Alanna Higgins

Contact

• workUniversity Park
  Nottingham
  NG7 2RD
  UK
• Alanna.Higgins@nottingham.ac.uk
• foodacademics.wordpress.com

Biography

I am an interdisciplinary geographer with a range of interests across the human-environment nexus. My research interests include food and nutrition justice, political ecology, critical public health, and pedagogies for educational accessibility and equity in the geosciences.

Prior to joining the School of Geography, I was a Visiting Assistant Professor at West Virginia University (2022-2023) and a Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Latvia (2016-2017). I completed my BS in Environmental Policy, Institutions, and Behavior at Rutgers University (2007), my MSc in Food and Rural Development Research at Newcastle University (2013), and my PhD in Geography at West Virginia University (2022).

Teaching Summary

I currently contribute to the following modules within the School of Geography:

• Tutorials
• Research Tutorial
• Study Skills for Environmental Sciences (convener)
• Environment, Development, and Livelihoods
• Exploring Human Geography
• Rural and Environmental Geography
• Geographies of Fashion and Food (co-convener)

Research Summary

I am a human geographer committed to interdisciplinary research on human-environment questions, particularly focused on food and health systems. Broadly, my work contributes to scholarship around… read more

Recent Publications

• ALANNA K. HIGGINS, 2023. Produce prescription programs, bodily norms, and federal nutrition policy Fat Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society. 12(1), 21-36
• ALANNA K. HIGGINS and ELYZABETH W. ENGLE, 2022. The Appalachian Just Transition and Food Access Initiatives: Two Case Studies from Central Appalachia Southeastern Geographer. 62(3), 231-252
• ALANNA K. HIGGINS and AARON E. MAXWELL, 2021. Universal Design for Learning in the Geosciences for Access and Equity in Our Classrooms The Journal of Applied Instructional Design. 10(1),
• ALANNA HIGGINS, 2015. A War of Words: The Construction of Food Sovereignty in the US & UK Newcastle University. Available at: <https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alanna-Higgins/publication/282703733_A_War_of_Words_The_Construction_of_Food_Sovereignty_in_the_US_UK/links/56191c7008aea80367202e48/A-War-of-Words-The-Construction-of-Food-Sovereignty-in-the-US-UK.pdf>

• View all publications

Current Research

I am a human geographer committed to interdisciplinary research on human-environment questions, particularly focused on food and health systems. Broadly, my work contributes to scholarship around food geographies, legal geographies, critical public health and nutrition, and science and technology studies. Currently, I examine the co-constitutive relationships between the state and food access as it is mediated through medical diagnoses through my doctoral work examining changes in the Farm Bill and increasing implementation of produce prescription programs across the US. I also do work on the creation, implementation, and evaluation of inclusive curriculum design in the geosciences.

I have just been awarded a UoN School of Geography Research Committee Grant (along with Kieran Phelan and Sam Strong) to examine student food insecurity and resulting educational geographies at the UoN UK campus, commencing in December 2023.

Past Research

Previously, I have worked on the following areas:

• Safety net primary care providers and reimbursement issues in West Virginia, USA
• Community food access and initiatives in West Virginia, USA
• Specialty crop farmer viability in West Virginia, USA
• Food-based social economy enterprises in Riga and Jurmala, Latvia
• Consumer literacy of nutritional information in the US
• Food sovereignty movements in the US and UK

• ALANNA K. HIGGINS, 2023. Produce prescription programs, bodily norms, and federal nutrition policy Fat Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society. 12(1), 21-36
• ALANNA K. HIGGINS and ELYZABETH W. ENGLE, 2022. The Appalachian Just Transition and Food Access Initiatives: Two Case Studies from Central Appalachia Southeastern Geographer. 62(3), 231-252
• ALANNA K. HIGGINS and AARON E. MAXWELL, 2021. Universal Design for Learning in the Geosciences for Access and Equity in Our Classrooms The Journal of Applied Instructional Design. 10(1),
• ALANNA HIGGINS, 2015. A War of Words: The Construction of Food Sovereignty in the US & UK Newcastle University. Available at: <https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alanna-Higgins/publication/282703733_A_War_of_Words_The_Construction_of_Food_Sovereignty_in_the_US_UK/links/56191c7008aea80367202e48/A-War-of-Words-The-Construction-of-Food-Sovereignty-in-the-US-UK.pdf>
• ALANNA K. HIGGINS, 2015. Food sovereignty in the global North: the application of a social justice framework for a common language and approach. In: AMY TRAUGER, ed., Food Sovereignty in International Context: Discourse, Politics and Practice of Place Routledge. 64-78