Overview

Mark graduated in Geography from the University of Sussex, before completing his PhD at the London School of Economics (LSE).  He is Professor of Human Geography and held the position of Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University from 2013-2022.  From 2010-2013 he was Dean of the College of Life and Environmental Sciences.  Before becoming Dean in 2010, he was Head of the School of Geography, and prior to that was Head of the School of Geography, Archaeology and Earth Resources.   He joined the staff at Exeter in 2004, arriving from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, where he was Director of the Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences.  Externally, he has served as a member and Vice-Chair of the Economic and Social Research Council’s Strategic Research Board, and as Chair of the ESRC Centres Competition.  He was also a Board member and Vice-Chair of the Cornwall Local Enterprise Partnership, a Board member of Exeter College and the Exeter Science Park, and a Trustee of the Northcott Theatre and the St Luke’s College Foundation.  In 2011 he became a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.

The body of Mark’s academic research has centred on an analysis of the structures and processes of sub-national government. This has been pursued through a wide range of externally funded projects involving significant interdisciplinary research, especially with political scientists and sociologists. His publications include over 50 refereed papers and chapters, and he has written or edited 8 books, including Introducing Human Geographies (edited with Paul Cloke and Phil Crang), the UK’s leading introductory undergraduate textbook. 

Research group links

• Spatial Responsibilities

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Research

Research interests

The body of Mark’s research has centred on an analysis of the structures and processes of sub-national government. Empirical work on the changing nature of government has been carried out in both urban and rural areas, and conceptual and theoretical work has helped to elaborate the concepts of local state and local governance. Drawing on this work he has sought to extend and develop a geographically sensitive variant of regulation theory, and is now engaged in developing a spatially informed strategic-relational state theory. This has been pursued through a wide range of externally funded projects involving significant interdisciplinary research, especially with political scientists and sociologists. He is the only geographer to have held ESRC grants in both the Local Governance Research Programme and the Devolution and Constitutional Change Research Programme, and was the only geography participant in the ESRC seminar series on Local Governance and Local Government. He has directed a number of research projects, worth in total over £2 million, funded by the ESRC, Welsh Assembly Government, Joseph Rowntree Foundation and a variety of local, regional and national agencies. He has also been Chair of the Political Geography Research group, a study group of the Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers.

His publications include over 50 refereed papers and chapters, and he has written or edited 9 books, including Introducing Human Geographies (Routledge), Practising Human Geography (Sage) and Envisioning Human Geographies (Arnold).  Introducing Human Geographies is the leading undergraduate Human Geography textbook in the UK, and its third edition will be published by Routledge in 2013. His most recent book Rescaling the State: Devolution and the Geographies of Economic Governance was published by Manchester University Press in 2012.

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External Engagement and Impact

Committee/panel activities

Member of ESRC: Strategic Research Board 2003-2007

Chair of ESRC Centres Competition 2006-2007

Member of Strategic Advisory Committee of the cross-RCUK Rural Economy and Land Use Research Programme 2003-2007

Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences 

Member of ESRC: Strategic Research Board 2003-2007

Member of Strategic Advisory Committee of the cross-RCUK Rural Economy and Land Use Research Programme 2003-2007

Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences

Member of ESRC: Strategic Research Board 2003-2007

Member of Strategic Advisory Committee of the cross-RCUK Rural Economy and Land Use Research Programme 2003-2007

Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences

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