Research output per year
Research output per year
Prof, BSc Geography (Aberystwyth) PhD (Aberystwyth) PGCHE (Bangor)
Aberystwyth University
Llandinam Building
Penglais
Aberystwyth
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Research activity per year
Group Affiliation
New Political Geographies Research Group
Aberystwyth Behavioural Insights Interdisciplinary Research Centre (Co-Director)
Research Activities
Mark Whitehead joined the staff of the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences in 2000 and was awarded a personal chair in 2013. His early research focused on the changing forms of urban policy under the New Labour government in the UK. His subsequent work has spanned various aspects of political and environmental studies with a particular concern for the changing nature of state power. In a recent project, which was funded by the Leverhulme Trust, Mark was involved in developing the first comprehensive account of the rise of psychological forms of government in the UK state. This project resulted in the recent publication of the book Changing Behaviours: On the Rise of the Psychological State (Edward Elgar, 2013). Mark has just commenced a new research project funded by the UK government's Economic and Social Research Council. This project is entitled Negotiating Neuroliberalism and is developing an international comparative study of the rise of psychological power within governments throughout the world.
Recent Project
Mining Memories (AHRC) (co-investogator)
Negotiating Neuroliberalism (ESRC-Transforming Social Science) (Primary Investigator)
Independent Research Foundation Fellowship (2019) Freedom in a Neuroliberal Age
Climate Consortium of Wales (Director of Human Dimensions Research, Aberystwyth University)
Current PhD Students
Current PhD./PDoc. Students
Katherine Stewart, William Collier, Greg Edwards, Shaima Alhosani, Siobhan Maderson.
Former PhD students
Rachel Lilley, Chandra Kumar, James Robinson, Julia Van Kemenade, Kerhsuan Chien, Julie McLeavey, Chris Yeomans, Anna Bullen, Ruth Stevenson, Kelvin Mason, Marcus Welsh, Katherine Phillips, Martin Burgess, Philip Conway, Matthew Melas, Neil Waghorn, Cery Jones.
Mark Whitehead is a Professor of human geography whose research interests span urban studies, sustainability, the impacts of the psychological sciences on public policy, and the social implications of smart technology. Mark has authored and edited 11 books, and written for The Guardian and Western Mail newspapers. His work has been featured on BBC Radio 4, The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, BBC Radio Wales and in The Economist. Mark holds an Award for Teaching Excellence from Aberystwyth University (2004), and in 2017 was named Lecturer of the Year by Aberystwyth University students. Mark's research has been funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Leverhulme Trust, the Independent Social Research Foundation, the British Academy, HEFCW, and the Royal Geographical Society. Mark has supervised twenty PhD students on topics including eco villages, renewable energy, urban governance, camouflage, mindfulness, climate change, drones, arctic geopolitics, eco-gentrification, sustainable citizenship, and water politics. He has previously acted as an external examiner of degree programmes at the University of Birmingham, Kings College London and the University of Exeter, Cornwall.
Mark came to Aberystwyth in 1994 to study for a BSc degree in Geography. He graduated with First Class Honours in 1997 and was awarded the James Fairgrieve and Gregynog Prizes for Geography. He commenced his PhD, exploring the emergence of sustainable urban development planning in the UK, in October 1997, under the supervision of Mark Goodwin, Gordon McLeod, and Martin Jones.
Mark is currently the Director of Recruitment and Admissions in the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, and Co-Director of the Aberystwyth Behavioural Insights Interdisciplinary Research Centre. He is also on the Editorial Board of the journal Environmental Values (a journal he was previously Managing Editor of). Outside of work Mark is a keen runner and cricketer who follows "football" in both of its trans-Atlantic forms. Most of all he enjoys spending time with his wife and two daughters.
DGES Director of Marketing and Recruitment
Dysgwr Cymraeg/Welsh learner
Key Concepts in Sociology
Geographical Perspectives on the Sustainable Society
Urban Risk and Environmental Resilience
Behaviour Change (MSc)
The Psycho-Social Century
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Person: Doctor of Professional Studies
Person: Doctor of Philosophy
Person: Doctor of Philosophy
Person: Doctor of Philosophy
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Book/Report › Book
Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Review Article
Research output: Other contribution
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Article
Economic and Social Research Council
01 Oct 2020 → 30 Sept 2022
Project: Externally funded research
Independant Social Research Foundation (ISRF)
02 Jan 2019 → 31 Dec 2019
Project: Externally funded research
Donnison, I., Huang, L., Thomas, D., Thorogood, D. & Whitehead, M.
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
06 Jun 2018 → 05 Jun 2022
Project: Externally funded research
Llywodraeth Cymru | Welsh Government
01 Jun 2016 → 01 Sept 2016
Project: Externally funded research
Llywodraeth Cymru | Welsh Government
01 Jul 2014 → 31 Dec 2015
Project: Externally funded research
Economic and Social Research Council
31 Dec 2013 → 31 Dec 2015
Project: Externally funded research
Economic and Social Research Council
01 Sept 2013 → 28 Feb 2015
Project: Externally funded research
Mark Whitehead (Researcher)
Impact: Policy and legislation
08 Jan 2020
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Media contribution
03 Mar 2015
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Media contribution
01 Oct 2014
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Media coverage
15 Sept 2014
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Media coverage
13 Jun 2014
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Media coverage
18 Mar 2014
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Media coverage
10 Mar 2014
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Media coverage
20 Sept 2013
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Media coverage
Carl Death & Mark Whitehead
03 Jul 2012
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Media contribution
Mark Whitehead (Chair)
Activity: Membership › Membership of committee
Mark Whitehead (Speaker)
Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk
Mark Whitehead (Speaker)
Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk
Mark Whitehead (Speaker)
Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk
Mark Whitehead (Speaker)
Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk
Mark Whitehead (Host)
Activity: Hosting a visitor › Hosting an academic visitor
Mark Whitehead (Speaker)
Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Workshop, Seminar, or Course
Mark Whitehead (Chair)
Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Conference
Mark Whitehead (Speaker)
Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Workshop, Seminar, or Course
Mark Whitehead (Speaker)
Activity: Talk or presentation › Oral presentation