Dr Francisco Calafate-Faria

I am an environmental sociologist and geographer specialising in eco-social relations, political ecology, and the materialities of urban and territorial transformation. My research sits at the intersection of urban political ecology, discard studies, environmental justice, and ethnographic methods, with sustained interests in how urbanisation, climate change, land expropriation, and struggles for cultural survival intersect with the circulation of matter, energy, and value.

My doctoral thesis was grounded in extended fieldwork with urban recyclers in Curitiba, Brazil. Since completing my PhD, I have conducted academic, community, evaluative, and consultancy research spanning the politics of urban waste, urban verticality, domestic energy retrofit, night workers of the London Underground, performance art festivals, arts and education engagement projects, and radio in prisons. I led the evaluation of National Prison Radio, supporting the organisation in assessing and reporting its impact on the prison population and on the objectives of His Majesty's Prison and Probation Service. My evaluation and consultancy work has informed policy decisions for organisations including the Greater London Authority, London boroughs, and arts and education organisations.

Over the past two years, my research has focused on conflicts at the frontiers of lithium battery mining in Portugal, the United Kingdom, and Brazil. I am Principal Investigator of the British Academy-funded project Local, Indigenous, Quilombola and Traditional Communities and the Making of the 'Lithium Valley' in Minas Gerais, Brazil: Empowering Silenced Voices in the Energy Transition (LIQUIT). The project brings the voices of communities affected by the new wave of 'green' extractivism into current debates on climate policy and green growth. I lead an international team of researchers from the UK, Portugal, and Brazil, including colleagues living in communities directly affected by lithium mining in the Vale do Jequitinhonha. LIQUIT was awarded Research Project of the Year at LSBU's Research and Innovation Festival in December 2025.