Julie Hearn

Dr. Julie Hearn is a Senior Lecturer and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) at the Lancaster University, affiliated with the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences and the Department of Politics. She convenes courses such as PPR.222 The Politics of Development and PPR.336 Africa and Global Politics, while supervising final-year and MA dissertations. As PPR Director of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI), she received the 2024 EDI Faculty Award.

• Education: ESRC-funded PhD research in Kenya; collaborative projects with the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex, and institutions in Ghana, Uganda, and South Africa.
• Research Themes: Julie’s work spans five areas: (1) the global political economy of African civil societies, (2) labor movements in Argentina, (3) trade union mobilization of Latin American migrant workers in London, (4) Ecuador’s postneoliberal development model, and (5) the NGO-isation of the Syrian Revolution.
• Scientific Awards:
  • 2024 EDI Faculty Award
  • Elected four times to the UCU National Executive Committee
  • Co-founder of the Lancaster University Race Equality Network (LUREN)
• Advising & Grants: Supervised PhD student David Murphy; secured a 2008 British Academy Small Grant and a 2014/15 ESRC grant for research on migrant workers and Ecuador’s development model, respectively.
• Publications Trends: Her work focuses on NGO-isation, civil society critiques, labor activism, and postneoliberal development, with key contributions to journals like Development and Change, Third World Quarterly, and International Socialism.
• Other Activities: Former President, VP, Equality Officer, and Membership Officer of Lancaster UCU; organizer of Black History Month events and decolonization campaigns.