Elizabeth Hempstead is the Programme Manager at the Podium Institute at the Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford. She is a quantitative anthropologist by training, obtaining a first-class BSc in Human Sciences at the University of Exeter and a MSc in Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Oxford, where she was awarded a Distinction and the Dr Nicola Knight Prize in Quantitative Methods in 2023. Her research focused on the psychological changes people go through as they acculturate to a new setting after migration, specifically looking at changes in emotion perception.

From 2022, Lizzie worked as a Project Coordinator and Research Assistant on the ‘Post-Pandemic Societies in Inner Asia’ (PPIA) and ‘Nomadism and Spatial Politics’ projects, working closely with Dr Ariell Ahearn in the School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford. These projects focused on the human rights, land security, and advocacy of Mobile Peoples in Central Asia, Jordan, Tanzania, and Europe. Notable outcomes related to these projects include the Dana+20 Manifesto, the UN’s Report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the 6^th Oxford Interdisciplinary Desert Conference.

She has also held Research Assistant and Research Group Administration positions at the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, notably working as Research Assistant in the University of Oxford’s Social Body Lab. She has worked on student outreach initiatives in the University’s Undergraduate Admissions and Outreach team.

Lizzie is a keen runner and sportswoman, playing National League hockey at Wimbledon Hockey Club. She also enjoys a multitude of other sports including tennis, badminton, rowing, and touch rugby. She is excited to combine her passion for sports, project management, and research communication as Programme Manager of the Podium Institute.