Staff

Neil is a Reader in Economic Geography in the School of Environment and Development at the University of Manchester. His research interests are in the areas of the geographies of local and transnational labour markets; the globalization of service industries; global production networks and local economic development; and institutional and network approaches to economic development. These concerns have been explored through empirical research in a number of sectors across a range of geographies, namely: producer services, most notably computer services and temporary staffing in the UK, Europe and Asia Pacific; the cultural industries, especially the film and television industry in the UK and Canada; and consumer services, particularly retailing in the UK, East Asia and Eastern Europe. He has published a wide range of journal articles and book chapters on these topics.

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Jennifer is a Lecturer in Economic Geography at the University of Liverpool.  Her research interests are broadly concerned with the uneveness of process of globalisation. Using network approaches to economic development, her research has focused on the cultural industries and geographies of atypical labour. Empirical research has been conducted in Central and Eastern Europe, North America, East Asia, Australia and Europe. She has published a range of journal articles and book chapters on these research areas. 

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Katharine is a doctoral student in Human Geography in the School of Environment and Development at the University of Manchester. Her PhD research is on the role of temporary staffing agencies and labour migrants. Since graduating from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne with a degree in Politics and History in 1995, and a Masters degree in Applied Social Research in which she gained a distinction in 1998, Katharine has worked as a Research Associate in the Department of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Newcastle (1999-2001), as a Senior Research Officer at the Immigration Research and Statistics Service at the Home Office (2001-2004), and a Senior Policy Analyst at the Barrow Cadbury Trust (2004-2007) where she managed a range of high-profile projects and programmes of work relating to migration and to young adults and the criminal justice system. In 2008, Katharine took part in the Manchester Harvard Graduate Summer School on Immigration and Diversity.

Kevin Ward is a Professor in Human Geography in the School of Environment and Development and Co-Director of the European Work and Employment Research Centre at the University of Manchester, England. His research interests are two-fold: first, the changing geographies of work and employment, in particular with reference to the relationships between globalization, economic and social restructuring and the reorganization of labour markets and, second, the changing geographies of the state, in particular with reference to urban and regional governance and economic and social well-being. He has written a wide range of journal articles, book chapters and books on these issues.

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Jennifer is a postgraduate student in the School of Environment and Development at the University of Manchester. She graduated from the University of Liverpool in 2006 with a first class degree in Combined Honours, and completed a PGCE in Secondary Geography at the University of Leicester in 2006. Jennifer was awarded a scholarship from the Population Investigation Council to complete a MA in Population Studies (Research Methods) which she graduated from with distinction in 2008. She is researching the institutional context of temporary staffing as part of an ESRC CASE studentship with in partnership with the Adecco Institute.