Dr Anna Plyushteva

Anna is Titular Associate Professor in Human Geography at the Transport Studies Unit (TSU), School of Geography & the Environment (SoGE). Anna was previously Departmental Research Lecturer at the TSU and SoGE (2019-2025), and Marie Sklodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at the Free University of Brussels (2017-2019). She holds a PhD (2016) in Human Geography from University College London and a Master’s degree (2009) in International Development Studies from the University of Amsterdam.

Anna studies urban inequalities through a focus on mobilities, futures, and intersectional understandings of the lifecourse. In recent years, she has used a range of different research methods to explore how youth, disability, caring responsibilities, and low income shape everyday urban mobilities. She has conducted research in cities globally, including Brussels, Lima, London, Manila, and Sofia. Her current work focuses on South-East Europe and the UK. She is committed to caring and collaborative approaches in research, teaching, and engagement with partner organisations.

Her work has been funded by the ESRC, EC Horizon 2020, the Driving Urban Transitions Partnership, and the Oxford John Fell Fund. Anna serves on the Editorial Boards of two academic journals, The Geographical Journal and Transport Reviews.

Anna leads the ESRC/DUT-funded project Caring and Youth-centric Mobilities for Inclusive Urban Proximity (CAMINUP, 2026-2028). This is a €1 million project which brings together partners from the UK, Bulgaria, Belgium, and Romania to explore how the everyday experiences of young carers can inform more equitable and sustainable urban mobility. In the UK, the focus of the project is Hounslow in London.

Anna is co-lead on the ESRC-funded project Care on the Move (2024-2026, PI Middleton), which focuses on the everyday mobilities of children with non-visible disabilities and their families. This research focuses on Swindon and Oxford.

In addition, Anna is co-lead of the Road Safety Trust - funded project Safe-SEND (2025-2027, PI Schwanen). This project examines how road safety concerns shape the mobility of adolescents with special educational needs and disabilities in Swindon.

Anna convenes the MSc elective in Urban Infrastructure Futures. She also contributes to the MSc in Sustainable Urban Development and the executive education programme in Global Challenges in Transport.

Anna supervises MSc dissertations and doctoral research at the School of Geography and the Environment. She welcomes inquiries from prospective research students whose research interests align with the above.

Current Graduate Research Students

Collaboration with partners beyond academia is central to Anna’s research. Among many others, she has worked with Swindon SEND Families Voice, Living Streets, Sofia Municipality, Jacobs, and the London Borough of Hounslow. 

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Anna worked with essential workers to document their everyday experiences at work, at home, and on the move. She regularly provides written evidence to government enquiries, is co-author of a UK Department for Transport report on young people's changing travel habits; and has contributed to campaigns for inclusive and sustainable mobility in Bulgaria.

Selected Publications

• Plyushteva, A and S. Francis (2026), Incorporating dignity in urban mobility justice: Moral emotions and injustice in Blackburn, UK. Urban Studies [pre-print].
• Plyushteva, A. (2026) The politics of infrastructural reversibility: no-regret futures at the London Euston high-speed railway station, The Geographical Journal, 192(2), e70066. 
• Plyushteva, A., Caset, F., van Bergen, L., & Popescu, R. (2025). Planning transport for the needs of young carers. Journal of Transport & Health, 45, 102207.
• Plyushteva, A. (2025) Worrying the right amount: intimate relationships and the emotional work of pursuing financial literacy together, Economy and Society, 54(1), p. 92-113.
• Munoz Zech, D., Lee, K. and Plyushteva, A. (2024) Beyond fare evasion: the everyday moralities of non-payment and underpayment on public transport. Mobilities, 19(3), 345-362.

See Google Scholar for full overview of publications