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University of Oxford
School of Geography and the Environment

 School of Geography and the Environment

Dr Richard Powell

Academic Profile

Richard Powell took a Double First Class in Geography at St John's College, University of Oxford, where he was awarded the H.O. Beckit Memorial Prize and a Gibbs Book Prize (BA, 1998). He then held a Canadian Rhodes Scholars Foundation Scholarship, and a University Graduate Fellowship, at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver (MA[Distinction], 2000). Following his return to the UK, Richard held an ESRC/NERC Interdisciplinary Research Studentship and an External Research Studentship at Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge. He was awarded his PhD by the Department of Geography and Scott Polar Research Institute at Cambridge in May 2004.

Richard's previous posts include an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship at Cambridge (June 2004-May 2005) and a Simon Research Fellowship at the University of Manchester (June 2005-August 2006). From September 2006, he taught for four years as a Lecturer (Grade B) at the University of Liverpool. Richard moved back to Oxford to a University Lecturership and Tutorial Fellowship at Mansfield College in September 2010.

Richard's research interests encompass geographies of science, political economies of resources and the geopolitics of territory. His work involves questions at the intersection of the social and environmental sciences and utilizes ethnographic and historical methods. Although his recent fieldwork has focused on the Circumpolar Arctic (specifically Nunavut, Greenland and northern Norway), Richard has undertaken research in Canada, the UK and Scandinavia. Richard's work has been awarded the Area Prize (2002) and the Environment and Planning A Ashby Prize (2007).

Richard is from Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

Current Research

Richard's research has investigated the social practices involved in the constitution of the environmental sciences in the Canadian Arctic. This involved participant observation at a Polar Continental Shelf Project (PCSP) scientific station over two field seasons in the High Arctic. As well as demonstrating the geographies of scientific knowledge at the PCSP research base at Resolute, Nunavut, this research also documented the politics of social interaction between Inuit and scientists, and the labour geographies of logistic personnel involved in field science.

More recently, Richard held an ESRC Interdisciplinary Early Career Research Fellowship, 'The sociopolitical, environmental and technological implications of climatic changes in the Circumpolar Arctic for UK Energy Security', 1 Sept. 2007 - 31 Aug. 2010 (RES-152-27-0002; £336,155). This programme of work examined the political geographies of environmental changes and resource extraction in the Circumpolar Arctic and their policy implications for UK energy security. As part of this project, Richard has been undertaking ethnography in Greenland, investigating the epistemic and political development of new hydrocarbon frontiers.

As PI, Richard holds an ESRC Seminar Series Grant, 'Knowledges, Resources and Legal Regimes: The New Geopolitics of the Polar Regions', 1 Jan. 2010 - 31 Oct. 2011 (RES-451-26-0661-A; £18,524; Co-I, Prof. Klaus Dodds). This involves a series of four workshops to consolidate an international network of social scientists working on the Polar Regions. More details on this project can be found on the Polar Geopolitics website.

Richard's research career has been supported by a range of awards and funding from many sources, including the Royal Society, London, the International Council for Canadian Studies, Ottawa, and the European Science Foundation, Brussels. Richard has been a Visiting Researcher at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Copenhagen, and at both the Department of Geography and the Institute of Canadian Studies, at the University of Ottawa.

Richard was re-elected for a second term as Chair of the History and Philosophy of Geography Research Group (of the RGS-IBG), 2010-13 (Further details about the HPGRG can be found on the HPGRG website).

Richard sits on the Evaluation Committee for the 'Public Outreach Grants Program' of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), January 2010-. Since June 2010, he has been a member of the ESRC's Peer Review College. Given his expertise, Richard is regularly consulted by policy-makers and the media in the UK, the European Union and Canada about the future of the Polar Regions.

Teaching

Undergraduate

For Prelims, Richard lectures for the 'Geographical Controversies' paper. He also offers lectures and practicals about Qualitative Research for the paper in 'Geographical Techniques'.

At Mansfield College, Richard and his colleagues are responsible for teaching students across the entire breadth of geographical topics for the Preliminary Examination and Final Honour School of Geography.

Postgraduate

Richard teaches on the 'Science and Politics' course for the MSc in Nature, Society and Environmental Policy. Together with Professor Andrew Barry, Richard co-teaches a MSc Elective on the 'Politics of Oil and Gas'. As part of the core 'Research Skills' training for all MSc and DPhil students, Richard teaches Qualitative Research, particularly ethnography and archival research.

Richard welcomes enquiries from individuals wishing to undertake doctoral or post-doctoral research in the following, or related, areas - Geographies of science; geopolitics and political geography; political economy of resources (especially oil and gas); ethnography; indigenous rights and governance; social and political theories, particularly with respect to scientific knowledges; environmental geography; historical and cultural geography; and the Polar Regions (especially the Canadian Arctic and Greenland).

Selected Publications

Journal Articles and Chapters
Book Reviews