Research Associates
Dr Alison Chisholm
Research Associate (GCHU) and Research Member of the Common Room (Kellogg College)
Qualitative Researcher at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford
MA, MSc, PhD
I have research interests in the potential of democratic innovations to contribute to more trusted and effective policy in challenging areas such as the climate emergency and health inequalities, and to improve social cohesion. My recent British Academy Innovation Fellowship, Citizens’ Voices Making Change, explored ways to increase the impact and legacy of citizens’ assemblies. Citizens’ assemblies and citizens’ juries are forms of deliberative democracy that bring together a group of people selected by civic lottery to exchange information and ideas through inclusive, respectful conversations, then agree on ways forward. Prior to that I worked with colleagues from the GCHU to organise and deliver Street Voice, a citizens’ jury to find common ground on solutions to the impact of travel on health and climate change.
I was also part of the team that carried out the Listening Exchanges project that piloted an innovative method to address community polarisation. They brought together two people with clearly divergent views to listen carefully to each other, reflect back a summary of what they had heard, and share their own lived experience with a view to challenging stereotypes and supporting social cohesion.
I am currently working on an evaluation of the Bridge-Builders scheme with NHS Lothian, which pairs trainee health and social care professionals with patients who need support to access appointments.
My academic background is in health psychology and health services research. I joined the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences in April 2016 to work with Professor Louise Locock on the NIHR-funded US-PEx study which aimed to better understand how NHS frontline staff use different types of patient feedback to improve health services and develop tools to help them make better use of this data. I recently worked with Dr Lisa Hinton and Professor Richard McManus on the BuMP trial, a large randomised controlled trial to determine whether self-monitoring of blood pressure can help earlier detection of hypertension and pre-eclampsia.
Emeritus Professor Timothy Dixon
Research Associate (GCHU) and Visiting Fellow (Kellogg College)
Emeritus Professor (University of Reading)
PhD, BA (Hons), Dip.Dist.Ed., FHEA, FRICS
Tim’s research and writing over his academic career has primarily focused on 'sustainable built environments'. He has a particular interest in city scale issues and city foresight (or 'urban futures') in the context of climate change. His work in this area has led to collaborations with cities and local authorities seeking to develop long-term visions and strategies. He has also worked on research which has focused on social sustainability assessment for house builders and on urban regeneration. He co-led the Reading 2050 visioning programme, and ADEPT Live Labs Project and was also co-chair of the Reading Climate Change Partnership. He is a trustee at the Howe Trust. His book on Urban Futures won the Urban Affairs Association best book prize in 2022.
His previous work has focused on the interface between the sustainability agenda and its impact on construction and property/real estate development. The research is based on a strong interdisciplinary approach which incorporates policy and practice impacts and futures thinking. More specifically this research has included:
- Futures and foresight studies, including the impact of ICT on commercial property and real estate markets, post-pandemic futures and city visioning.
- Smart, healthy and sustainable cities and big data.
- Climate change, health and the built environment.
- Sustainable real estate: investment, development, and occupation.
- Sustainable urban regeneration and brownfield issues.
- Social sustainability and social value.
- The role of private sector investment and development in urban regeneration.
Tim’s personal website is at: https://www.timothyjdixon.com/
Dr Katherine Maxwell
Research Associate (GCHU) and Visiting Fellow (Kellogg College)
Sweco UK, Technical Director of Net Zero
PhD, MSc, BSc
Dr Katherine Maxwell is currently a Research Associate at the GCHU and a Visiting Fellow at Kellogg College, University of Oxford. She is currently Technical Director of Net Zero at Sweco UK. Katherine has over a decade of experience working with municipalities and organisations on their ambitious decarbonisation and resilience strategies. Her research interests include sustainable urban development, urban governance, city leadership, resilience planning and climate finance within cities. She has worked with WSP, C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, LSE, The University of Edinburgh and the Scottish Government.
Visiting Research Associates
Dr Avar Almukhtar
Visting Research Associate (GCHU)
Senior Lecturer at School of the Built Environment, Oxford Brookes University
BSc. ArchEng. MA UD, PhD, PGCert, FHEA
Dr. Almukhtar (BSc. ArchEng. MA UD PGCert FHEA) is a Senior Lecturer at the School of the Built Environment at Oxford Brookes University, with a background in Architectural Engineering and Urban Design. His research primarily explores the application of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies in the co-design and co-creation of sustainable urban environments that can also promote health and wellbeing. Recent research awards include the Co-creation of Inclusive Green Public Spaces using Augmented Reality (British Council); Restorative Urban Green Space: An Alternative Therapy for Mental Health through AR-supported co-design (OBU); AR and VR Enabled Co-creation of Intergenerational Play Areas (OBU); and AR and VR-supported Urban Living Lab for the 15-minute city concept, ENACT 15mC, involving collaborations with Norway, Spain, and Poland (ESRC-EU). Dr. Almukhtar also completed an EU H2020-funded research secondment in Paris, investigating the concept of the 15-minute city. He has presented his work internationally at conferences hosted by institutions such as UCL London, Harvard School of Design (USA), Delft (Netherlands), Barcelona (Spain), L’Aquila (Italy), Tunisia, and Brazil.
GREAT project in collaboration with the GCHU
Dr. Almukhtar is leading the GREen spaces and Active Travel for Enhanced Urban Mobility (GREAT) project in collaboration with the GCHU which examines the relationship between proximity to green spaces and active travel choices and mobility in urban settings. This research explores how the accessibility of green areas such as parks, tree-lined streets, and public squares affects residents' travel decisions. A distinctive aspect of the project is its integration of Augmented Reality (AR), which provides interactive visualisations of urban design interventions proposed based on participants' input. AR technology is employed to demonstrate how improvements to green spaces, informed by the residents’ engagement, can influence active travel behaviours, thereby enhancing community involvement, encouraging informed decision-making, and supporting healthier, more sustainable urban mobility practices.
Visiting Global Research Associates
Dr Liu Huiming
Visting Global Research Associate (GCHU)
Assistant Professor, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau
BA, MA, PhD
Dr Liu Huiming is an accomplished academic and professional in the fields of urban design, environmental design, environmental psychology, urban planning, and architectural design. He currently serves as an Assistant Professor and PhD Supervisor at Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST) in Macau, and Visiting Research Associate at Global Centre for Healthcare and Urbanisation (GCHU), Kellogg College, University of Oxford in the UK. Prior to his current position, Dr. Liu worked at Beijing University of Technology and the Laboratory for Future City at Peking University. He obtained his PhD and Master’s degree in Urban Design from Oxford Brookes University under the supervision of Georgia Butina Watson, focusing on locally responsive public space design, with a special reference to Beijing, China.
Dr Liu’s research relates to public health, psychologies and behaviours in urban built environment across various spatial scales contributes to economic, social and cultural sustainability. He leads four research groups with the following focuses:
- The impacts of temporary events on sensory experiences, emotions, well-being, and mental health.
- The influence of the built environment on university students’ and graduates’ mental health.
- Mental health among older adults at the neighborhood scale from a migration perspective.
- Walking environments and mental health in high-density city from a sustainable tourism perspective.
Dr. Liu has published dozens of high-quality, peer-reviewed articles and has served as the Principal Investigator for following research projects:
- Transitions of Living Patterns and Transforming Socio-commercial uses in Residential Building through Impacts of Covid-19 (Funded by Macau University of Science and Technology Faculty Research Grant)
- Research Project of Urban Design Guidance in the Central Urban Area of Suide City (Funded by Suide Bureau of Natural Resources and Planning)
Further information can be found at ResearchGate
Dr Mawuli Kushitor
Visting Global Research Associate (GCHU)
Senior Lecturer, University of Health and Allied Science, Accra, Ghana
BA, MA, PhD
I am a population scientist interested in population health and health systems—specifically, the burden and management of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in African urban cities. I am intrigued by the intricate relationship between the built environment and Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) risk among the urban poor. Key aspects of my research have led to critical community-level interventions for hypertension and diabetes in Accra. For my PhD, I examined the complex interaction between people living with hypertension and Africa’s plural health systems using various methods, including GIS, component-based quantitative analysis and social network analysis.
Quite recently, my imagination has been captured by how heat stress and hazardous noise may mediate the relationship between the built environment and the risk of hypertension. I have had a unique experience participating in and coordinating large-scale, longitudinal, mixed-method cardiovascular population health projects. I am an amateur drone pilot who likes to fly over the natural environment. I use these images to create maps; I love maps. Maps have been central to the methods I apply in my research profession.
I have been privileged to have mentored over 60 undergraduate and graduate students in the last 5 years as a lecturer at the Fred. N. Binka School of Public Health (FNBSPH), University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS), Ho, Ghana. I always intentionally carry my students along and share my experience with them to support the next generation of African urban health scholars through mentorship. I aim to become a leading global researcher on urban health in Africa and globally.
Dr Tashanna Walker
Visting Global Research Associate (GCHU)
Visiting Scholar, University of Pennsylvania, USA
BSc, MA, PhD
Dr. Walker completed her doctoral studies in May 2024 at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, under the supervision of Dr. Kevon Rhiney. Her dissertation examined the complex interplay of militarization, redevelopment, and state power in Kingston, Jamaica. Her ongoing research agenda is informed by the lived experiences of marginalized groups, Black geographical thought, and decolonial qualitative research methodologies. Dr. Walker’s research has been supported by numerous fellowships and institutions, including the Social Science Research Council and the American Association of University Women. Her work has yielded manuscripts that are in review at Geoforum and Urban Studies and her research has contributed to national legislative reform in Jamaica. Furthermore, her research has garnered significant public engagement, having been featured in Jamaican media and shaping security policy discourse.
Currently, Dr. Walker holds appointments as a Visiting Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania and a Visiting Research Scholar at the University of Amsterdam. She concurrently serves as an Adjunct Lecturer at the State University of New York, Old Westbury, as well as a consultant for the Philadelphia Education Fund and The Rutgers Law School Center for Law, Inequality and Metropolitan Equity. She is also a sitting board member of the AAG-Caribbean Geographies Specialty Group. Her previous academic service includes membership in the Rutgers Graduate Geographers Project, presidency of the University of the West Indies Geographical Society, and tenure on the council of the Jamaica Geographical Society.
Beyond academia, Dr. Walker has worked extensively at the intersection of scholarship, public policy, and civic engagement. She has collaborated with a range of stakeholders, including community groups, government agencies, and international development organizations, to bridge the gap between academic research and actionable policy. Among her notable partnerships are engagements with USAID, PAHO, UNESCO, the Joy Town Development Foundation, and the Agency for Inner-City Renewal. Moreover, her commitment to social justice and educational accessibility has led her to establish and co-lead several outreach initiatives. Some of these include the Philadelphia High School STEM Diversity Initiative (2023), the Trench Town Youth Empowerment Group in Jamaica (2021), and the Emerging Scholars Scholarship and Bursary Program (2024).