Dr Roxana Willis awarded funding for ‘Toxic Towns’ research project

Dr Roxana Willis has been awarded a grant from the LSE Global School of Sustainability Global Research Sustainability Fund for a two-year project titled Toxic Towns: Transforming waste law from the grassroots up. Willis will be joined by Dr Marie Petersmann and Diana Kirsch as Co-Investigators.

The project will examine waste law and environmental justice through community-led engagement and research. As part of this work, the team will lay the foundations for the UK’s first Waste Law Clinic, in partnership with the GSoS Sustainability Law and Policy Clinic (SLPC), directed by Dr Marie Petersmann, and the LSE Legal Advice Centre, directed by Diana Kirsch. Funding will support the appointment of a Postdoctoral Research Assistant at 0.5 FTE for the duration of the project.

As part of this work, Willis, Petersman and Diana recently participated in a community event in Corby connected to the long-running campaign surrounding the Corby toxic waste scandal, which inspired the recent Toxic Town series on Netflix. Student volunteers, Sara Gabrielli and Eleni Anayiotou, from the LSE Legal Advice Centre also attended the event,, supporting discussions with local residents and campaigners.

The event brought together members of the community, researchers and legal advocates to discuss environmental justice, accountability and the future of waste regulation. Local media coverage included a feature by ITV News.