Imogen Bayfield

Imogen is an ethnographer who specialises in social cohesion, community relations, participatory development, community empowerment, collective organising and organisational governance.

Her first monograph, Engaged Publics: Organising in Crisis, is due for publication with Bristol University Press in 2026.

Imogen’s PhD was a study of the politics of ‘community empowerment’ through a close-up examination of the organisational life of three community groups engaged in a community empowerment programme. It sought to understand how those involved worked together to bring about change, and used this to generate broader insights into a) the paradigm of ‘community empowerment’; b) the role that communities have been expected to play in broader socio-political life, and how best to enable this; and c) the cultures of organising prevalent in contemporary Britain.

She has conducted ethnographic research with communities and community groups across the UK, and she has a particular interest in the state-civil society nexus.

Her post-doctoral research has included work on the challenges to social cohesion, including ruptures that lead to civil unrest.

Imogen is interested in collaborating in, and supervising projects on, collective organising; spaces of radical or alternative organising; organisational/institutional ethnography; social cohesion; community politics; community relations; civil society; environmental politics.

She has been involved with consultancy work on social cohesion and organisational culture, including Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

Prior to joining the Centre for Peace and Security, she studied Migration and Diaspora Studies at SOAS; Anthropology at Durham; and classical piano at Guildhall School of Music and Drama.