Vikki Houlden

I am Associate Professor in Urban Data Science in the School of Geography, and member of the Institute for Spatial Data Science research cluster. I also work with Leeds Institute for Data Analytics (LIDA). I previously worked as a Research Associate in Spatial Inequality, within Newcastle’s Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS). Prior to this, I held a teaching-focussed role as Academic Technologist at the University of Warwick, where I also obtained her Doctorate with Warwick Institute for Science of Cities (WISC).

My research aims to understand the ways in which spaces and places embody inequalities, and the social structures influencing how people relate to their environment, with particular interest in how urban landscapes impact health and wellbeing. More specifically, I approach urban challenges, such as greenspace, mental health, ageing, peripheralisation and migration, through geospatial methods and theory which draw on my interdisciplinary background in urban science, data analytics, engineering and geography. As well as quantitative spatio-temporal analysis, I work with community groups, practitioners and local government, to understand and improve individual experiences of the built environment.