Camilla Lewis

Camilla Lewis is a senior lecturer in Architectural Studies at the University of Manchester, where she is also a member of the Manchester Architecture Research Group (MARG), the Manchester Urban Ageing Research Group, and the Morgan Centre for Research on Everyday Lives. Her academic journey includes completing a PhD in social anthropology at the University of Manchester in 2014, followed by teaching positions at Newcastle University and post-doctoral research roles at both Manchester and Brunel Universities.

Dr. Lewis's research centers on urban change, inequalities, ageing, housing, belonging, and community, with a strong methodological focus spanning ethnographic, sensory, and longitudinal approaches. Her work provides theoretical analyses of everyday experiences of inequalities in urban environments while offering practical suggestions for tackling marginalization in socially excluded groups. She has made significant contributions to understanding how place and space affect older people's lives, particularly during the pandemic, as evidenced by her 2023 co-authored book "COVID-19, Inequality and Older People: Everyday Life During the Pandemic."

Her recent publications demonstrate a consistent focus on urban ageing, spatial justice, and the intersection of place with social inequalities. Lewis has examined how older people experience "ageing in place" over time, investigated micro-atmospheres in housing environments, and analyzed the disproportionate impact of crises like the pandemic and cost-of-living challenges on older ethnic minority populations. This body of work reveals her commitment to understanding how physical environments shape social experiences, particularly for vulnerable populations.

Dr. Lewis has secured significant research funding, including an ESRC-funded project from 2018-2019 entitled "The experience of 'ageing in place' over time: a longitudinal perspective." She is also a co-investigator on the "Air Space: Creating a Community-Integrated Network of Interdisciplinary Research on Socio-Atmospherics" project (2023-2024). She welcomes PhD students interested in her research areas and has been involved in supervising doctoral work, as indicated by her thesis "Reconfiguring Class and Community: An Ethnographic Study in East Manchester" from 2014.

Her collaborative work extends across multiple institutions and disciplines, with notable partnerships through the Manchester Urban Ageing Research Group. Dr. Lewis frequently engages with policy-relevant research, as evidenced by her numerous media contributions during the pandemic discussing how lockdowns affected older people and deepened existing inequalities.