Dr Alexandra Gormally-Sutton
Senior Lecturer in Subsurface and SocietyCurrent Research
Ally is a human geographer with an interest in energy geographies and political geology.
She has undertaken research across the energy sphere and currently works on projects including looking at contextualising the data in relation to energy in a commercial setting, on the Managemnet Board of Supergen Energy Storage Network + (2019-2022), and part of a new ESRC Research Centre on led by The University of Manchester launching early 2025 (see the LU press release here).
Linked to the theme of political geology, much of Ally's emerging research involves exploring the relationship between social and earth processes with a specific focus on the underground. This includes exploring the , thinking critically about the role of the underground as part of the NetZero Transition, and exploring more extreme ways our relationship with earth is evolving - for instance !
Research Interests
Ally often takes an interdisciplinary approach in her research, working collaboratively with other disciplines. This began during her doctoral research which she completed in 2013 and was funded by a competitively won studentship from the .The research took an interdisciplinary approach to assessing renewable energy potential in upland communities.
Since then she has worked collaboratively with geoscientists, engineers and computer scientists and continues to persue collaborations across the disciplines and with wider stakeholders.
Ally has been publishing her research since 2011 in peer-reviewed journals and conferences on topics including subsurface governance, speculative geology, energy demand, invisible energy policies, community energy and pedagogic work on teaching sustainability in HE. She was also an invited contributor to ; Chapter 5 Non-Chemical and Thermal Energy Storage
Current Teaching
Ally mainly teaches on LEC's UG Geography programme including:
- LEC 227 'Geosocial Spaces' which explores society's relationship with earth processes (convenor)
- LEC 202 'Being a Geographer; Issues, ethics and skills' (convenor)
- LEC 101 'Global Environmental Challenges' (contributor)
In addition to this, she has a number of both UG and PG dissertation students exploring topics such as the use of subterranean spaces in cities, the role of social media in natural hazard response, Governance of groundwater in the UK, the Value of geology in settlement patterns and Community Energy, amongst others.
PhD Students:
- Jack Hemingway Thesis ''. This was in collaboration with and funded through the. Read Jack's for more info. Completed 2024.
- Joseph Earl - 'Coastwatchers:A citizen observatory for mitigation of coastal hazards'. Funded through a Faculty of Science and Technology Studentship award. Read Joseph's article for . Completed 2024.
- - 'Social housing challenges in the low-carbon transformation to Net Zero'. Hannah is based at The University of Manchester and co-supervised by Prof Stefan Bouzarovski and Dr Rob Bellamy. Funded through the , CASE partner is . Read her on the importance of mapping the shift to NetZero.
PhD students funded through the :
- , looking at adaptive thermal comfort in non-domestic building
Masters by Research students:
- Mike Lusty, looking at the role of citizen science in coastal management (completed, 2019).
- Stephen King, exploring the underlying tensions in delivering long-term collaborations for clean and sustianable growth (completed, 2021).
External Roles
ESRC academic representative on UKERC's Funders Panel 2019-2023
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS-IBG)
Previously Secretary of the RGS-IBG Energy Geographies Research Group (2018-2020) @EnergyGeography
Professional Role
Ally is LEC's academic lead for Athena SWAN. LEC were awarded a Silver Award in Autumn 2023, for more information about our approach to Athena SWAN see here.
Ally is passionate about EDI in HE and about understanding the experinces and barriers posed to minority groups in accessing a HE education, particulaly in Geography and Earth and Environmental Science subjects (GEES). As part of this work, Ally leads on a blog series called LEC Voices which aims to share a diverse range of experinces from staff and students across LEC.
Ally was previsouly Senior Admissions Tutor for LEC's UG Geography degree programmes. For more information about our degrees see here.
Research Grants
- EPSRC (CREDS) - End Use Energy Demand Technology 2. (Award to LU ?1.6M) Title: Reducing End Use Energy Demand in Commercial Settings Through Digital Innovation. PI: Prof Adrian Friday. 2020-2024.
- BGS (?3k) PI:'Underground futures/Conflicts - Scoping Project' Jan-March 2020
- EPSRC Supergen Energy Storage Network + (Co-I) 2019-2023
- ESRC-CASE Studentship (?75k) PI:'Resilience of Groundwater governance in Southern Africa' 2018-2023
- FST Research Grant (?2.5k) PI: 'Scoping Project - Energy from Magma; The Re-Imagination of Subsurface Opportunities' Jan-July 2018
- LEC-BGS PI:'Society and Subsurface' collaboration 2016-2019
01/01/2021 → 30/09/2025
Research
01/01/2020 → 31/03/2020
Research
01/09/2019 → 01/09/2023
Research
01/10/2018 → 30/09/2023
Research
Energy Lancaster
- Critical Geographies
- Energy and Society
- Energy Lancaster