About me
Biography
I studied politics at the University of Warwick before completing a part-time PhD on the cultural politics of heroism in British mountaineering, at the University of Brighton, in 2009. I spent 10 years as a researcher at the Chelsea School (now the School of Sport and Service Management) at the University of Brighton before moving to the School of Environment and Technology, in 2013 (the school has since been merged and renamed the School of Applied Sciences). I'm currently a principal lecturer and Subject Leader for Human Geography and Town Planning.
OK....that's a bit dull...so here's a link to a fuller biography
Research interests
My research focuses on the geographies of sport and leisure. My doctoral research explored British cultures of adventure and the heroic masculinities associated with mountaineering. My more recent work is particularly interested in the governance and regulation of sport and leisure space, addressing issues such as access, property rights, citizenship and self-governance; issues which frame (and constrain) the nature of sport and leisure participation. I employ a variety of theoretical tools to understand these dynamics - the spatial theories of Mikhail Bakhtin; Victor Turner's writings on liminality; gift theory; and, post-subcultural theories - and have contributed to the application of these approaches to empirical research in sport and leisure studies.
I have broader interests in qualitative research methodologies, particularly historical method and biography. I am involved in a series of funded projects which are engaged with the practice of research, the nature of knowledge, and innovations in qualitative methodologies. They explore dimensions of how qualitative research methodologies can inform deep relationships between communities and academia and challenge the boundaries between these realms. The authority of scientific knowledge and its contribution to public well-being is also explored.
Academic citizenship
Recognising a lack of opportunity for political studies scholars interested in sport to meet and discuss their research, in 2005 I co-founded the Sport and Politics Study group and served as a convenor until 2017. From modest beginnings the group can now lay claim to being the largest and most influential regular gathering for social scientists of sport in the UK. I have also served as Executive Committee Member and the Publications Officer of the Leisure Studies Association (2013-2020).
Teaching
I currently lead undergraduate modules on urban geography and research methods and contribute to a range of module on social & cultural geographies. I supervise dissertation projects on the geographies of sport, leisure and popular culture.
Key publications
I have published widely in peer-reviewed journals - both sole-authored and joint authored pieces - on the geographies of sport and leisure. These have appeared in journals such as Environment and Planning D; Society and Natural Resources; Agriculture & Human Values; Urban Research and Practice; International Journal of Heritage Studies; Qualitative Research Journal; Media, Culture & Society; Leisure Studies; Journal of Leisure Research, as well as in specialist magazines and edited monographs. I am editor (with Belinda Wheaton) of Whatever Happened to the Leisure Society? (LSA, 2008), editor (with Daniel Burdsey and Thomas Carter) of Coastal Cultures: Liminality and Leisure (LSA, 2013) and co-editor of a special issue of Sport in Society entitled 'The politics of sport: community, mobility, identity' (Routledge, 2011). I edited a special issue of Sport in History on gender and British climbing histories (the first ever issue devoted to climbing in anglophone sport studies journals), Sociological Research Online on the political sociologies of sport, with Peter Millward and Russell Holden, and (with Belinda Wheaton), a special issue of the International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics on the social benefits of informal and lifestyle sport.
For more detail on my publications click here.
I studied politics at the University of Warwick before completing a part-time PhD on the cultural politics of heroism in British mountaineering, at the University of Brighton, in 2009. I spent 10 years as a researcher at the Chelsea School (now the School of Sport and Service Management) at the University of Brighton before moving to the School of Environment and Technology, in 2013 (the school has since been merged and renamed the School of Applied Sciences). I'm currently a principal lecturer and Subject Leader for Human Geography and Town Planning.
OK....that's a bit dull...so here's a link to a fuller biography
Research interests
My research focuses on the geographies of sport and leisure. My doctoral research explored British cultures of adventure and the heroic masculinities associated with mountaineering. My more recent work is particularly interested in the governance and regulation of sport and leisure space, addressing issues such as access, property rights, citizenship and self-governance; issues which frame (and constrain) the nature of sport and leisure participation. I employ a variety of theoretical tools to understand these dynamics - the spatial theories of Mikhail Bakhtin; Victor Turner's writings on liminality; gift theory; and, post-subcultural theories - and have contributed to the application of these approaches to empirical research in sport and leisure studies.
I have broader interests in qualitative research methodologies, particularly historical method and biography. I am involved in a series of funded projects which are engaged with the practice of research, the nature of knowledge, and innovations in qualitative methodologies. They explore dimensions of how qualitative research methodologies can inform deep relationships between communities and academia and challenge the boundaries between these realms. The authority of scientific knowledge and its contribution to public well-being is also explored.
Academic citizenship
Recognising a lack of opportunity for political studies scholars interested in sport to meet and discuss their research, in 2005 I co-founded the Sport and Politics Study group and served as a convenor until 2017. From modest beginnings the group can now lay claim to being the largest and most influential regular gathering for social scientists of sport in the UK. I have also served as Executive Committee Member and the Publications Officer of the Leisure Studies Association (2013-2020).
Teaching
I currently lead undergraduate modules on urban geography and research methods and contribute to a range of module on social & cultural geographies. I supervise dissertation projects on the geographies of sport, leisure and popular culture.
Key publications
I have published widely in peer-reviewed journals - both sole-authored and joint authored pieces - on the geographies of sport and leisure. These have appeared in journals such as Environment and Planning D; Society and Natural Resources; Agriculture & Human Values; Urban Research and Practice; International Journal of Heritage Studies; Qualitative Research Journal; Media, Culture & Society; Leisure Studies; Journal of Leisure Research, as well as in specialist magazines and edited monographs. I am editor (with Belinda Wheaton) of Whatever Happened to the Leisure Society? (LSA, 2008), editor (with Daniel Burdsey and Thomas Carter) of Coastal Cultures: Liminality and Leisure (LSA, 2013) and co-editor of a special issue of Sport in Society entitled 'The politics of sport: community, mobility, identity' (Routledge, 2011). I edited a special issue of Sport in History on gender and British climbing histories (the first ever issue devoted to climbing in anglophone sport studies journals), Sociological Research Online on the political sociologies of sport, with Peter Millward and Russell Holden, and (with Belinda Wheaton), a special issue of the International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics on the social benefits of informal and lifestyle sport.
For more detail on my publications click here.
politicsTHE CENTRAL THREAD IN MY RESEARCH IS POWER...
and how individuals and communities can use their power and influence to effect social change. culture |
geography |
Leisure |
