Professor Steve Hinchliffe appointed Professor of Environmental Geography at the School of Geography and the Environment
The School of Geography and the Environment (SoGE) at the University of Oxford is delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Steve Hinchliffe as Professor of Environmental Geography and fellow of Linacre College with effect from 1 May 2026.
Steve is a world leading human geographer and social scientist who brings expertise in spatial theory, social studies of science and technology as well as human-nonhuman relations to SoGE. He will hold the Statutory Chair in Environmental Geography.
Prof Steve Hinchliffe said:
“I’m honoured to have been appointed to the Statutory Chair in Environmental Geography at the University of Oxford. It’s a fantastic department with wonderful interdisciplinary links across the areas of expertise and research that are critical to understanding the social and material predicaments that we face today. I am looking forward to joining an exciting community of researchers, and to working together on research and teaching that demonstrates the importance and value of social science-led approaches to environmental issues.”
Prof Giles Wiggs, Head of the School of Geography and the Environment, said:
"I am delighted to welcome Steve to the School where his world-class expertise in disease, biosecurity and antimicrobial resistant infections will forge exciting new research and teaching collaborations to our existing portfolio. Steve’s research represents a vital contribution to our understanding of relationships between humans and their environment and his research at SoGE will offer demonstrable impact in the University and beyond."
Prior to joining SoGE, Steve was Professor of Geography at the University of Exeter, where he was co-director of the Wellcome Centre for Cultures and Environment of Health. He was formerly Lecturer, Reader and Professor of Geography at the Open University, and has held posts at the Universities of Keele and Cambridge. He is an elected Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and has served on the UK Government’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Exotic Diseases, and the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Science Advisory Group’s (DEFRA) Social Science Expert Group. He currently sits on OFFLU’s Applied Epidemiology Working Group and recently advised the Scientific Pandemic Insights Group (SPI-B), a sub-group of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE).
Steve’s books include the monograph Pathological Lives (Wiley Blackwell) and he has published widely on One Health, Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), Biosecurity, and human-nonhuman relations. Ongoing funded research includes political ecologies of AMR in Tanzania, bio-social securities in the UK, Bangladesh and South Africa, and developing just approaches to environmental issues that are characterised by multiple normativities. He is about to commence a European Research Council Advanced project on biosocial security, which aims to develop alternative approaches to securing human and nonhuman animal health.
Professor Steve Hinchliffe appointed Professor of Environmental Geography at the School of Geography and the Environment
The School of Geography and the Environment (SoGE) at the University of Oxford is delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Steve Hinchliffe as Professor of Environmental Geography and fellow of Linacre College with effect from 1 May 2026.
