Professor Cathy McIlwaine is a feminist geographer who has a BA (Geography) and MA (Latin American Studies) from the University of Liverpool and a PhD from the London School of Economics. Prior to joining King's, Cathy held positions in the Geography Departments of the London School of Economics and Political Science (1994-5) and Queen Mary University of London (1995-2017). She also worked at the World Bank as a Social Scientist Research Project Manager (1-year secondment) in Washington DC(1998-9).

Cathy has served or is currently serving as a trustee for the following organisations: Carila Latin American Welfare Group (2006-9), Children Change Colombia (2010-17), Latin Elephant (2014-present) and the Latin American Bureau (2019-present). She is also an advisory board member of the Latin American Women’s Rights Service (2017-present) and is an Advisory Council Member for the Institute of Latin American Studies, London (2013-present).

Cathy became Vice Dean (Research) for the Faculty of Social Sciences and Public Policy (SSPP) on 1 October 2020 and was elected as a Fellow to the UK Academy of Social Sciences in 2022. She also served as a sub-panel member representing Geography in the UK Research Excellence Framework 2021 (REF). She is currently the chair of the REF sub-panel 14 Geography and Environmental Studies. See more about REF2029.

Cathy co-coordinates the King's Visual and Embodied Methodologies Network (with Jelke Boesten and Rachel Kerr). She currently collaborates with a range of NGOs, arts organisations and universities including Redes da Mare and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, and Migrants in Action, People’s Palace Projects, Latin America Bureau and the Women of the World Foundation in London.

See Cathy's website

In the video below Cathy talks us through her British Academy project 'Resisting violence, creating dignity'.

Research

• Feminist geographies
• Gendered violence
• Migration
• Latin Americans in London
• Resistance and activism
• Arts-based approaches
• Visual and Embodied Methodologies (VEM)

Cathy’s research revolves around issues of gender, violence and resistance in cities, especially in Latin America, and among migrants in London (the latter mainly with the Latin American community) . Her work combines social science and arts-based approaches and is based on feminist collaborations. Cathy's current and recent research projects are on gendered violence and resistance among migrants in London and among those living in the favelas of Maré in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (funded by the Economic and Social Research Council [ESRC], the British Academy and the Arts and Humanities Research Council [AHRC]).

Teaching

Cathy’s teaching focuses on gender and development in the global South, migration and arts-based methods.

Undergraduate

• 4SSG1016 Geography in Action
• 6SSG3080 Gender and Development in the global South
• 6SSG0610 Independent Geographical Study

Postgraduate

• 7SSG5107 Environment, Livelihoods and Development in the South

PhD supervision

Cathy has extensive expertise in supervising PhD students, including on the following subjects:

• Gender and cities in the Global South
• Migrant and livelihoods
• Gendered violence in the Global South and among migrants in the UK
• Latin London: the Latin American migrant community in London

Expertise and public engagement

• Exhibition and photobook launch: All of Us, Brixton House, London (with Migrants in Action), 2025
• Film installation and performance: We Still Fight in the Dark (with Migrants in Action), 2022-2024
• Podcast and blog series: Women Resisting Violence (with Latin America Bureau), 2022-present
• Exhibition: Who’s Behind Your Order, Brixton House, London (with Migrants in Action) and Brick by Brick (with Casa das Mulheres da Maré [Redes da Maré], Rio de Janeiro), 2023.
• Exhibition: Vidas Femininas: Art and resistance (with Museu da Pessoa, Brazil), 2022
• Film: Women of Maré: Art as Resistance (with People’s Palace Projects), 2023
• Exhibition: Dignity and Resistance, King’s College London, 2022
• Sound-performance installation: Believe (with the Visual and Embodied Methodologies [VEM] network), King’s College London, 2019
• Short film: Ana (based on Efêmera) by Gael le Cornec shown at three film festivals, 2019
• Viral video: Raising awareness of violence against Brazilian women in London, 2018
• Verbatim theatre play: Efêmera by Gael Le Cornec, Southwark Playhouse; Redes da Maré, Rio de Janeiro, Brighton Fringe Festival, 2017-2018
• Multi-media art installation, SCAR, by Bia Lessa, Women of the World Festival, Southbank Centre, March 2018
• Documentary film: Cultural consumption among Latin Americans in the UK (with CASA Latin American Theatre Festival), 2016
• Documentary film: Towards Visibility (with Latin American Women’s Rights Service), 2016

Further details

See Cathy's research profile