Dr Emil Dauncey

Professional Biography

I am a Staff Tutor and Lecturer in Geography and Environmental Studies at The Open University, with a background in development geography, social anthropology and gender analysis. I joined the OU in 2020 having held research and teaching roles at the University of East Anglia and Royal Holloway, University of London, and working extensively with civil society and international organisations across Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

My work bridges academic research and practical development practice. I have worked in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda and elsewhere on issues relating to health, youth, and social justice. I bring particular expertise in monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL), with a focus on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), caregiving, and youth engagement. I am currently collaborating with the South African NGO CHIVA on research into paediatric HIV and care relationships in KwaZulu-Natal.

Earlier in my career, I carried out ethnographic research in Hausa communities in Nigeria and Ghana, exploring masculinities, household dynamics, and material culture. While my current focus has shifted, this work continues to inform my interest in how social identities are shaped through everyday practice and economic transformation.

My more recent research explores the politics and ethics of knowledge production—particularly how care, authorship, and professional identity are being unsettled by automation and generative AI. I am interested in how interdisciplinary and creative methods can help illuminate the fragile, often invisible forms of labour that underpin both development and academic work.

I am co-editor of The Companion to Development Studies (Routledge) and am committed to widening participation in higher education. As a former mature student, I remain passionate about improving access, belonging and retention for non-traditional students.

Research Interests

Gender, youth, and social change
I explore how gendered and generational identities are shaped by broader processes of economic transformation, social aspiration, and cultural negotiation—often focusing on how young people navigate these shifts in everyday life.

Sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR)
My work in this area engages with youth-focused programmes and community-based care initiatives, drawing attention to the lived experiences, structural challenges, and policy frameworks that shape access to SRHR across different contexts.

Care, authorship, and automation
I am interested in how systems of automation and AI are reshaping what counts as care, authorship, and expertise—particularly in development and academic work—raising critical questions about responsibility, recognition, and the ethics of knowledge production.

Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL)
I have supported MEAL processes for a range of global development organisations, focusing on how evidence and learning can be used to strengthen programming—especially in relation to youth engagement, health systems and livelihoods.

Interdisciplinary and collaborative research methods
My approach to research is creative, applied, and collaborative—often involving partnerships between academic and practitioner communities to develop context-sensitive insights and innovative methodologies.

Widening participation and inclusive pedagogy
I am committed to addressing barriers to access and success in higher education, especially for mature students and those from under-represented backgrounds. My work in this area focuses on curriculum design, student voice, and pedagogical inclusion.

Teaching

My teaching is shaped by a deep commitment to interdisciplinary learning across and beyond the social sciences. I am especially interested in how academic ideas can be made relevant to everyday life, and I work with students to explore how large-scale social forces are experienced, interpreted, and negotiated in ordinary settings. This focus is grounded in my ethnographic orientation to research and a belief that close attention to lived experience is essential for understanding broader processes of change.

I bring several years of international teaching and teacher training experience to my current role, including work with literacy educators in Venezuela and pastoralist education programmes in Ethiopia. These experiences inform my approach to pedagogy, which values collaboration, reflexivity, and respect for diverse ways of knowing. I aim to create inclusive learning spaces that help students build confidence in their ideas, connect theory with practice, and develop as critical, compassionate thinkers.

Impact and Engagement

I have a long-standing commitment to ensuring that academic knowledge contributes to meaningful social change. Alongside my university role, I have taken on a range of strategic and advisory roles with organisations such as Amref Health Africa, Share-Net International, and the World Bank as well  as several bilateral organisations. This work has included contributing to research design, evaluation strategies, and learning processes across global health, gender, and youth-focused programmes in contexts such as South Africa, Somalia, Nigeria, and Malawi.

My contributions often focus on strengthening the use of evidence in development practice—whether through supporting the development of participatory evaluation tools, advising on gender and inclusion strategies, or helping to clarify the ethical and political dimensions of monitoring, evaluation, and learning.

I have also been involved in widening public engagement with development issues. As academic advisor to the OU/BBC co-production Wilderness with Simon Reeve, I support the framing of complex global themes for broad audiences. In both teaching and research, I am interested in how interdisciplinary and accessible forms of knowledge can shape public conversation, policy, and professional practice.

Across these roles, I aim to foster collaborative spaces where knowledge is co-produced, care is taken seriously, and the lived realities of marginalised communities are placed at the centre of strategic thinking and action.