Peter Hopkins

I am currently Professor of Social Geography in the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology where I supervise a group of PhD students and undertake research. My research and teaching interests centre upon the challenges and complexities of inequality and justice, and how these interrelate with debates about equality and diversity. More specifically, my work draws attention to the exclusionary ways in which various forms of discrimination and marginalisation – such as racism, sexism, Islamophobia, sizism and ageism – shape people’s everyday lives, structure the resources available to them and influence their political and social mobility. This work is built upon a commitment to empirical research that is informed both by current debates in academic literatures and theoretical understandings about intersectionality, society and space, as well as – where appropriate – concerns of relevance to policy makers and practitioners.

My work tends to draw upon urban social, feminist and anti-racist research and falls within the following three themes:

Young people, place and identity
- Young people, social identities and political inequalities
- Youth transitions and intergenerational relations
- Young migrants, asylum seekers, refugees and ethnic minority groups

Religion, faith and spirituality
- The everyday lives and spatialities of religious young people
- Gender and generational relations in religious communities
- Experiences of faith and spirituality across the lifecourse

Masculinities, ethnicities and place
- Religious, racialised and ethnicised masculinities
- Constructions of hegemonic and marginalised masculine identities
- Gendered identities, social exclusion and spatial justice

I am also interested in exploring issues connected with the use of various qualitative methods including participatory action research approaches, focus groups as well as research ethics.

Please feel free to contact me if you are interested in pursuing PhD or postdoctoral research (such as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship) on topics related to the research areas noted above.

I am a member of the Geographies of Social Change research cluster (which I convened during 2014-2015), the Power, Space, Politics research cluster - both in Geography - as well as the Youth Research Group in the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology.

I have previously served as the Postgraduate Director for the School (2010 - 2013), and as the Director of Postgraduate Research for Geography (2008-2012). I was promoted to a Personal Chair in 2012 after earlier promotions to Reader and Senior Lecturer following my arrival in Newcastle in 2007. Before this, I worked at Lancaster University as a Lecturer in Human Geography (in what was the Department of Geography) where I also completed a PGCert in Academic Practice. Previous to this, I spent short periods as a Research Fellow at Glasgow University and a Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Edinburgh. I have a PhD from the University of Edinburgh and an MRes and BA(Hons) from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.