https://www.debbiehopkins.co.uk/Debbie is a geographer jointly appointed between Oxford Lifelong Learning and the School of Geography and the Environment, and an Official Fellow at Kellogg College. Since joining Oxford from the University of Otago in 2016, she has held positions as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow (2016-2017), a Departmental Research Lecturer (2017-2019) and Associate Professor in Human Geography (2019-2026). Debbie became Professor of the Human Geographies of Mobility in 2026.
Debbie holds three roles across Oxford:
- She is a member of Oxford’s Environmental Sustainability Sub-Committee (PVC-Education nominee), leading the delivery of two of Oxford’s Environmental Sustainability Strategy workstreams (Education and Research). Working with colleagues in Estates, this involves launching an exciting new ‘Living Laboratory’ programme connecting Oxford’s staff and students with the university’s own sustainability ambition.
- She is the Social Science Division Advocate for Fixed Term Researchers and Research Culture, supporting more than 1000 fixed term research staff working across division’s 15 departments, faculties and schools, and seeking to foster positive and inclusive environments for all research staff, building the structures and enacting changes to improve working conditions.
She is a Harassment Advisor, providing confidential and impartial guidance to Oxford students and staff who experience or witness bullying and harassment. Debbie’s research was initially centred on climate breakdown in what are often described as ‘hard to decarbonise’ sectors (aviation, road haulage), showing that while there might be a material reality experienced in these areas to reduce dependence on the burning of fossil fuels, oftentimes it was also restricted by a limited set of values, logics and imaginaries. These insights made it clear that many of the solutions to climate breakdown exacerbated existing injustices and/or created new ones. The ambition to achieve just transformations of mobility configurations thus underpin much of Debbie’s ongoing research. Her work spans human geography sub-disciplines, and is often interdisciplinary in nature, involving collaborations with colleagues around the world.
Her research has been funded by public funding agencies in the UK, Norway, Aotearoa NZ and the United States, most recently leading two UKRI Economic and Social Research Council projects, ‘Trucking Lives’ and ‘INCLUCity+’. Debbie has published widely on these topics, with a full up to date list available on her personal website, or Google Scholar.
Debbie was awarded a 2025/26 US-UK Fulbright Scholar award, and was hosted by Cornell University’s College of Art, Architecture and Planning.
