[3] Born in Aldershot, Hampshire into a military family, Whatmore moved often - including Germany, Cyprus, and Hong Kong.
Her approach, laid out in her 2002 book Hybrid Geographies,[6] attempts to develop what she terms "more than human" modes of inquiry, and question the relationship between science and democracy.
[7] Her research focuses on the treatment of evidence and role of expertise in environmental governance, against growing reliance on computer modelling techniques.
It is characterized by a commitment to experimental and collaborative research practices that bring the different knowledge competences of social and natural scientists into play with those of diverse local publics living with environmental risks and hazards like floods and droughts.
Her critical ideas have been well received by theorists, but less so by policy-oriented environmental thinkers and traditional geographers less inclined to "theorise" human-environment relationships.