Gemma Catney

Professor Gemma Catney is a leading Population and Social Geographer at Queen's University Belfast, where she holds the title of Professor in the School of Natural and Built Environment. Her research focuses on ethnic residential segregation, socio-spatial inequalities, and internal migration. She leads the £1m Economic and Social Research Council-funded GEDI project (2023-2026), analyzing ethnic diversity and inequalities using Census data. Previously, she was Senior Lecturer at the University of Liverpool and held a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship (2012-2014). Her work has been featured in The Guardian, BBC, and The Economist, and she advises government and policy bodies. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and Royal Geographical Society. Teaching includes modules on geographies of ethnicity and research skills, earning her a QUB Teaching Award in 2021.

Research Projects:

• Principal Investigator of GEDI (£1m ESRC project, 2023-2026)
• Co-Investigator on Nuffield Foundation's Trajectories of Deprivation in the UK
• Past leadership of projects on rural belonging and spatial dementia analysis

Key Contributions:

• Published 52+ articles in top journals like Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers
• Developed novel deprivation indices and census analysis frameworks
• Policy influence via evidence submissions to government reviews

Awards & Fellowships:

• Royal Geographical Society Gill Memorial Award (2019)
• Leverhulme Trust Fellowship (2012-2014)
• Queen's University Teaching Award (2021)

Lab & Collaborations: Collaborates internationally on UK-US ethnic geography projects, with partners like the Runnymede Trust and Royal Geographical Society.