Nicola Ansell is a professor at Brunel University in human geography, with a particular focus on children and youth. At Brunel, Nicola has undertaken research projects looking at the impacts of AIDS on young people’s migration; the ways in which education sectors are adjusting to the needs of AIDS-affected young people; and the impacts of AIDS on young people’s current livelihoods and future food security. She is currently working on two projects: one examining the impacts of social cash transfers (for instance old age pensions and child grants) on generational relations in Malawi and Lesotho and the other investigating links between education and aspiration in remote rural areas of Lesotho, Laos and India.