My research investigates intergenerational caring relations, young caregiving and care ethics in diverse contexts, including transnational families, the aftermath of family deaths and chronic illness. I was Principal Investigator of the Care, Inequality and Wellbeing in Transnational Families in Europe: a comparative, intergenerational study in Spain, France, Sweden and UK (2021-2024), funded by JPI ‘More Years Better Lives’/UKRI-ESRC) and are currently co-editing an edited volume on this topic. Recent publications focus on enforced transnationalism in displaced families in the UK (Mas Giralt and Evans, 2025) and young people’s caring practices in transnational families in Sweden and the UK (Suter et al, 2025). Previously, I have studied the translocal identities of young refugees and ‘second generation’ migrant youth in the UK, responses to family deaths in Senegal (funded by The Leverhulme Trust), gendered and intergenerational struggles over land in Ghana and Senegal, and young caregiving in families affected by HIV in Tanzania, Uganda and the UK, including African migrant families.

Expertise

Migration processes
Migration consequences (for migrants, sending and receiving countries)
Migration governance
Cross-cutting topics in migration research
Disciplines
Methods
Geographies

Roles

  • University of Reading

    University, Reading, United Kingdom
    Professor in Human Geography

Research

Time-space practices of care after a family death in urban Senegal

Authors Sophie Bowlby, Ruth Evans, Jane Ribbens McCarthy, ...
Year 2021
Journal Name Social & Cultural Geography
3 Journal Article

Making Sense of Family Deaths in Urban Senegal: Diversities, Contexts, and Comparisons

Authors Jane Ribbens McCarthy, Ruth Evans, Sophie Bowlby, ...
Year 2020
Journal Name OMEGA-JOURNAL OF DEATH AND DYING
Citations (WoS) 13
Taxonomy View Taxonomy Associations
4 Journal Article

Producing emotionally sensed knowledge? Reflexivity and emotions in researching responses to death

Authors Ruth Evans, Sophie Bowlby, Jane Ribbens McCarthy, ...
Year 2017
Journal Name International Journal of Social Research Methodology
6 Journal Article

Parental death as a vital conjuncture? Intergenerational care and responsibility following bereavement in Senegal

Authors Ruth Evans
Year 2014
Journal Name Social & Cultural Geography
9 Journal Article

Young caregiving and HIV in the UK: caring relationships and mobilities in African migrant families

Authors Ruth Evans
Year 2011
Journal Name Population, Space and Place
Citations (WoS) 12
12 Journal Article

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