Avril Maddrell

Avril Maddrell is a Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Science at the University of Reading, where she contributes to undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and supervision. She is a member of the SAGES Research Ethics Committee and the SAGES Equality and Diversity Committee, reflecting her commitment to ethical and inclusive academic practice.

Her research interests lie at the intersection of social and cultural geography, with a focus on emotional-affective geographies, deathscapes, sacred mobilities, gender, heritage, and charity shops as socio-cultural spaces. She explores how place, landscape, and ritual shape identity, memory, and belonging, particularly in the context of death, migration, and religious practice.

Her recent publications span topics such as cemeteries as public spaces, migrant death rituals, Hindu cremation practices in the UK, and the emotional geographies of grief and consolation. These works reflect a consistent engagement with spatial justice, cultural inclusion, and the lived experiences of minorities in multicultural societies.

• Co-Editor, Gender, Place and Culture
• Co-Editor, Social and Cultural Geography

Avril has led significant research projects, including the HERA-funded Cemeteries and Crematoria as public spaces of belonging in Europe (CeMi), and has been involved in AHRC- and ESRC-funded research on deathscapes, diversity, and pilgrimage. She supervises PhD students on topics related to place, identity, and cultural practice, and welcomes new inquiries in her research areas.

She is affiliated with the Human Geography Research Cluster at the University of Reading and collaborates with interdisciplinary teams across Europe.