Dr Michael Howcroft
- Research Associate (Urban Studies & Social Policy)
email:
Michael.Howcroft@glasgow.ac.uk
pronouns:
He/him/his
Biography
Michael Howcroft is a Research Associate in the Urban Studies Department, working on the AHRC Place Programme. Michael has held an ESRC Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship at the University of Southampton (2022-2023) and was Research Fellow at the Southampton Institute for Arts and Humanities (SIAH), working on the AHRC funded Feeling Towns project. He was also Research Associate at the University of Sheffield, on the Spaces of Hope project. His research interests include: the spatial, political and cultural geographies of pride and shame; civic imaginary theory and praxis; Post-Brexit local government policy and Levelling Up; Queer geographies; Emotional geographies; and community-led planning. With an earlier career as an actor and director, Michael is an experienced facilitator of focus groups and creative workshops, and his projects incorporate mixed methods, ethnographic, place-based approaches. He has collaborated with creative practitioners including poets, youth theatres, visual artists, playwrights, musicians, community-based artists and film makers. Most recently, he co-created a short, animated film titled ‘How Proud?’, funded by the AHRC Place Programme.
Research interests
Research groups
Grants
2022-2023: Pride, shame and the civic imaginary: UK cultural festivals and the levelling up agenda ESRC Post-Doctoral Fellowship Grant number: ES/X004139/1, £95,177
2022-2023: Feeling Towns: the role of place and identity in governance and local policy AHRC AH/W008696/1, £125,000 (Co-Investigator. P-I Nicky Marsh)
Professional activities & recognition
Research fellowships
- 2024 - 2028: UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship
- 2022 - 2023: ESRC Post-doctoral Fellowship
Selected international presentations
- 2024: Regional Studies Association (Florence, Italy)
- 2023: University of Iceland (Reykjavik, Iceland)
- 2023: Royal Geographical Society (London, UK)
- 2023: Regional Studies Association (Ljubljana, Slovenia)
- 2023: Political Studies Association (Liverpool, UK)
- 2023: American Association of Geographers (Denver, USA)
Additional information
Michael is a member of the Community Ownership Fund evaluation steering committee (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities).