Institution: University of Southampton

Dr Jessica Espey is Associate Professor in the School of Geography and Environmental Sciences at the University of Southampton and Deputy Director for Research at World Pop. Her research focuses on governance and epistemology, specifically how data and diverse forms of evidence shape the international governance of sustainable development and climate change. At World Pop she works to support the development and uptake of high quality research and methods for the construction of open and high-resolution geospatial data on population distributions, demographic and dynamics.

Her research interests are varied and include data systems for sustainable development, evidence-based policy-making, sustainable urbanization, and the study of horizontal inequalities.

Prior to joining the University of Southampton, Jessica was a Senior Advisor to the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the Head of the TReNDS program, SDSN’s Thematic Research Network on Data and Statistics.

Jessica holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with Honours in Modern History from the University of Oxford, a Master of Sciences degree in the Political Economy of Development from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and a PhD in Public Policy and Human Geography from the University of Bristol. She has lived and worked in Liberia, Kenya, Rwanda, the UK, and the US.