I joined York St John University in 2014 to lead the establishment of new provision in geography, with the aim of building a vibrant and sustainable academic community in the discipline.
My primary expertise is in geographical thought and practice, paying attention to the epistemic and social practices through which knowledge is produced and reproduced. This transcends the binaries that commonly shape academic work: human geography/physical geography; and research/teaching.
I am particular interested in knowledges of nature, from scientific to experiential ways of knowing. My research publications span philosophy of geography, geomorphology, cultural geographies of nature, outdoor education and more.
Before joining York St John I was at Plymouth Marjon University (2002-2014), where I taught across Geography and Outdoor Adventure Education degrees and took on some institution-wide research management responsibilities. I studied at Worcester for my PhD in geomorphology (awarded 2001), which I completed on a part-time basis while also working in Earth heritage conservation.
I have a Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Development in HE from the University of Exeter. I am a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (with Institute of British Geographers), a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a Chartered Geographer and a UKCGE Recognised Research Supervisor.
Qualifications:
- Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Development (Exon), 2004
- PhD: River bank erosion and the influence of soil particle size (Coventry), 2001
- BA (Hons) Geographical Studies (Coventry) – first class, 1995
I have taught on a wide range of modules across the Geography undergraduate programmes but my specialist module is the second-year Geographical Thought module, aligning with my 2015 textbook. Geography is a hugely powerful subject, developing students’ familiarity with natural science, social science and humanities approaches to knowledge generation. The module encourages students to explore the breadth and diversity of geography, and offers a means of understanding how knowledge is generated not just in geography but in other disciplines too.
From 2025/26 I also teach the Research Design and Practice module on the MSc Environmental Management and Sustainability. Informed by philosophy of science and science and technology studies (STS), this module supports students to develop their Masters’ research proposals with a critical understanding of the societal contexts for research.
I supervise undergraduate dissertations and appear occasionally in other modules, including on the Liberal Arts Foundation Year.
My research mostly pays attention to the practices through which we arrive at knowledge, and to knowledge ‘as’ practice, in the sense that knowing means being able to operate (to do something, conceptually or practically) in a given context. My publications have addressed these themes in more concrete terms in relation to: how we arrive at knowledge in field-based geomorphology; geography’s relation with, and reproduction of, the nature/culture binary; how the bodily practices of outdoor activities such as sailing and climbing intersect with scientific and cultural understandings of nature; and the social dimensions of geography as a discipline, in research and teaching.
My ongoing research has three strands:
- The epistemic practices of geomorphology fieldwork: articulating aspects of geomorphology fieldwork that are normally invisible in the published science.
- Work to support increased diversity in Geography, Earth and Environmental Science disciplines, with particular attention to ethnic diversity. I am part of the team for the NERC-funded EMBRACE Enviro project. I am also leading a project to scope out the current status of Geography in UK universities in relation to efforts to increase ethnic diversity, funded by a small grant from the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG). This is in collaboration with Olalekan Adekola and two student researchers.
- A geomorphology project aims to assess evidence of groundwater sapping and other processes at the Hole of Horcum, North York Moors, in collaboration with Lucy Jones and Abby Mycroft (supported by a small grant from PLACE).
I am a UKCGE Recognised Research Supervisor, currently lead supervisor or co-supervisor for three PhD students.
I would particularly welcome postgraduate research student applications for projects that investigate geographical and/or environmental knowledges and practices, whether in academic, public or private spheres.
I have examined PhD theses across geography (both physical and human geography) and education.
Recent publications
I am a Chartered Geographer (CGeog), a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) (FRGS) and a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA). I am an active member of the geographical academic community with over 20 years’ experience of teaching, research and leadership in UK higher education.
I am a member of the History and Philosophy of Geography Research Group (HPGRG) and Geography and Education Research Group (GeogEd) of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), and a member of the British Society for Geomorphology.
I have served as external examiner and on validation panels for undergraduate degrees, and internal and external examiner for PhD theses.
I regularly peer review for academic journals across geography and outdoor education, as well as for academic book publishers.
