1. Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences
  2. School of Civil Engineering
  3. People
  4. Profile
Hannah Jayne Robinson

Hannah Jayne Robinson

Profile

I am a third year PhD Student, affiliated with the Water-WISER Centre for doctoral training, writing a PhD by Publication on Gender and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).

This is my 6th year in Leeds, having obtained my Undergraduate BEng Degree from this school in 2019: after competition of this Degree, I published a blog post for Leeds’ WASH Blog detailing the social and physical pressures of managing menstruation.

My PhD takes elements of engineering and social science, to create a truly interdisciplinary piece of work. I am aiming to document the way gender is portrayed in WASH, and following information chains at differing levels of the socio-ecological model to understand the barriers currently facing Gender Inclusion, and therefrore equality and equity more broadly.

Alongside my PhD Focus:

  1. I have undertaken research for Irise International, looking at menstrual experiences in High Income Countries (possible through winning Leeds for Life Foundation Funding) while working jointly with the UK Government’s Period Poverty Taskforce
  2. Volunteer as a mentor for incoming postgraduate researchers
  3. Am part of the committee planing the very first Water-WISER Conference for Summer 2022
  4. Work for the Outreach Team as a STEM Educational Fellow, teaching younger students about engineering futures

Outside of academia I ran the largest volunteering society on campus (Action) for a year achieving two awards for my volunteering work, fundraised for WaterAid, attended two short courses on global health (ran by Students for Global Health Leeds), and aided two international development projects.

Research interests

After spending the first year of my 4-year programme taking modules in environmental health, humanitarian engineering, management of WASH projects and gender, I decided to focus my research on Gender in WASH. I am hoping to create a series of papers looking into inclusion of Gender in development projects generally, and then how guidelines can help/hinder progress on gender, with a concluding piece on the pathways to tackling the current barriers. I am therefire broadly interested in Gender Equality and Equity, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, and Menstrual Health.

Qualifications

  • 2019 – BEng Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Leeds, UK (1st Class Division)

Research groups and institutes

  • Water, Public Health and Environmental Engineering