Thomas Avery
Swansea University
Welsh Crucible 2026
Tom completed his PhD in Education at the University of Bath in 2023, where his doctoral research involved ethnographic engagement with refugee children as they navigated UK primary school. This work established his lasting commitment to relational, ethical, and community engaged inquiry. He is now a Research Officer at Swansea University’s Local Challenges Research Office, where he has developed a diverse set of place based research projects built through extended engagement with local and regional actors.
Building on a core of principled community engagement, Tom’s current research spans projects on community trust in local governance, coastal access inequalities, the implementation of Community Focused Schools, the role of SMEs in net zero transitions, and well being measurement under the Well being of Future Generations Act.
He is particularly interested in how local change is experienced, understood, and achieved, especially where community defined priorities interact with the wider social and structural contexts of regional research and policy institutions.