Dr Anika N. Haque
Assistant Professor in Human Geography and Environment

Profile

Biography

Dr Haque is a human geographer broadly interested in urban inequality. Her research is interdisciplinary and situated at the intersection of society, environment and development. She is particularly interested in the everyday and embedded structural inequalities at city level.

Her research is grounded in Systems thinking - not only for unpacking the complex interdisciplinary problems of the contemporary cities, but also to identify solutions and pathways to achieving the overlapping sustainable development goals in the global South. Much of her research over the last decade has empirically focused on cities around the global South (from Asia to Africa to Latin America) and have been funded by a wide range of sources such as AXA, British Academy, Leverhulme Trust, INRIC, Schlumberger Foundation, FCDO.

She is a mixed-methods researcher and has conducted extensive quantitative and qualitative field works in Bangladesh, India and South Africa. Her work is widely published in world-leading journals in the field of geography, development, environment as well as in interdisciplinary journals.

Dr Haque has an interdisciplinary (academic) background: PhD in Geography (University of Cambridge), Masters in Urban Management and Development and Bachelors in Architecture. She also holds a postgraduate certification in Higher Education and is a fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She was a research fellow at the University of Cambridge (involved in several interdisciplinary projects addressing various sustainable development goals in the global South). She held (2019-2022) a research fellowship in geography at the Homerton College (University of Cambridge). Dr Haque was also a visiting academic at the University of Oxford (2020-2022). Prior to York, she worked as a lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Kent.

Dr Haque is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers). She is also an Associate at the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD), Bangladesh. She sits in the editorial board for the journal Frontiers in Climate.

At the University of York, she chairs the Equity and Diversity Committee for the department of Environment and Geography. She also co leads the Urbanization and Health network for the Interdisciplinary Global Development Centre (IGDC).

Awards

Dr Haque has received numerous prestigious awards for her research. She has been awarded the 2023 AXA IM Research Award for her contribution in the field of climate change, which marks her as the first global South scholar to receive this prestigious accolade.

Dr Haque has also been selected as one of the 20 emerging leaders in the UK in the field of Environmental Social Science by ACCESS Network in the year of 2022. She was also awarded the Young Scientist Award in 2012 in the field of Sustainable Development by The International Network of Resource Information Centres.

Dr Anika Haque wins the 2023 AXA IM Research Award for her work on the impacts of climate change on urbanised and disadvantaged areas in the global South

Research

Overview

Dr Haque leads the Stewarding transitions and transformations to sustainability research group.

Her research has three interrelated strands addressing the intersection of various sustainable development goals, namely climate action (goal 13), gender and economic inequality (goal 5 and 10), sustainable cities and communities (Goal 11) and energy access (goal 7).

• Climate change adaptation - primarily focusing on understanding the political economy in which livelihoods operate and the political ecology (including urban governance as well as socio-political processes) shaping the urban adaptation processes in low-income urban settlements (case study: Bangladesh, South Africa, Mexico). 

This is being explored through a number of connected research projects and outputs:

1. 2024-2028: Urban climate change resilience in the global South, Principal Investigator, funded by AXA Investment Managers.
2. 2023-2025: Women in cities and climate change: towards an inclusive pathway for climate change adaptation in the global South, Principal Investigator, funded by British Academy and Leverhulme Trust.
3. 2023-25: Gendered risks and responses to climate change: developing a systems understanding, Principal Investigator, in collaboration with UC Berkeley, funded by International Network of Resource Information Centres.
4. 2023-24: Understanding the ‘overlapping’ risks of climate change and urbanization: building a response to gendered well-being, Principal Investigator, funded by York Environment and sustainability Institute.
5. 2013-17: Adaptation to flooding in the low-income urban settlements of the Least Developed Countries, Principal Investigator, funded by Schlumberger Foundation.
6. 2012-14: Pro poor adaptation to Climate Change in Urban areas of Bangladesh, Co-Investigator and national lead, funded by FCDO (former DFID).
7. 2011-12: Improving urban governance through multi-stakeholder Collaboration for Water and Sanitation Sector to develop Urban Climate Resilience in Bangladesh, Consultant, funded by Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN).
8. 2011-12: Tackling vulnerability of the urban poor in the informal settlements of the global South cities, Principal Investigator, funded by the International Network of Resource Information Centres.
9. 2010-11: Knowledge assessments on Climate Change and Peri-urban/ Urban agriculture in Global South (Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia), Consultant, funded by UNEP.
10. 2009-10: Climate change adaptation assessment in Least developed countries, funded by Netherlands Funding Program

Dr Haque was the Internal Reviewer for the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report for Climate Change.

• Gender vulnerability - exploring the ‘gendered’ vulnerability to urban risks and ways in which gendered considerations can be mainstreamed into public policies (case study: Bangladesh and India). 

This is being explored through the following connected research projects and outputs:

1. 2023-2025: Women in cities and climate change: towards an inclusive pathway for climate change adaptation in the global South, Principal Investigator, funded by British Academy and Leverhulme Trust.
2. 2018-19: Gender vulnerability in India’s slum rehabilitation housings, Research Fellow, funded by British Academy Knowledge Frontier’s grant.
3. 2013-17: Adaptation to flooding in the low-income urban settlements of the Least Developed Countries, funded by Schlumberger Foundation

• Energy transitions - exploring ways in which ‘just’ energy transition pathways can be achieved addressing the dual challenge of limiting the danger of climate change and increasing socioeconomic inequality particularly across the Global South (case study: India and South Africa). 

This is being explored through the following connected research projects and outputs:

1. 2019-20: Energy innovation for low-cost housing in India and South Africa: strategies for inter-disciplinary and cross-institutional dialogue, Research Fellow, funded by British Academy (GCRF Cities & Infrastructure).
2. 2019-20: Learning between stakeholders: energy innovation for low-income housing in the Western Cape, South Africa, Research Fellow, funded by British Academy Knowledge Frontier’s grant.

Supervision

Dr Haque would be pleased to hear from highly motivated students interested in pursuing masters and doctoral studies that resonate with her research interests in Urban Geography (Urban resilience, Poverty; Inequality; Development); Climate Change Vulnerability and Adaptation; Disaster Risk Reduction; Gender vulnerability as well as those with empirical interests in Urban South Asia.

Publications

Selected publications

• Haque, A. N., Lemanski, C. & de Groot, J. (2021). Is (in)access to infrastructure driven by physical delivery or weak governance? Power and knowledge asymmetries in infrastructure governance in Cape Town, South Africa. 126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2021.07.013.
• Haque, A. N. (2021). Climate risk responses and the urban poor in the global South: a case of Dhaka’s low-income settlements. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. 64 (102534). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2021.102534.
• Haque, A.N., Lemanski, C. & de Groot, J. (2021). Why do low-income urban dwellers reject energy technologies? Exploring the socio-cultural acceptance of solar adoption in Mumbai and Cape Town. Energy Research & Social Science. 74 (101954), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.101954.
• Haque, A. N. (2020). A 'Whole Systems' View of Vulnerability to Climatic Risks: The Case of the Urban Poor in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Progress in Development Studies, https://doi.org/10.1177/1464993420908094.
• Haque, A. N.,Bithell, M. & Richards, K. S. (2020). Adaptation to flooding in low-income urban settlements of the least developed countries: a systems approach. The Geographical Journal, https://doi.org/10.1111/geoj.12348.
• Bardhan, R., Sunikka-Blank, M and Haque, A. N. (2019). Sentiment analysis as tool for gender mainstreaming in slum rehabilitation housing management in Mumbai, India, Habitat International, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2019.102040.
• Sunikka-Blank, M., Bardhan, R. and Haque, A. N. (2018). Gender, domestic energy and design of inclusive low-income habitats: A case of slum rehabilitation housing in India, Energy Research & Social Science,49, pp. 53-67, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2018.10.020.
• Haque, A. N. (2016). Application of Multi-Criteria Analysis on Climate Adaptation Assessment in the Context of Least Developed Countries, Journal of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis, Wiley Online Library. https://doi.org/10.1002/mcda.1571.
• Haque A. N.,Dodman, D. and Hossain, M. M. (2014). Individual, communal and institutional responses to climate change by low-income households in Khulna, Bangladesh, Environment and Urbanization, Volume 26 Issue 1, pp 1-18. http://eau.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/02/04/0956247813518681
• Haque A. N., Grafakos, S., Huijsman, M. (2012). Participatory integrated assessment of flood protection measures for climate adaptation in Dhaka, Environment and Urbanization, Volume 24 Issue 1, pp 197-213. http://eau.sagepub.com/content/24/1/197.full.pdf+html
• Haque, A. N. and Grafakos, S. (2010). Assessment of adaptation measures against flooding in the city of Dhaka, Bangladesh, IHS Working Papers, Number 25/2010, Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Selected policy brief:

• Haque, A.N. and Elsey, H. (2023). Addressing the ‘overlapping’ risks of climate change and urbanization and building a response to gendered well-being. YESI policy brief, University of York, U.K.

Selected blog:

• Haque, A. N. (2018). Housing or Poverty Trap for Women? A Case of Slum Rehabilitation Housing in Mumbai. http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/blog/post/housing-or-poverty-trap-for-women-a-case-of-slum-rehabilitation-housing-in

Selected media:

• BBC Arts animated thinking (2020) ‘A room in Mumbai’
• Slums or Formal Housing? Looking through urban women's eyes.

Related news:

Newspaper interview: https://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/focus/news/climate-change-and-unplanned-development-are-creating-new-set-damaging-risks-3502466

Research related news: https://www.york.ac.uk/york-unlimited/news/2023/axa-research-fund-2023/

Research related news: https://www.york.ac.uk/yesi/news/2023/climate-change-urbanisation-wellbeing-research/

External activities

Overview

Associate, International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD), Bangladesh.

Life Member, The International Network of System and Sustainability.

Fellow, Cambridge Philosophical Society.

Member, Cambridge Centre for Climate science, University of Cambridge.

Member, Global Energy Nexus in Urban Settlements (Interdisciplinary research group), University of Cambridge.

Registered Reviewer, in >12 journals including The Geographical Journal, Environment & Urbanization, Water Policy.