Staff profile

Dr Mildred Oiza Ajebon is a Lecturer in Human Geography (Quantitative Methods) in the Department of Geography at Durham University. Her research sits at the intersection of critical health geography, environmental inequalities, and feminist geographies of risk, with a particular focus on climate-health inequalities, embodied vulnerabilities, digital health inequalities, and the social determinants of health across the UK and Nigeria.

Her work examines how socio-economic, political, environmental, and infrastructural inequalities shape uneven experiences of health, risk, care, and wellbeing. She is particularly interested in thermal injustice, neoliberal health governance, algorithmic inequalities, and the geopolitics of health and development in Africa.

Methodologically, her research combines GIS, spatial analysis, quantitative methods, survey research, and interpretative qualitative approaches. She is also developing innovative approaches to interpretative quantitative pedagogy within geography education.

Mildred completed her PhD in Human Geography at Durham University as a Commonwealth Scholar, focusing on spatial inequalities in child health in Nigeria. Before joining Durham University as a Lecturer in 2022, she held academic and research positions at the University of Benin, the Federal University of Technology Minna, and the University of York.

She welcomes enquiries from prospective PhD students interested in:

• Health geography and health inequalities
• Climate-health inequalities and thermal injustice
• Feminist geographies of risk and care
• GIS and spatial analysis for health research
• Quantitative and mixed-methods research
• Digital health inequalities and algorithmic governance
• Health and development in Africa
• Digital health othering/inequalities
• Algorithmic inequalities
• Neoliberal healthism and risk governance

• My primary research interest is on Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing applications for understanding a range of health outcomes among poor population groups. Major themes which feature in my work include, health inequality health ri
• Social determinants of under-five mortality in Nigeria: A Geographial Analysis

• 2005: Best Graduating Student: Prof. S. E. N. Okoh Foundation Prize, Overall Best Graduating Student in the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Benin, Nigeria, 2004/2005 Academic Session

  Departmental Academic Prize, Best Graduating Student in 400 Level, Department of Geography and Regional Planning, University of Benin, Nigeria 2004/2005 Academic Session

Conference Paper

• Health Risk and Resilience in Nigeria: A postcolonial Perspective.
  
  Ajebon, M. O. (2017). Health Risk and Resilience in Nigeria: A postcolonial Perspective [Conference paper]. Presented at RGS-IBG 2017, London.
• CAN ADMINISTRATIVE DATA BE USED TO CREATE A GEODEMOGRAPHIC CLASSIFICATION?
  
  Ajebon, M. O., & Norman, P. (2015). CAN ADMINISTRATIVE DATA BE USED TO CREATE A GEODEMOGRAPHIC CLASSIFICATION? Presented at GISRUK2015, Leeds, UK.

Edited book

• Navigating the Field: Postgraduate Experiences in Social Research
  
  Ajebon, M. O., Kwong, Y. M. C., & Astorga de Ita, D. (Eds.). (2021). Navigating the Field: Postgraduate Experiences in Social Research. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68113-5

Journal Article

• Vulnerabilities in child well-being among primary school children: a cross-sectional study in Bradford, UK
  
  Pickett, K. E., Ajebon, M., Hou, B., Kelly, B., Bird, P. K., Dickerson, J., Shire, K., McIvor, C., Mon-Williams, M., Small, N., McEachan, R., Wright, J., & Lawlor, D. (2022). Vulnerabilities in child well-being among primary school children: a cross-sectional study in Bradford, UK. BMJ Open, 12(6), Article e049416. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-049416
• Covid-19 lockdown: Ethnic differences in children’s self-reported physical activity and the importance of leaving the home environment; a longitudinal and cross-sectional study from the Born in Bradford birth cohort study
  
  Bingham, D. D., Daly-Smith, A., Hall, J., Seims, A., Dogra, S. A., Fairclough, S. J., Ajebon, M., Kelly, B., Hou, B., Shire, K. A., Crossley, K. L., Mon-Williams, M., Wright, J., Pickett, K., McEachan, R., Dickerson, J., Barber, S. E., & the Bradford Institute for Health Research COVID-19 Scientific Advisory Group. (2021). Covid-19 lockdown: Ethnic differences in children’s self-reported physical activity and the importance of leaving the home environment; a longitudinal and cross-sectional study from the Born in Bradford birth cohort study. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 18(1), Article 117. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-021-01183-y
• Beyond the census: a spatial analysis of health and deprivation in England
  
  Ajebon, M., & Norman, P. (2016). Beyond the census: a spatial analysis of health and deprivation in England. GeoJournal, 81(3), 395-410. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-015-9624-8

Presentation

• Who has the final say? women power and landscapes of risk for under-five mortality in Nigeria
  
  Ajebon, M. O. (2018). Who has the final say? women power and landscapes of risk for under-five mortality in Nigeria. Presented at RGS-IBG 2018, Cardiff.