About
The United Buddy Bear exhibition, Berlin 2011
Thanks for dropping by. I'm Sam, a researcher in the Geography and Earth Sciences Department at Aberystwyth University, Wales, UK. My passion lies in trying to make a positive impact in the world through critical exploration of the ways our species can live on this planet and sharing what understandings I glean.
Cold edged Geography? Some literal translations of the name Svalbard come out as 'cold edge', more often 'cold coast', but the idea of being on the cold edge of geography struck a chord with me. Perhaps because the PhD saw me return to the discipline after a bit of a break, or maybe I just have a serious case of academic imposter syndrome! You can find out more about me here, follow me on Twitter and academia.edu. Feel free to get in touch and comment. My research interests include: polar, arctic and rural geographies, climate change, nature-culture relationships, theories of value, globalisation, assemblage theory and participatory methods. Through my other activities, and past work I am also interested in the geographies of making, environmental building and behaviour change. I am just starting a new project, 'Svalbard Futures' as an ESRC postdoctoral research fellow. This project builds on my PhD, 'Saving Svalbard', which investigated natural and cultural heritage conservation in Svalbard using a value perspective. This blog has hosted my ideas, fieldwork reports, research progress and other musings along the PhD journey and I aim to keep going with occasional updates as publications and new ideas come into fruition, but watch this or a nearby space for a proper project website coming soon! Between my PhD and this follow up project I have been working a little closer to home on the Welsh aspects of the Global-Rural project. The team are looking at processes of globalisation in rural contexts. My work has been on developing ideas around everyday globalisation through an indepth case study of Newtown, mid-Wales. I have also been exploring globalisation at festival events in rural Wales. |