Dr Simon W. Hill

I am interdisciplinary researcher with a particular interest in novel and alternative thinking in housing research and practice. I utilise philosophy, community-led innovations and participatory creative methods to create new ethics and visions of housing that can be used to reform housing systems globally. This builds upon my professional experience in housing that has stretched from social housing consultancy and urban planning to being the Interim CEO of Bristol Community Land Trust. I have a strong belief in the potential of rich theoretical and philosophical thinking to rejig how we think about housing and, in turn, help resolve the housing crisis. Principally, I study the English housing system but have studied housing internationally, for instance community-led housing in Canada. 

Alongside my research into housing, I have broader interests in and writings on the application and possibilities of philosophy and ethics in shaping politics, social systems and organisations. I am particularly interested in Martin Hägglund, Judith Butler and Emmanuel Levinas and how these thinkers, in addition to others, can be synthesised into a humanistic public philosophy. 

Currently, I am a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Queen Mary University London, after completing my PhD at the University of Bristol. This fellowship is located at the Centre for Studies of Home, a partnership between Queen Mary and the Museum of Home. In this position, I am engaging with local housing groups, writing a monograph of public philosophy on housing and curating a film series. 

My academic publications, that stretch from philosophy and comparative literature to urban studies and organisational studies journals, are listed below. I have presented at numerous conferences, including the American Comparative Literature Association's Annual Meeting 2024 or the Housing Studies Association 2024 Conference. I too have been published a range of non-academic outputs, namely while working at the New Economics Foundation. My pieces at NEF can be found here. 

I am always keen to collaborate and work on research and practice projects; I regularly assist projects, research and consultancy, alongside my current work. If you would like to get in touch to discuss a project, or to just generally discuss my research, please use the contact button at the bottom of this page. 

Articles and Essays

Hill, A. and Hill S.W. (conditionally accepted). Living on after the thick present: Donna Haraway, Martin Hägglund, and climate fiction. Diacritics. 

Hill, S.W. (in press – expected to be published in Summer 2026). This Life in This Place: a spatial and then ethical turn in Martin Hägglund’s philosophy. Parrhesia. 

Bottausci, C., Carroll, E., Chapman, C., Chen, Y., Hill, S.W., Holt, R., Morales, J., Nguyen, L., Parker, M., Wang, G. (Gary), Wu, Z., Xia, J. (in press – expected to be published in Autumn 2026). Academic Freedom in Becoming: Rethinking Management Control in the Managerial University. Organization. 

Hill, S.W., 2025. A Levinasian Right to Housing: What Emmanuel Levinas’s Phenomenology of House and Home Can Offer Housing Scholarship. Housing, Theory and Society. [Peer-reviewed Article – available online only currently: https://doi.org/10.1080/14036096.2025.2564809]

Hill, S.W. and Izuhara, M., 2025. The Neighbours of Intergenerational Housing: The Institutional Construction of Elevated Neighbour Relations in Student-Senior Housing Projects. Housing, Theory and Society. [Available online only currently: https://doi.org/10.1080/14036096.2025.2563628]

Hill, S. W., 2025. Inspiring and Innovating: The Possibilities of Community-Led Housing for the UK’s Housing System. Planning Theory & Practice, 26(1), pp.145–152. 

Hill, S.W., 2024. The Underdeveloped Offering of Housing Ethics: New Possibilities for Housing Studies. Critical Housing Analysis, 11(2), pp.137-147. 

Chapters in Books

Hill, S.W., 2025. 'Thresholds: Poor doors and the systemic conditions of their creation'. In: Luvera, A. (eds.) 2025. Conditions of Living. Dulwich Road Studio Press.

Book Reviews

Hill, S.W., 2026 Feeling at Home. Housing, Theory and Society. [Available online only currently: https://doi.org/10.1080/14036096.2026.2664384] 

Hill, S.W., 2024. Philosophy of home: domestic space and happiness. Housing Studies, 39(8), pp.2143-2145.