petemcgowran.bsky.social

Climate change under political extremism As far-right movements rise in Europe and the US, what’s at stake for environmental policy? Experts will discuss sustaining action amid political shifts.

Trump at Windsor, Farage at 30%

What does the rise of far right politics in Europe + the US means for climate policy?

Upcoming CCRG/ RGS event:

𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐦 September 30th @ 7pm

👇

www.rgs.org/events/upcom...

Great project from my teams World Risk Poll Into Action grants

Disaster Risk Reduction for households when there are multiple hazards

1) multi hazard thinking getting clearer definitions & integration
2) lived experience + data = better & inclusive planning
3) scale needs tools + capacity

First outputs from our current project are starting to emerge. More to come!

#drr #resilience

"Manchester United battered in Grimsby"

The Pulse of the Earth: Political Geology in Java Published in The Journal of Development Studies (Ahead of Print, 2025)

It was a pleasure to review Adam Bobbette's book "The Pulse of the Earth: Political Geology in Java" for The Journal of Development Studies. Will be of particular interest to those who work on/think with "the Anthropocene", but certainly not exclusively!
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/QHGPM...
#geosky

🚨 Last chance! 🚨

Today’s the final day to register for the UKADR Annual Conference 2025 at Durham (4–5 Sept).

👉 durham.ac.uk/UKADR-2025
#UKADR2025 #DisasterResearch

Using AI for your Fantasy Football team is crazy.

Announcing my book, Techno-Negative!

It will be out in Spring 2026, published with @uminnpress.bsky.social.

Universities aren’t often spoken of as ‘brands,’ but Warwick leans into that idea. What does thinking of a university as a brand unlock—and what can it achieve when done well? Seeing a university as a brand unlocks coherence and confidence. A brand is about more than design, it’s about identity and consistency. When you align your values, your story and your impact, you become more than a place, you become a movement. At Warwick, brand isn’t just a communications tool, it’s a strategic asset. It helps us attract brilliant minds, forge global partnerships and create a distinctive space in a competitive world. When done well, a brand doesn’t limit, it liberates.

What drew you to the world of higher education, and how do you see its role evolving in society today? My journey from the world of luxury into higher education has been one of purpose and transformation. After years of working with global brands, I was drawn to higher education as the next frontier of influence, a space where knowledge, identity, and opportunity intersect. Universities aren’t just places of learning, they are platforms for societal impact. Their role today is to be both anchor and catalyst: rooted in rigorous teaching and research, yet agile enough to respond to global challenges and cultural shifts. How has your background in the luxury sector shaped the way you approach storytelling and brand building at the University of Warwick? Working across premium and luxury sectors—fashion, real estate, travel and beyond—taught me the value of emotion, detail, and differentiation. In those worlds, a brand isn’t just a badge, it’s an experience, a feeling, a story that lives in people’s hearts. At the University of Warwick, I’ve brought that same mindset to higher education: crafting narratives that are both strategic and human.

I can't quite believe it, but, it appears that the person responsible for this at the University of Warwick has had a Vogue photoshoot about the rebrand, explaining his 'journey from the world of luxury [goods marketing] into higher education' vogue.sg/university-o...

a bridge with a spiral in the middle and the number 6 on it ALT: a bridge with a spiral in the middle and the number 6 on it

the key point for me is that because roads are always-already relational, thinking through and with “roads-in-relation” grounds debates about abstract ideas like “climate resilient development” in their context, without losing sight of the bigger picture. Interested to hear your thoughts!

Geopolitical assemblages and disasters-in-the-making in Kalimpong, India This article argues that landslides ought to be understood as geopolitical processes. The argument is based on a study into the causes and impacts of …

Examples of the previous research I mentioned from Ellen (nhess.copernicus.org/articles/25/...) and myself (www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...) which provide some context for why we first started collaborating.
Having had some more time to look back on the paper and the overall process...

Despite v. different disciplinary backgrounds, Ellen and I found commonalities in our doctoral research on the links between road construction and disaster risk (reduction and creation!). Here we think through these relationships more fully, with perspectives from lots of disciplines and geographies

Sharing a new paper written with Dr Ellen Robson at the @ihrr.bsky.social and several other amazing co-authors! It summarises discussions from an interdisciplinary workshop on roads, resilience, and development and situates the key themes in the wider literature. Open Access!
doi.org/10.1016/j.ij...

Contested Geographies of Mountain Futures in the Socio and Eco-clim... Introduction Over the last two decades, critical geography and political ecology scholarships have deeply analyzed the political dimension of the contemporary global socio and eco-climate crisis. T...

journals.openedition.org/rga/15009

Teachers don't need more tech. They need smaller classes and more (paid) time for prep and instruction. But alas, the tech option means more profit for billionaires, while the latter would cost billionaires more in taxes. And so, in our current kleptocracy, tech is what teachers are going to get...

Windows 11 includes this new game called "Find the Power Button", very fun!

Always remember that Britain chose to make things this hard. It ejected itself from the EU, left the Single Market, bodged up a rubbish trade deal, cancelled HS2 and told paying students they weren't wanted. The country has chosen the steepest, rockiest, most difficult path. 🇬🇧

A massive statue of Dan Burn, please!!!! 🤩 #nufc

GEOGRAPHY
www.reuters.com/graphics/GER...

Bad week to be a Pope #nufc

Sam Fender's 'Crumbling Empire' already feels like one of the defining songs of the 2020s. Incredible stuff!
⚫⚪

Two Weeks In The Death Spiral Of Cardiff University - Reading Time: 4 minutesBy an anonymous academic. Cover image by Adwitiya Pal On the second day of classes…

Two Weeks In The Death Spiral Of Cardiff University, by an anonymous academic.
This is truly shocking read.
The Cardiff executive board should hang their heads in shame.
voice.cymru/two-weeks-in...

Thunder and lightning in the UK in January is not a "normal" thing, right!?

Hazards, Disasters, and Human Geography

Sharing an "encyclopedia entry" on Hazards, Disasters, & Human Geography that I wrote for the The Encyclopedia of Human Geography. Written a while ago but published this week! If you'd like to access it but can't then I can probably help with that :)
link.springer.com/referencewor...

On the possibility of ‘Just Resilience’: A pragmatist approach to justice-based climate change governance Scholars have afforded much attention to environmental justice issues amid the recent global surge in climate resilience efforts. And yet our analysis…

Really happy to see this out! Draws on conjunctural and pragmatist methodologies to develop a more nuanced account of the possibility and politics of justice-based climate resilience through research into the Justice40 initiative in the United States.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The paper is about time and has also has been in-the-making for a long time! Thanks to anonymous reviewers for constructive comments, and to friends and colleagues for great feedback along the way. And of course thanks to my fieldwork collaborators and the people of Kalimpong!

Excited to finally be able to share this paper with the world. In which I argue that the impacts of landslides in Kalimpong outlast the short time-frames of response and support provided to offset those impacts.
doi.org/10.1016/j.ge...
#drr #geography #landslides #himalayas

My first post on Bluesky is to share a CfP for a panel Rahul Ranjan and I are organising for the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Annual Conference 2024. The session will be in-person only. Please get in touch you are interested or have questions. Please share widely!

#geography #drr #himalaya