Dr Sonja Marzi

  • Affiliate (School of Social & Political Sciences)

Biography

I am an Assitant Professor at Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands and an affiliated researcher in Sociology at the University of Glasgow. Before joining Radboud University in February 2024 I was a lecturer in Research Methods and Inequalities at the University of Glasgow, prior to that position I was a fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science (Department of Methodology), and I continue to hold a Visiting Fellow position at the Latin America and Caribbean Centre at the LSE from 2018-2022.

My research draws on feminist, anti-racist and post-colonial theories and pushes the boundaries of collaboration and (remote) participatory research designs, focusing on (re)conceptualising gendered urban challenges in Colombia. Building on cutting-edge methods of using audio-visual digital methods (e.g., film and video) I co-produce knowledge on gendered urban inequalities with displaced women in Medellin and Bogota. In particular I contribute to new understandings about women’s resistance to multiple forms of violence, activism and negotiation of their urban futures in contexts and times of crisis.

My research has been funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), UK; The Fritz-Thyssen Foundation, Germany; and by an LSE Knowledge Exchange and Impact fund, UK. 

I received my Ph.D. from the University of East Anglia, Department of International Development, exploring young Colombians’ socio-spatial inequalities and aspirations in Cartagena; improving understandings of young people’s negotiations towards their desired futures.

Research interests

- Gendered inequalities in urban space
- Resistance to multiple forms of violence
- Violence and (chronic) trauma
- Displacement
- Women's activism & participation
- Feminist geographies
- Qualitative and feminist research methodology
- Participatory (visual) methods
- Remote qualitative and participatory research

 

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2018 | 2016
Number of items: 11.

2024

Marzi, Sonja ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5338-6945 and Pain, Rachel (2024) ‘Volviendo a Vivir’ (coming back to life): urban trauma, activism and building emancipatory futures. Urban Studies, 61(9), pp. 1686-1702. (doi: 10.1177/00420980231213730)

2023

Marzi, Sonja ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5338-6945 and Tarr, Jen (2023) Hybrid research methods learned during the pandemic present a more just and sustainable future for participatory research. [Website]

Marzi, Sonja ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5338-6945 (2023) Participatory video from a distance: co-producing knowledge during the COVID-19 pandemic using smartphones. Qualitative Research, 23(3), pp. 509-525. (doi: 10.1177/14687941211038171) (PMID:37275352) (PMCID:PMC10230305)

Marzi, Sonja ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5338-6945 (2023) Co-producing impact-in-process with participatory audio-visual research. Area, 55(2), pp. 295-302. (doi: 10.1111/area.12851)

2022

Marzi, Sonja ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5338-6945 (2022) ‘Having money is not the essential thing . . . but . . . it gets everything moving’: young Colombians navigating towards uncertain futures? Sociological Research Online, 27(4), pp. 842-860. (doi: 10.1177/13607804211024273)

Marzi, Sonja ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5338-6945 and Pain, Rachel (2022) The next REF should place greater value on the ‘impact-in-process’ generated by co-produced research. [Website]

2021

Marzi, Sonja ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5338-6945 (2021) Looking towards the future: intersectionalities of race, class and place in young Colombians’ lives. In: Horton, John, Pimlott-Wilson, Helena and Hall, Sarah (eds.) Growing Up and Getting By: International Perspectives on Childhood and Youth in Hard Times. Policy Press: Bristol, UK, pp. 251-268. ISBN 9781447352891

2020

Marzi, Sonja ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5338-6945 (2020) Conducting transnational participatory research with women during Covid-19 remotely: an impossibility? [Website]

2018

Marzi, Sonja ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5338-6945 (2018) Childhood, youth and violence in global contexts: research and practice in dialogue. Children's Geographies, 16(2), pp. 211-212. (doi: 10.1080/14733285.2017.1297761)[Book Review]

Marzi, Sonja ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5338-6945 (2018) ‘We are labeled as gang members, even though we are not’: belonging, aspirations and social mobility in Cartagena. Development Studies Research, 5(1), pp. 15-25. (doi: 10.1080/21665095.2018.1466720)

2016

Marzi, Sonja ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5338-6945 (2016) Aspirations and social mobility: the role of social and spatial (im)mobilities in the development and achievement of young people’s aspirations. In: Ni Laoire, Caitriona, White, Allen and Skelton, Tracey (eds.) Movement, Mobilities, and Journeys. Series: Geographies of children and young people (6). Springer: Singapore, pp. 111-130. ISBN 9789812870285 (doi: 10.1007/978-981-4585-93-4_21-1)

This list was generated on Wed Jul 9 07:20:21 2025 BST.
Jump to: Articles | Book Sections | Book Reviews | Website
Number of items: 11.

Articles

Marzi, Sonja ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5338-6945 and Pain, Rachel (2024) ‘Volviendo a Vivir’ (coming back to life): urban trauma, activism and building emancipatory futures. Urban Studies, 61(9), pp. 1686-1702. (doi: 10.1177/00420980231213730)

Marzi, Sonja ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5338-6945 (2023) Participatory video from a distance: co-producing knowledge during the COVID-19 pandemic using smartphones. Qualitative Research, 23(3), pp. 509-525. (doi: 10.1177/14687941211038171) (PMID:37275352) (PMCID:PMC10230305)

Marzi, Sonja ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5338-6945 (2023) Co-producing impact-in-process with participatory audio-visual research. Area, 55(2), pp. 295-302. (doi: 10.1111/area.12851)

Marzi, Sonja ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5338-6945 (2022) ‘Having money is not the essential thing . . . but . . . it gets everything moving’: young Colombians navigating towards uncertain futures? Sociological Research Online, 27(4), pp. 842-860. (doi: 10.1177/13607804211024273)

Marzi, Sonja ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5338-6945 (2018) ‘We are labeled as gang members, even though we are not’: belonging, aspirations and social mobility in Cartagena. Development Studies Research, 5(1), pp. 15-25. (doi: 10.1080/21665095.2018.1466720)

Book Sections

Marzi, Sonja ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5338-6945 (2021) Looking towards the future: intersectionalities of race, class and place in young Colombians’ lives. In: Horton, John, Pimlott-Wilson, Helena and Hall, Sarah (eds.) Growing Up and Getting By: International Perspectives on Childhood and Youth in Hard Times. Policy Press: Bristol, UK, pp. 251-268. ISBN 9781447352891

Marzi, Sonja ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5338-6945 (2016) Aspirations and social mobility: the role of social and spatial (im)mobilities in the development and achievement of young people’s aspirations. In: Ni Laoire, Caitriona, White, Allen and Skelton, Tracey (eds.) Movement, Mobilities, and Journeys. Series: Geographies of children and young people (6). Springer: Singapore, pp. 111-130. ISBN 9789812870285 (doi: 10.1007/978-981-4585-93-4_21-1)

Book Reviews

Marzi, Sonja ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5338-6945 (2018) Childhood, youth and violence in global contexts: research and practice in dialogue. Children's Geographies, 16(2), pp. 211-212. (doi: 10.1080/14733285.2017.1297761)[Book Review]

Website

Marzi, Sonja ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5338-6945 and Tarr, Jen (2023) Hybrid research methods learned during the pandemic present a more just and sustainable future for participatory research. [Website]

Marzi, Sonja ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5338-6945 and Pain, Rachel (2022) The next REF should place greater value on the ‘impact-in-process’ generated by co-produced research. [Website]

Marzi, Sonja ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5338-6945 (2020) Conducting transnational participatory research with women during Covid-19 remotely: an impossibility? [Website]

This list was generated on Wed Jul 9 07:20:21 2025 BST.

Grants

2022 - Glasgow Knowledge Exchange Fund small grant scheme, £1693

2020 - ESRC Methods Development Grant, UK (PI: Dr Sonja Marzi, Co-I: Professor Rachel Pain and Dr Jen Tarr), £202,134

2020 - LSE Knowledge Exchange and Impact Fund UK, £51,050

2019 - LSE Knowledge Exchange and Impact Grant, UK, £1,495

2018 - Fritz Thyssen Foundation Research Project Grant, Research Project: ‘Migrant Women in Medellin and Their Right to the City’ (suspended in 2020 due to pandemic and extended until September 2023), €42,713

Supervision

 

 

 

Professional activities & recognition

Editorial boards

  • 2021: Qualitative Research

Professional & learned societies

  • , Royal Geographical Society

Sonja Marzi