Head of The Institute for Economic and Social Inclusion
I am Head of the Institute for Economic and Social Inclusion (IESI) where I lead our interdisciplinary work that informs joined-up insights and research into areas such as inclusive learning, inclusive living, inclusive work, and the relationship between these and the health outcomes of excluded communities.
We have a particular focus on children and young people as well as those excluded communities that are often easily ignored in conventional policy development.
Existing areas of work and research interest include:
- Inclusive learning – educational attainment, excluded learner, curriculum and module design, vocational learning
- Inclusive living – social housing associations as agents of inclusion, precarious housing, homelessness, food and fuel poverty, social cohesion, and culture, identity and belonging
- Inclusive work – apprenticeships and skills, fair work practices, precarious employment, wage and recruitment bias, productivity and entrepreneurship
- Inclusive health – the links and consequences of exclusion and public health
As an economic geographer, I have a particular interest in inclusive growth, models of public sector governance, the impact of spatially uneven development, and participatory and co-designed research.
I have extensive and diverse senior-level strategic and leadership experience with over 20 years of public, private, and third-sector board-level governance and business leadership. This has been built over the last 30 years; in the 1990s and early 2000s as a Managing Director of the Global Telecom, Technology and Media Group at Citigroup, then as a Director of ONE North East, as Chairman of NEL Fund Managers an FCA-regulated fund manager, as Chairman of Generator, as Director of North East Access to Finance, as Director and Trustee of the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, and through leading the sustainable economic development practice at the consultancy business Urban Foresight.
Much of my research and practice has been to address areas of weak socio-economic performance, the challenge of so-called ‘left behind places’. I realise that valuing the context of place is a vital precursor to understanding. I engage equally with the public, private, 3rd sectors, and communities to uncover the root causes of our most pervasive socio-economic challenges and have consistently demonstrated an ability to propose implementable solutions that are co-created with those communities in need.
I have led work to develop skills pathways into emerging areas such as the screen sector, immersive and advanced media, resilient communications, green construction, and advanced manufacturing. I have led work with communities, local and national government, and international organisations to develop just transition plans, inclusive economic development strategies, net zero pathways, and climate budgeting to enable communities and local governance organisations to have agency over their own lives, and to shape the type of socio-economic environment that will frame their future.
Research
In plain terms my published academic research has historically examined why our infrastructure is sited where it is. The key finding being that the location and nature of this essential infrastructure owes at least as much to the exigencies of global capital and its need to make a return as it does to issues such as social need. This has the effect of amplifying the inequalities of place, investment capital pooling in areas of affluence and critical mass and tending to avoid less developed areas where, if it can be attracted, it requires a higher return, thereby resulting in a poorer return for public purse and in turn a higher cost of service in those very areas that can least afford it.
My practice and policy-based research has advised national, regional and local government in areas including inclusive economic growth, comparative sectoral policy interventions, nexus risks arising from climate change, the digital transformation of public services, 5G rollout, regulation and governance of essential infrastructure, modern methods of construction and social housing, and on Just Transition and capacity building at community level.
In addition to the above, I have worked with UKRI, Innovate UK, Research England, the Regional Studies Association, ESRC, EPSRC, Leeds and Birmingham Universities (as part of iBUILD), Oxford University, UCL Bartlett, the government of Kazakhstan, the Newton Al - Fahrabi Partnership, the AAG, RGS and IBG, the UK Catapult network and the LN Gumilyov Eurasian National University.
Academic publications:
Books:
- “Financialising City Statecraft and Infrastructure”, Elgar publishing, 2019 (with A. Pike, J. Tomaney, P. O’Brien and T. Strickland)
Selected publications:
- “Financialising City Statecraft and Infrastructure: A reader’s guide”, Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, Sage Journals, 2019 (with A. Pike, J. Tomaney, P. O’Brien and T. Strickland)
- “An institutional and spatial consideration of markets for financialised infrastructure”, PhD Thesis, CURDS: Newcastle University, 2018
- “Are you being served? Alternative infrastructure business models to improve economic growth and well - being”, iBUILD working paper - CESER, Newcastle University, 2015 (co-author with iBUILD research team)
- “The financialisation of essentiality: implications for UK markets, institutions, individuals, and the geographies of infrastructure”, Dissertation, CURDS, Newcastle University, 2014.
Selected conference papers:
- “Financialising public assets; politicising capital”, AAG New Orleans, 2018 “Governing, funding and financing infrastructure in global cities”, AAG Boston, 2017
- “The marketisation of infrastructure: the enmeshment of the qualitative state and variegated capital”, AAG San Francisco, 2016
- “The marketisation of infrastructure: the enmeshment of the qualitative state and variegated capital”, Conference of the RGS – IBG , 2016
- “ Built to last: our infrastructure, who pays for it, and implications for governance and the future of utility services ”, CEGS, Newcastle, 2016
- “Constructing and configuring infrastructure markets: the role of private actors”, Oxford Conference in Economic Geography, 2015
Policy and advisory publications selected highlights:
- University of Sunderland – Research and skills positioning in technology-driven creativity in the North East (2023)
- Eastern and Midlands Climate Action Regional Office – EMERGE program (2022, 2023)
- Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia – Coastal economic corridor development plan (2023)
- C40 Cities – Evaluation of the Climate Budget Pilot: Experience of participating cities (2023)
- West London Alliance – Town centres study (2023)
- Durham University – Durham Energy Institute - Strategic Vision (2023) Walsall Borough Council – 10-year Economic Strategy and Action Plan (2022)
- University of Sunderland – IESI Strategic Feasibility study (2022)
- West Kildare County Council – Just Transition Plan (2022)
- Newcastle University, Northumbria University, NoTCA, Newcastle CC, Newcastle and Northumbria NHS Foundation Trusts – Insights North East – Strategic study and RED funding bid (2022)
- Sheffield University – South Yorkshire Sustainability Centre – Strategic study and RED funding bid (2021)
- Winchester District Council – 10-year Green Economic Development Strategy (2021)
- Sheffield City Region – Net Zero Roadmap (2020)
- Lloyds’ of London – Cities at risk – Building a resilient future for the world’s urban centres (2020)
- The London Borough of Southwark – Connected Communities Digital Strategy (2019)
Policy and advisory mandates and research – other:
- Angus Council – Angus Rural Mobility Hub – Outline and Full Business Case (2023)
- Coventry and Warwickshire Councils – CLEAN Hub decarbonisation of transport study (2023)
- Limerick Life Science Innovation Hub – Strategic study (2023)
- Tees Valley Combined Authority – Darlington Economic Campus - Economic impact study (2023)
- Angus Council – Montrose Drone Hub – Outline Business Case (2023) Forestry and Land Scotland – 7 Stanes - Strategic Investment Case (2023)
- NELEP – Innovation Ecosystem Framework – Strategic analysis (2022) NELEP – Life Sciences Manufacturing and Innovation Zone – Investment Study (2022)
- Gateshead Council – Strategic vision for the future of the immersive tech sector (2022)
- DfT and Innovate UK – Future applications of Hydrogen in a maritime island transport system (2022)
- Scottish Government – The role of Modern Methods of Construction in social housing (2022)
- Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult – Robotic Cluster for Offshore Energy – Business Case (2021)
- Enterprise Ireland – (1) Connectivity & Data sectoral analysis (2021) and (2) Smart Cities sectoral analysis (2021)
- Satellite Applications Catapult – Open Innovation in the Space Sector (2020)
- Havering Council – Immersive Innovation hub – Strategic Study and GLA funding bid (2018, 2019)
- NELEP – High Growth Start-Ups, a study (2019)