Current research projects

Current, externally funded, peer reviewed projects include:

500,000 years of solar irradiance, climate and vegetation changes

Congratulations to Dr William Gosling (Open University), Dr Wes Fraser (Oxford Brookes), Dr Barry Lomax (Nottingham) for having been awarded a NERC funding grant.

Industry Associations, Health Innovation and Development

Congratulations to Dr Theo Papaioannou for being awarded a Leverhulme grant on his research project titled "Unpacking the role of industry associations in diffusion and governance of health innovations in developing countries".

Adults' and children's friendships across social class and ethnic difference

Sarah Neal is Co-Investigator on the new ESRC funded research project Adults' and children's friendships across social class and ethnic difference. The Award is held with Prof Carol Vincent (Principal Investigator), Institute of Education, University of London.

Journeys through environmental change

Dr Joe Smith has been awarded an AHRC grant supporting the development of a major bid for the project 'Journeys through environmental change: narratives by and for communities', related to the AHRC's Connected Communities theme.

Tracing modes of infrastructure financing and their effects on cities

A $183,096 grant has been awarded for the project 'Tracing modes of infrastructure financing and their effects on cities' run by Dr Michael Pryke, Prof John Allen and Prof Phillip O'Neil.

Creating Hackney as Home: Young People as Participatory Researchers and Publics

This is a two year ESRC funded project working with a group of young people in the London Borough of Hackney. Using participatory video research methods, the project aims to understand the experience of space and space use in the formation of 'home' and belonging, and the impact of affective responses to change and difference in that process.

Living Multiculture

The research project Living Multiculture: the new geographies of ethnicity and the changing formations of multiculture in England examines the current and emergent spatial and social formations of multiculture in England and asks two key questions. First, how do people live complex cultural difference and manage increasing cultural diversity in their everyday lives and second, what role does place and locality play in this.

Tensions and future prospects for sustainable housing growth. A case study of Northamptonshire and Milton Keynes

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) has awarded a research grant to Prof Allan Cochrane (Social Policy and Criminology, Open University) as Principal Investigator, to work with Dr Bob Colenutt (University of Northampton) on a project entitled 'Tensions and future prospects for sustainable housing growth. A case study of Northamptonshire and Milton Keynes'. The project will run from 1 January 2012 to 31 December 2013. Dr Martin Field (University of Northampton) is Research Officer on the project.

Architectural Atmospheres: The impact of digital technologies on architectural design practice

The production of architecture and urban design has become increasingly concerned with creating recognizable, 'branded' products in the form of buildings and public spaces. Whereas new buildings in the past conformed to strict urban and civic hierarchies and stylistic conventions, architects today view their buildings as, for example, 'canvases for expression', or 'self-confident visual statements' (Squire & Partners brochure) in a competitive global market.

Completed research projects

Commodity Histories: an online space for collaborative research

The last decade has seen the emergence of digital history as an approach to investigating the past based on the new communication technologies of the internet age. Currently more advanced in North America, university-based digital history projects have slowly emerged in Britain, though little has been done so far in the realm of extra-European histories. Commodity Histories is the first digital project in the UK that will provide public access to a crucial dimension of the histories of Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America.

Biosecurity Borderlands: Making biosecurity work in a complex landscape

Biosecurity Borderlands is a UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded project run from the School of Geography, Exeter University and the Faculty of Social Sciences, Open University.

The Political Ecology of Extractive Industries and Changing Waterscapes in the Andes

In the Andes, the growing demand for water by the mining industry is creating tensions. Natural supplies are limited, most existing resources are in use, and some sources are regarded as sacred among Aymara and Quechua people.  This project examines how control over water for mining brings about changes to Andean lives, livelihoods and landscapes.

Politics of Alternative Finance

Funded jointly by OpenSpace and CRESC, Politics of Alternative Finance brings together new thinking on the financial crisis, and new ideas for reforming the financial sector. This ongoing project provides space for dialogue in the form of a series of video and podcasts as well as links to organisations and websites that can inform the debate on economic alternatives.

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Research projects archive