PhD Research: Data Centres as Financial Assets
October 2025 — ongoingI’m currently a PhD researcher jointly based in the Departments of Visual Cultures and Media, Communications and Cultural Studies (MCCS) at Goldsmiths, University of London.
My doctoral project investigates the rapid expansion of data centres in the UK and their entanglements with global capital, energy and resource extractivism, and local communities.
Through a mixed-methods approach, I am examining two case studies: the established cluster of data centres in London’s Docklands and the planned Cambois AI Data Centre Campus in Northumberland, set to be the largest in Europe. By combining ethnographic research with theoretical and historical analysis, my project seeks, (1) to understand how data centres operate as financial assets within investment portfolios, and (2) its impact in reshaping infrastructures, economies, and the livelihoods of local populations.
This research is supported by a fully funded South and East Network for Social Sciences (SENSS) studentship, awarded by the UKRI’s Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
My doctoral project investigates the rapid expansion of data centres in the UK and their entanglements with global capital, energy and resource extractivism, and local communities.
Through a mixed-methods approach, I am examining two case studies: the established cluster of data centres in London’s Docklands and the planned Cambois AI Data Centre Campus in Northumberland, set to be the largest in Europe. By combining ethnographic research with theoretical and historical analysis, my project seeks, (1) to understand how data centres operate as financial assets within investment portfolios, and (2) its impact in reshaping infrastructures, economies, and the livelihoods of local populations.
This research is supported by a fully funded South and East Network for Social Sciences (SENSS) studentship, awarded by the UKRI’s Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
A data centre in the Isle of Dogs, March 2026.
Photography my own.