I am a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social Policy and Criminology, and Staff Tutor Social Sciences, at The Open University, primarily based in the OU Scotland Office in Edinburgh. I have taught at a number of Scottish Universities and I also have honorary positions at Humboldt University in Berlin and the University of Wisconsin.
During my time at The Open University I have been involved in the production of many Social Sciences modules, spanning Social Policy, Criminology, Sociology and Human Geography, from Level 1 to postgraduate.
Elsewhere at the OU I have worked a number of TV productions as part of the broadcast partnership between the OU and the BBC. These include 'Town with Nicholas Crane', 'Living with Poverty' and the Secret History of our Streets (Series 2: Scotland).
I have authored a number of items for The Open University’s free access website, OpenLearn, including written and audio materials for these some of the TV series. My OpenLearn contributions can be accessed at:
http://www.open.edu/openlearn/profiles/gcm8
Research interests
There are several (largely inter-related) areas that I am working on at present in late 2014:
Scottish Devolution, The Independence Debate and Social Policy
Neoliberalism, the City and Punitive Social Policy
Class, Neoliberalism and Social Policy
Territorial Stigmatisation in the UK in a context of Austerity and Welfare 'Reform'
Political Economic Geography of Scottish Devolution
At The Open University I am a member of the International Centre for Comparative Criminological Research (ICCCR) and the OpenSpace Research Centre.