the process of decolonization and how British officials imagined African minds. For example, students were expected to spend half the course undertaking manual labour alongside 'ordinary folk' in community development projects in an attempt to inculcate ideas of 'noblesse oblige' and erase 'spivism'.
Malaria and the African diaspora
This project (with Ralph Tanyi of the NGO African Diaspora Action Against Malaria) looks at two aspects of malaria and the African diaspora: (1) members of the diaspora in Britain who travel to Africa and contract malaria while travelling (2) the contribution the diaspora can make to the struggle to reduce the burden of malaria in Africa. In relation to the first of these, the research is concerned with behaviour change in relation to prophylaxis use among members of the diaspora and prescribing policy in the NHS. This part of the work is aligned with concerns in Public Health England about their failure to find effective lines of communication with the diaspora. The second part fits more squarely into past work on diaspora and development and looks at possible routes by which the diaspora could support malaria control campaigns in Africa through volunteering, education and finance as well as through exhibiting best practices in architectural design and house-building.
- Impact
Date Public Organisation Description 29-SEP-2012
Public Engagement: African Diaspora Action Against Malaria
Beacon Bursary
African Diaspora Action Against Malaria (Organised, funded and hosted a one day workshop at UCL as part of an ongoing collaboration with the NGO Africa Diaspora Action Against Malaria. The workshop brought together academic staff at UCL (from clinical medicine, economics, psychology and geography) with policy-makers (the All Party Parliamentary Group on Malaria, Comic Relief) and members of the African diaspora. Funded by a UCL Beacon Bursary. 80 members of the African diaspora attended.
24-NOV-2012
Public Engagement:
Cameroon Forum
Comeroon Forum AGM
Hosted the Annual Meeting of the Cameroon Forum, held at UCL with a variety of speakers and social events. 45 members of the Cameroonian diaspora attended.
23-JAN-2013
Public Engagement: African Peoples Advocacy
1st African Diaspora New Year Lecture 'The Inspiring Power of Africa'
Hosted and helped organise the meeting at the Dept of Geography. The session was attended by nearly 150 people from African and other backgrounds, was chaired by Mr Eric Chinje, Director for Strategic Communications at the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. He praised APA for the initiative, and said he was honoured to participate in such a historic event. The keynote lecture was delivered by the writer, pan-African activist and founder of APA, Chantal Aboa (aka Sylvie Aboa-Bradwell). Special guest of honour was journalist and filmmaker Sorious Samura. In his intervention, Mr Samura stressed the need for Africans not to wait for others to define them, to define how they are perceived, or to determine what they should do in the future. A lively discussion ensued.
24-AUG-2013
Public Engagement:
C-Hub Magazine
My Black Woman
As part of the follow-on from a UCL Beacon Bursary award last year for public engagement, UCL Geography hosted the first 'My Black Woman' conference on 24th August for African diaspora entrepreneurs from the media and arts sector.The day conference was hosted by Dr Ben Page, Faustina Anyanwu and Ms Gayle Thompson Igwebike, actress, model and fashion editor at C.Hub magazine. Among those speaking were the poet and singer Ms Adunni Harunna, Ms Monica Abraham of Local Lion Marketing, Tola Onigbanjo the founder of Women4Africa award, and Mr Emeka Anaynwu, the publisher of C.Hub magazine. Ms Nena Ubani, of Duchess TV and presenter of the popular talk show – ‘Tea with the Duchess’, lectured on the woes of social media and advantages of traditional media when it comes to reliability and trust.The event ended with a bang as rapper Yezzi Yezzir bounced in with a sensational and powerful vocal performance supported by an acrobatic display from her dancers.
21-OCT-2013
Public Engagement: African Diaspora Action Against Malaria
Malaria and the African Diaspora
One day meeting (hosted by PWC) Exploring community engagement, social capital and behaviour change in malaria reduction. Arranged speakers (from UCL and ARCHIVE)
February 2014
Primary Colours Academy
Providing logistical support for a UCL law graduate who is setting up a company to provide employability skills training especially for BME graduates. The pilot training sessions took place in the department with more planned for early 2015.
April 2014
Consultancy:
Comic Relief
Common Ground Initiative
Editing work on development and diaspora research publications. Writing policy briefs based on research commissioned by the DFID/Comic Relief Common Ground Initiative.
May 2014
Public Engagement
London Schools Geography Alliance
Workshop on Africa in the A-level curriculum. The London Geography Alliance provides subject-based support, resources and continuing professional development for primary and secondary teachers
January 2016
Public Engagement
Africa Voices@UCL
Academic Lead on the launch events of the new UCL African Studies Research Centre, hosting a fortnight of university-wide public-facing events with visiting speakers from Senegal, Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya and South Africa, funded by UCL Grand Challenges
April 2016
Consultancy
DFID, Migration team
Desk-based rapid review of current research on circular migration
July 2016
Public Engagement
London Geography Alliance
Teacher's event focusing on international migration in the new A-level syllabus. The London Geography Alliance provides subject-based support, resources and continuing professional development for primary and secondary teachers
July 2016
Public Engagement
St Paul's School
St Paul's School Geography Society annual conference on migration
November 2016-18
International Centre for Parliamentary Studies
Strategic Migration Management training course with IoM and senior diplomats
April 2017
Public Engagement
London Geography Alliance
Teacher's workshop "Planning for Independent Fieldwork Investigations at A Level". The London Geography Alliance provides subject-based support, resources and continuing professional development for primary and secondary teachers
May 2017
Donmar Warehouse Education
Schools-based drama project on home, participating in the opening workshop and final performances.
October 2017
All Party Parliamentary Group for Africa
Panel discussion on the Anglophone conflict at Westminster.
August 2018
CIRCLE (DFID/ACU)
Providing post-doctoral mentoring to African scholars
April 2019
Geocapabilities (Erasmus+ scheme)
Briefing for secondary teachers on current research in migration studies in relation to the A-level curriculum
November 2021
London Migration Film Festival
Q & A panel for the film "Delphine's prayer"
Media Appearances
Date Media Description 21-OCT-2009
BBC World Service
Have Your Say on the African Diaspora. Dr Ben Page was the studio guest expert in a BBC World Service live call-in programme on 21 October to discuss, 'How is the African diaspora changing?'. He took calls and emails from Liberia, Nigeria, Somalia, Malawi, Uganda and Rwanda, as well as the UK and US. It was part of the 'Africa Have your Say' debate series, and the 82 published responses can be seen at:
04-MAY-2013
Voice of Russia Radio
Participated in a panel discussion on whether access to water is a human right as defined by the United Nations, or a commodity to be bought and sold on the global market
01-JUL 2019
Jannine Battis and Yasmin Mannan
Commentator on "Why are so many British Millennials starting a new life in Africa?" (more than 500,000 views).
- Research Grants, Prizes and Awards
External Grants
Development and the diaspora (2004-8) [Co-PI]
£203,945
Source: ESRC
Received at UCL. The grant funded research on the activities of African hometown associations in the UK, Cameroon and Tanzania. It used surveys, interviews and archive work to explore this aspect of the broader Migration-Development Nexus. It led to a book as well as 5 papers and 5 book chapters and established my reputation as an expert in this research field.
Post-doctoral fellowship (2002-3) [PI]
£26,892
Source: ESRC
Received at UCL. The grant funded a year’s post-doctoral work developing four papers from my DPhil and working on new data on urban water and sanitation infrastructure in Lagos, Nigeria. The new research led to two periods of fieldwork undertaking interviews and archival work and a peer reviewed journal article.
Research studentship with Overseas Field Grant (1996-1999) [PI]
£29,000
Source: ESRC
Received at University of Oxford. The grant funded my doctoral research including 9 months in the field in Cameroon undertaking interviews and archival work with the aim of analysing the history of attempts to persuade Cameroonians to pay for drinking water.
Internal at UCL
Political Settlements and land restitution in Fako, Cameroon (2018/19) [PI]
£2000
Source: UCL Global Engagement Funding
The grant enabled Dr Emile Sunjo, from the University of Buea (Cameroon) to come to the UK for two months to analyse data we collected together in 2018. The aim is to interpret African land issues using a novel theoretical framework (political settlements). The grant was also used to attend the ECAS (European Centres of African Studies) conference in Edinburgh where I had convened a panel on the current conflict in Anglophone Cameroon at which we both spoke.
Global Suburbanisms
(2016) [PI]
£800
Source: UCL, Middle East and Africa Network
The grant enabled me to present research findings from Cameroon at a workshop run from the University of the Witwatersrand on suburbs and suburbanization in Africa. The aim of our work was to show how rapid suburban growth in Cameroon related to rapidly changing social identities. I had originally been invited to present by the project funders, but this grant enabled me to vire their money to my Cameroonian research partners so that they could also attend the meeting in South Africa.
Africa Voices @UCL (2016) [Academic Lead]
£16,900
Source: UCL Grand Challenges
This grant was used to launch the UCL African Studies Research Centre with a series of university-wide and public facing events including talks, interviews, competitions and music. It included hosting and interviewing five senior African visitors at UCL. As the Academic Lead on the project I worked closely with a team from Global Health and Grand Challenges to make the event happen.
Transnational Homes (2014) [PI]
£2000
Source: UCL Grand Challenges
This grant was used to run a workshop at UCL on current research on transnational house-building by global diasporas. The money was used to bring researchers from the USA and UK together to develop the research field. The output of the meeting included a number of conference papers and one peer-reviewed journal publication as well as developing the research network.
Diaspora and domestic architecture in Africa (2013) [PI]
£1,350
Source: UCL
Dean’s Fund, Social and Historical Sciences
This grant was used to fund six weeks of data collection in Spring 2013 in Buea Cameroon. The aim of the research was to understand the intersections between migration, urban growth and social change. The project gathered quantitative data about the scale and cost of housing construction and qualitative data from homeowners, builders, and government officials about the process and experience of house building. The work led to a journal paper and to two book chapters.
Malaria and the African Diaspora (2012) [Co-PI]
£1,495
Source UCL Beacon Bursary
The Bursary was used to bring together members of the African diaspora in the UK with academics and medics at UCL and LSHTM. The aim was to advance the dialogue between the groups in order to improve NHS services available to the diaspora, while improving knowledge in the diaspora in order to reduce the incidence of imported malaria in the UK.
- Research Students
Postdoctoral Fellowships
I have mentored three post-doctoral fellows who came to UCL, and a fourth remotely in Nairobi:
- January–July 2013 Dr Basile Ndjio (formerly at the University of Douala, currently at Freiburg) funded by the Urban Studies Foundation. International Fellowship working on ethnographic aspects of Chinese-Cameroonian relations in Douala.
- January-December 2017 Dr Natasha Cornea (formerly a student at Lausanne, now lecturer at Birmingham) funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. Working on African Urban Politics and electricity infrastructure in Zambia
- January 2017 – present Dr Caroline Bosire (formerly at Twente University in the Netherlands. now ILRI, Nairobi) funded by DFID/ACU. Working on gender and agriculture in Western Kenya.
- May-June 2019 Dr Emile Sunjo (University of Buea) funded by UCL Global Engagement. Working on land and politics in Buea, Cameroon
PhD supervision
Current Primary Supervisor:
- Tatianna Rodrigues ‘Indo-Guyanese migrants in Barbados’ (with Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh)
- Chia-Yuan Huang ‘Circular labour migration: Taiwan, Shanghai, Singapore (with James Kneale)
- Ngozi Fakeye ‘Migration and remittances – UK-Nigeria money transfer networks’ (with Amy Horton)
- Wilfrid Jana ‘Governance, infrastructure and the Lilongwe Water board’ (with Jenny Robinson)
- Katharina Oemmelen ‘Energy justice, gender and village-scale solar energy (with Priti Parikh)
Completed Primary Supervisor
- Yi-Jen Shie “Environmental governance in South Korea” (with Richard Munton, took over supervision after Prof. Munton’s retirement) Completed 2008 Currently: Assistant Professor National Kaohsiung University of Hospitality and Tourism, Taiwan
- Ben Lampert “Nigerian diasporas and development” (with JoAnn McGregor) Completed 2010. Currently: Lecturer in International Development, Open University
- Kate Kingsford ‘Women in post-revolutionary Zanzibar’ (with Ann Varley) Completed 2016 Formerly: Editor, Women in Islam Journal
- Jin-Ho Chung ‘Adaptation to climate change in RURAL Ethiopia’ (with Sam Randalls) Completed 2017
- Currently: Research Associate in Climate Migration Urban Development, University of Oxford
- Susanah N. Alves ‘Water and subject-formation in Guinea-Bissau’ (50/50 with Jenny Robinson) Completed 2017 Currently: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at LATTS (Laboratoire Techniques, Territoires et Sociétés
- Sainabou Taal ‘Higher Education and the Gambian diaspora’ (with Claire Dwyer) Completed 2017 Currently: Senior Program Manager at HM Revenue & Custom
- Alex Ma ‘Migration, development and remittances in Singapore/Myanmar (with Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh) Completed 2019 Currently: Consultant at Simon-Kucher & Partners
- Nicola Horne ‘African constructions of whiteness in Lagos’ (50/50 supervision with Tariq Jazeel)
Completed Secondary Supervisor
- Valerie Viehoff “urban water supply system, Tangier, Morocco” (with Matthew Gandy) Completed 2009. Currently: Geography teacher at Dartford Grammar School
- Melanie Brickmann “Tuberculosis in London and New York” (with Matthew Gandy) Completed 2009. Currently: Director, Life Sciences Conference Department, New York Academy of Sciences
- Lauren Wagner “Les Vacances: Moroccan visitors to Morocco” (with Claire Dwyer) Completed 2010. Currently: Assistant Professor Maastricht University
- Magali Moreau ‘Burundian refugees in Western Tanzania” (with JoAnn McGregor) Completed 2011.Currently: International Development and Evaluation Consultant, Berne Switzerland
- James Esson ‘Migration, masculinities and football in Ghana’ (with JoAnn McGregor) Completed 2012. Currently: Reader in Human Geography, University of Loughborough
- Gayle Munro ‘Transnationalism among involuntary migrants (with Claire Dwyer) Completed 2014.Currently: Deputy Director (Children and Families) NatCen Social Research
- Ruth Judge ‘'Identity, volunteering and marginalised youth' (with Claire Dwyer) Completed 2016. Currently: Lecturer in Human Geography, University of Liverpool
- Pooya Ghoddousi ‘Nomad subjectivity in transnational lives’ (with Jason Dittmer) Completed 2018. Currently: ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow, Queen Mary University of London
- Hannah Fair ‘Resisting climate migration in the Pacific’ (with Sam Randalls) Completed 2018. Currently: Departmental Lecturer in Human Geography, University of Oxford
- Lioba Hirsh ‘Ebola and quarantine in Sierra Leone (with Alan Ingram) Completed 2019. Currently: Lecturer in Human Geography, University of Edinburgh
