Jim Wright

Professor Jim Wright is a Professor in GIS & International Development at the University of Southampton. His research focuses on geospatial data applications for environmental management, safe water access, and public health in Sub-Saharan Africa.

• Coordinates the ESRC-funded Water and Waste project
• Deputy Head of School for Research
• Member of:
• Population, Health and Wellbeing (PHeW) group
• Southampton Geospatial Research cluster

Research Interests:
Jim investigates urban water service delivery in off-grid Sub-Saharan African areas through projects like Water and Waste and Phase III of Countdown to 2030. His work integrates WASH principles with solid waste management while exploring climate change impacts on health and water services using geospatial analysis of routine health data.

Publications Trends:
Recent work combines GIS with WASH challenges (2025 studies on maternal healthcare mapping and plastic waste monitoring). Earlier work (2015-2018) focused on groundwater contamination in Kisumu and Kenya's Water2030 projections.

Scientific Awards:

• UNICEF Best of UNICEF Research (2015)
• ESRC Retail Masters Impact Award (2012)
• Unite Ideas #SDGInsights Prize (2017)

External Roles:
Member of ESRC Peer Review College and reviewer for UKRI. Has served as invited speaker on water/sanitation monitoring since 2014.