Leilai is a PhD Researcher at the University of Manchester. In collaboration with Northumbrian Water, she is examining future water demand challenges in England, from a social practices perspective. Her research explores novel ways to anticipate demand change, with a focus on the social and contextual aspects of water use that are often overlooked in traditional forecasting and planning. She is using futures-oriented techniques, such as horizon scanning and backcasting to explore the effect of societal trends on water demand and to inform pathways to resource-efficient futures.
Prior to starting her PhD, Leilai worked as a Research Assistant at the University of Oxford and the University of East Anglia in the field of agri-environment policy and water quality. She has an MSci in Environmental Science from UEA.
