People

Dr. Rebecca Collins is a Lecturer in Environmental Science at the University of Southampton. Her research focuses on the relationship between people and the environment, with particular emphasis on the benefits people receive from nature and on sustainable behaviours, choices, and ways of living in urban environments. She is interested in how individuals understand and engage with sustainability, and how environmental conditions shape wellbeing and behaviour, alongside how human choices and consumption patterns influence environmental outcomes. Her work draws on social surveys, spatial models, and novel statistical methods to explore preferences, trade-offs, and inequalities in the distribution of environmental benefits. Through collecting and analysing data on how people interact with their environments, her work aims to inform policies and interventions that enable more equitable, healthy, and sustainable urban living.

Dr. Paz Concha is Associate Professor and Director of the Economy and Society Research Centre (ESOC) at Universidad Central de Chile. She holds a PhD in Sociology and an MSc in Culture and Society from The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and a BA in Social Anthropology from Universidad de Chile. Her research lies at the intersection of cultural economy, economic sociology and urban studies, with a particular emphasis on ethnographic approaches. She is currently the Principal Investigator of the ANID FONDECYT Initiation project “Understanding Value in the Circular Economy: The Case of the Textile Industry in Chile” (2025–2028), which examines processes of value creation, circulation, and contestation within Chile’s textile circular economy.

Dr. Fiona Drummond is a postdoctoral fellow in economics at Rhodes University, South Africa. Her doctoral research focused on the effects and legacies of COVID-19 on creative labour markets, in particular freelance workers, and the changing spatial dynamics of creative work. She won the Economics Society of South Africa’s gold, silver and bronze medals for her doctoral, Master’s and Honours research, respectively. Her interdisciplinary research applies economic and geographic methods to study creative economies. Fiona’s research interests cover various aspects of cultural economics, including creative labour markets, creative entrepreneurship, creative financing models, mapping creative economies, creative industries clustering, arts festivals, public art, heritage and creative tourism, and creative place-making.

Dr. Brian J. Hracs is an Associate Professor in the School of Geography and Environmental Science at the University of Southampton. His research examines how digital technologies, sustainability challenges and global competition are reshaping fashion and other creative industries. Drawing on a range of interdisciplinary perspectives, he investigates fashion systems, entrepreneurship, creative labour, consumption, curation, value creation and the changing relationships between producers, intermediaries and consumers. Brian has published widely on the fashion industry, including research on digitisation, circular business models, branding, entrepreneurship and sustainability. An internationally recognised scholar, he has delivered over 150 talks in 25 countries and his work has informed debates on the future of fashion in both established and emerging markets. He has led and contributed to international research projects across Europe, Africa, Asia and North America, including studies of sustainable fashion, creative economies and entrepreneurship. An award-winning educator, Brian also teaches and supervises research on fashion, sustainability and the creative economy.

Q'ala Blacker Polanco is a Chilean researcher whose expertise lies at the intersection of sustainable fashion, circular economy, and sustainability transitions. Her work focuses on understanding the environmental and social dimensions of the fashion industry, with particular interest in second-hand clothing markets, textile reuse, circular business models, and sustainable consumption practices. She has participated in interdisciplinary research projects examining the role of circular economy strategies in promoting more sustainable fashion systems in Chile. Her research combines environmental analysis with an interest in consumer behaviour, waste reduction, resource efficiency, and the transition towards more sustainable production and consumption models. She is currently collaborating on projects that explore the development and impact of circular fashion initiatives and second-hand clothing platforms. In September 2026, Q'ala will begin a PhD at the University of Southampton, United Kingdom. Her doctoral research will further explore sustainability and circular economy approaches, building on her experience in sustainable fashion and environmental research. Through her work, she aims to contribute to the development of evidence-based solutions that support a more sustainable, circular, and socially responsible fashion sector at both national and international levels.

Dr. Rhiannon Pugh is a Senior Lecturer, Centre for Innovation Research (CIRCLE) and Department of Design Sciences, Lund University, Sweden. Her research interests include: regional economic development; economic geographies of weaker, post-industrial and peripheral regions; entrepreneurial ecosystems, the roles of universities in regional development; gender perspectives within economic geography. Empirically, her work has included a range of sectors including the fashion industry. 

Dr. Xu Zhang is an associate professor in Geography at the Department of Spatial Information and Planning, Wuhan University of Technology. He received his doctorate in Human Geography from the University of Amsterdam and was a visiting scholar at the University of Manchester. As an urban geographer, his research focuses on the transformative impacts of cultural economies on urban spaces and networks, particularly within the context of emerging economies. His current work centers on the globalization and transnational production networks of China’s cultural and creative industries, including the fashion industry. One of his recent studies explores the geographical shifts and inter-place connections of fashion cities through the lens of fashion weeks. He has published in a range of international peer-reviewed journals, such as Geoforum, Urban Geography, Regional Studies, Urban Studies, and Applied Geography.