I investigate questions pertaining to power, governance, and identity in development networks. My research focuses on: (1) market-based sustainability; (2) rural livelihoods; (3) training services; and (4) research processes. As an interdisciplinary scholar with an interest in development ethics, I also explore multi-paradigmatic approaches to research and practice.

In 2010, I worked with small-scale farmers to co-develop a participatory research, training, and networking initiative in South Africa. At that time, I conducted ethnographic fieldwork with a team of community-based farmer leaders, generating in-depth knowledge of the issues facing producers in rural coloured (mixed race) areas, including challenges with Fairtrade and organic market access. Our engagement resulted in a ‘participatory commodity networking’ approach to Fairtrade producer support.

Having worked in a variety of development contexts, I retain a broad interest in post-authoritarian societies and emerging economies. Apart from fieldwork in post-apartheid South Africa, I have consulted on Fairtrade charcoal standards in Namibia and evaluated rural income generation activities in Northern Ghana. In the post-Soviet sphere, I served three years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Latvia where I developed a nationally accredited teacher training program; and I later returned via a Fulbright grant to examine the impacts of European integration on Latvia's local food movement.