Teaching
My teaching style is underpinned by a commitment to critical social research, which seeks to interrogate and expose relations of social power inherent in people-environment relations. This approach allows students to conceive of their learning not just as a disinterested exercise, but as part of a project of social transformation. Modules taught include ‘Cities: an introduction to urban geography’, ‘Contemporary Rural Geographies’, ‘Geographies of Sport and Leisure’, ‘Geographies of Everyday Life’, ‘Skills for Research and Careers’, along with supervision of undergraduate and Master’s level dissertations.
I have over a decade of experience in teaching research methods and I emphasise the importance of scholarly integrity and precise technique in designing and implementing research projects. Materials drawn from my personal experiences and involvement in funded research are used as a matter of course to expose the judgements made in research design as well as problems encountered in administering specific data collection techniques. Through these reflections I weave a path between the published orthodoxies and real-world ‘messiness’ of social research.
My strengths are in qualitative research techniques, particularly historical analysis, which is frequently utilised in lectures to contextualise cultural and environmental phenomena, through deep reading of texts and use of archive materials. Workshop-style exercises delivered in research training modules encourage students to critically reflect upon the practice of research, the nature of knowledge construction, and the authority of scientific knowledge and its contribution to the public good.
Modules taught
GY152 Contemporary Human Geographies
GY153 Cities: An Introduction to Urban Geography
GY171 Skills for Independent Learning
GY191 Introduction to Fieldwork
GY257 Geographies of Everyday Life
GY258 Contemporary Rural Geographies
GY272 Skills for Research and Careers
GY362 Geographies of Sport and Leisure
GY390 Independent Project
I have over a decade of experience in teaching research methods and I emphasise the importance of scholarly integrity and precise technique in designing and implementing research projects. Materials drawn from my personal experiences and involvement in funded research are used as a matter of course to expose the judgements made in research design as well as problems encountered in administering specific data collection techniques. Through these reflections I weave a path between the published orthodoxies and real-world ‘messiness’ of social research.
My strengths are in qualitative research techniques, particularly historical analysis, which is frequently utilised in lectures to contextualise cultural and environmental phenomena, through deep reading of texts and use of archive materials. Workshop-style exercises delivered in research training modules encourage students to critically reflect upon the practice of research, the nature of knowledge construction, and the authority of scientific knowledge and its contribution to the public good.
Modules taught
GY152 Contemporary Human Geographies
GY153 Cities: An Introduction to Urban Geography
GY171 Skills for Independent Learning
GY191 Introduction to Fieldwork
GY257 Geographies of Everyday Life
GY258 Contemporary Rural Geographies
GY272 Skills for Research and Careers
GY362 Geographies of Sport and Leisure
GY390 Independent Project
