Professor David Atkinson

Biography	David Atkinson is a cultural and historical geographer who has taught and researched at the University of Hull since 1998. He is Professor of Cultural and Historical Geography in the Department of Geography, Geology and Environment. His research interests include the geographies of totalitarianism in the 'dark' 20th century, including the roles of geographers and geographical sciences in the production of modern Italy and Italian colonial territory. David also works on the histories of geographical knowledge and its many and varied applications and imaginaries. A final interest revolves around the intersections of place, memory, identity and landscape. This has involved the insistent eruptions of the past in the spaces of the present, and the celebration and promotion of place through mega events and other media. Before moving to Hull, David was a lecturer at the University of Wales, Lampeter. He undertook his PhD at the University of Loughborough, with time spent as an Italian Government Ministry of Foreign Affairs Scholar and as a double Rome-awardee of the British School at Rome (a British Academy International Research Institute). David spent the period 2016 -21 in academic leadership roles. - He served as Associate Dean for Research and Enterprise in the Faculty of Science and Engineering, 2016-2021. - He was also Chair (Director) of the Society for Libyan Studies (one of the British Academy's seven British International Research Institutes), 2016-20. Other key research leadership roles include service on the: - Italian Research Assessment Exercise (2005-06 and 2012-13) - Faculty of Archaeology, History and Letters (academic board), The British School at Rome (British Academy British International Research Institute), 2005-08 - ESRC White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership, Academic Quality Committee, 2019-22 - Member of Council, Society for Libyan Studies (British Academy British International Research Institute), 2013-16, 2020-23 - Hull UK City of Culture 2017, Evaluation Committee 2016-19 - Chair, Political Geography Research Group, Royal Geographical Society - Institute of British Geographers, 2006-08 - Trustee, Hull Maritime Foundation, 2022-25 - Trustee, The University of Hull Maritime History Trust, 2019-22.
Scopus Author ID	37094538100
PhD Supervision Availability	Yes
PhD Topics	David is interested in supervising postgraduate research at doctoral level and for MA / MPhil degrees. He would be pleased to discuss research topics and funding avenues with prospective students. As outlined in his research interests, he is especially interested in the following areas (interpreted broadly): - Histories of geography, geographical thought and its articulations - Rethinking the spaces of memory and memorialisation - Italian colonialism, its impacts, spatiality and memories in North Africa - The geographies of modern Italy and of Italians overseas - Histories of geopolitical theory, representation and imaginaries - The cultural and historical geography of the 20th-century and its afterlives. - The sites and practices of World War Two and Holocaust commemoration Recent PhD completions include: Joe Hall (Ph.D candidate, University of Hull, 2010-2014, support, then lead supervisor) The Formation, implementation and reception of gender and sexualities education in English Primary Schools (funded by the ESRC, now Lecturer in Human Geography, University of Hertfordshire). Jo Byrne (PhD candidate, University of Hull, 2011- 2015, co-lead supervisor) The decline of Distant-water Trawling and the social reconstruction of Hull (funded by an AHRC collaborative doctoral award (with Hull City Museums), now Research and Academic Partnerships Manager, Historic England). Alex Ombler (PhD candidate, University of Hull, 2011-2015, co-lead supervisor) The Port of Hull 1945-2000: Change, adaptation and Memory (funded by University of Hull Studentship, now Curator, Goole Museum and Heritage Officer, Hessle Mill, East Riding of Yorkshire Council). Gaby Wolferink (MA by Research candidate, 2012-2013, support then lead supervisor) Mobilities, landscape and the motorcycling self (self-funded) then PhD student, University of Loughborough, now Research Officer, Leeds City Council). Helen Bergin (PhD candidate, University of Hull, 2013-2017, lead supervisor) The Man, the Sea and the Ice: Captain William Colbeck's Antarctic Experience (funded by University of Hull Studentship, now freelance writer). Bronia Cross (PhD candidate, University of Hull, 2014- 2018, support supervisor) Geographies of Childhood in Colonial Nyassaland (funded by University of Hull Studentship, now HM Treasury, Whitehall). Sarah Shields (PhD candidate, University of Hull, 2016-2019, support supervisor) Maid, wife widow: women’s life cycle and property ownership, 1550-1800 (funded by University of Hull Studentship), Michael Howcroft (PhD candidate, University of Hull, 2017-21 , co-supervisor) City of Culture and city of Brexit: the contradictions of Hull (funded by University of Hull Studentship; now Research Associate, University of Southampton and University of Sheffield). Effie Dorovitsa (PhD candidate, University of Hull, 2018- 22, co-supervisor) The Norwegian Ice-Trade in Nineteenth-century Western France (Norwegian Research Council) Current PhD students: Katie Parsons (PhD candidate, University of Hull, 2018- , lead supervisor) Outdoors Education and a City of Culture (funded by University of Hull Studentship) Stephen Walsh (PhD candidate, University of Hull, 2018- , lead supervisor) Place-making, Heritage and identity in a City of Culture (AHRC Heritage Consortium funded studentship). Ben Jennings (PhD candidate, University of Hull, 2018- , support supervisor) The Norwegian Ice-Trade in Victorian Britain: impact, effect and decline (Norwegian Research Council) Lauren Theweneti (PhD candidate, University of Hull 2019- , support supervisor) ‘Transforming a City: Socio-Spatial Change in First World War Leeds, 1911-1920’ (University of Hull studentship / ESRC White Rose Consortium)