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Staff Profile

Dr Michael Richardson

Senior Lecturer in Human Geography

Background

Background

Michael has been at Newcastle University since 2006 having studied here for his BA, MA and PhD. In 2014 he joined the school of Geography, Politics and Sociology as a Lecturer of Human Geography; before this he worked as a Teaching Fellow here in Human Geography (2013). Michael was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to conduct PhD research into Irish Masculinities on Tyneside (2010-2013) and now builds from this expertise in his research led teaching.

Roles and Responsibilities

Michael will be the Geography Director of Undergraduate Recruitment and Admissions (from January 2025).

Michael completed an Innovation and Knowledge Exchange Sabbatical at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art (2021-2022).

Michael is a member of the Social Justice Advisory Group at Newcastle University.

Michael was Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion for Geography (2020-2022) and was a member of the School of GPS Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team.

He was Director of the ESRC Northern Ireland and North East Doctoral Training Partnership (NINEDTP) Children, Youth and Families thematic pathway (from 2016-2019).

He was a trustee of the North East Young Dads and Lads Project (2018-2022).

Qualifications

PhD Human Geography, Newcastle University, 2015

MA Human Geography Research, Merit, Newcastle University, 2010

BA Hons Geography, 2:1, Newcastle University, 2009

PhD Supervision

Ged Ridley: ESRC 1 3 studentship - Queering Space: transgender experiences of public bathrooms, collaborative project with Yorkshire Trans Support Network (co-supervised with Prof Peter Hopkins) 

Jonny Finn: ESRC 1 3 studentship - Exploration of Post-Industrial Masculine Identity Construction in Newcastle upon Tyne (co-supervised with Prof Alastair Bonnett and Prof Anoop Nayak)

Libby Morrison: ESRC 1 3 studentship - Co-ordinating for Age: an assessment of intergenerational justice and rural disadvantage in Northumberland (co-supervised with Prof Tom Scharf and Prof Peter Hopkins)

Paul Barber: ESRC 3.5 studentship - Cadet forces and the skills agenda (co-supervised with Prof Rachel Woodward and Dr Alison Williams)

Chris Yang: Social Media Discourses of Identity and Legitimacy in China (co-supervised with Dr Altman Peng and Dr Majid Khosravinik)



Research

Geographies of social and environmental justice


Birds, Bees, Bikes and Trees (2024-2027)

Currently Michael is the lead researcher and evaluator of a National Lottery Climate Action Fund project titled Birds, Bees, Bikes and Trees (£584,817). Michael developed this project with Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art and North East Young Dads and Lads and it centres on three main activities:

  • the design, development and delivery of an ecological schools programme
  • the organising of a monthly climate club based at Baltic
  • the design, development and delivery of an upskilling programme for young fathers

The Birds, Bees, Bikes and Trees project also involves some green capital development of Baltic's building and includes working with landscape architects at The Farrell Centre.

This builds on Michael's pilot project funded by the Catherine Cookson Foundation (£5,000) called Postindustrial Pollination. This involves urban beekeeping and planting with the North East Young Dads and Lads as well as the management of rooftop beehives at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art. This work uses beekeeping as a lens into everyday understandings of masculinities and urban ecologies.


Beyond the Curtain: enabling equity of access for young people (12-25) to nature, heritage and beauty with the National Trust (2024-2025)

As part of a successful application to the ESRC Impact Accelerator Account Strengthening Partnerships Fund Michael will lead a team of researchers at Newcastle University looking for ways to share expertise with partners within the National Trust's regional hubs for Children and Young People at Seaton Delaval Hall and Derwent, Wear and Coast. The project will specifically focus on how the National Trust can best respond to the needs of children and young people in relation to their ecological and cultural engagements.


Geographies of masculinities and intergenerational relations


North East Young Dads and Lads

Michael has long standing research interests into ideas of masculinities, often viewing these through the lens of intergenerational relations and in particular, young fatherhood. He was funded through the BBC Children in Need to evaluate the Teen Dads Project, in collaboration with the North East Young Dads and Lads (2020-2022). Michael's research sees participants as experts in their own lives and as such has shaped research questions around what the men he was worked with believe to be their priorities. This has led to explorations of men's mental health, stigma, loneliness and social isolation. In collaboration with some of the young men he developed a digital storytelling app with research software engineers at Newcastle Data and creative practitioners at Seven Stories: the National Centre for Children's Books. Ultimately, his work helps develops of men's emotional intelligence and approaches caring masculinities through innovative methods.



Father Unknown

Michael co-authored a play, Father Unknown, with young dads and Jonah York (freelance theatre maker) which was performed at Gala Theatre, Durham and Northern Stage, Newcastle over the Father's Day weekend in 2023. All performances were sold out and the play received strong reviews, including in the British Theatre Guide.


A decade before Father Unknown, as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science (2013), Michael commissioned a play based on his PhD research titled Under Us All which was a piece of verbatim theatre. This was also performed at Northern Stage alongside various community venues were he ran artistic workshops with participatory theatre makers Cap-a-Pie. Before this he was involved with an AHRC funded Collaborative Skills Development Programme with colleagues at Durham University (2012).



Geographies of the postindustrial and the postcolonial


Michael's research background studying the Irish in Britain draws links across postindustrial and postcolonial identities. Michael has been involved in researching issues of race and ethnicity in a post Brexit era with colleagues here at Newcastle; with the empirical focus on young people helping to bring in his expertise on intergenerational geographies.

Equally, Michael has been developing his research of the postcolonial with a particular focus on Hong Kong; with issues of race and class again at the forefront. Developing these ideas further, Michael has explored the notion of protest, privilege and the postcolonial city. Michael has worked closely with the student-led activist group Newcastle Stands with Hong Kong. 



Civic Geography


Michael has presented work as part of international geography conferences such as the American Association of Geographers, Nordic Geographers and Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers, but he also engages with wider audiences too.


  • Most recently, he completed an Innovation and Knowledge Exchange Sabbatical with Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art. He has been researching the benefits of creative practice from a social, cultural and geographical perspective.
  • Michael has worked with different organisations within the arts and cultural sector within the region including: Baltic, Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children's Books, The Farrell Centre, Northern Stage, Sage Gateshead, Tyneside Cinema and the Tyneside Irish Centre.
  • His gender based expertise has been recognised and featured through popular press and media: The BBC and The Huffington Post.


Michael has a book contract with Routledge as part of their Spaces of Childhood and Youth series for a manuscript titled Undefining Masculinity: Feminism, Food and Fatherhood. 



Teaching

Current Teaching

GEO1026 - Becoming a Geographer

GEO2110 - Social Geographies

GEO2111 - Doing Geographical Research: Theory and Practice - Stage 2 dissertation preparation module

GEO3099 - Dissertation - mentorship of Stage 3 students in the development of their dissertations

GEO8017 - Human Geography: Concepts in Action

GEO8032 - Children and Young People: Contemporary Global Challenges



Previous Teaching

GEO1015 - Human Geographies of the UK - a Stage 1 module which included local based fieldwork (module leader)

GEO2225 - Citizenship in a Global City: Hong Kong - an international fieldcourse for Stage 2 undergraduates (Module Leader)

GEO3135 - Geographies of Gender and Generation - a specialist Stage 3 undergraduate module (Module Leader)





 

Publications