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Greig Charnock

PhD, Prof

  • Professor of Global Political Economy, Politics

Accepting PhD Students

Personal profile

Qualifications

2019, Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, AdvanceHE, UK

2005, PhD in International Politics, The University of Manchester

2001, MA (with distinction) International Political Economy, The University of Manchester

1997, BA (Hons) Politics, Newcastle University 

Biography

Greig has taught Global Political Economy (GPE) at this university since 2004. 

Teaching

Greig currently teaches the undergraduate course unit POLI31091 Global Capitalism, Crisis and Revolt, and the postgraduate course unit POLI70282 Critical Globalisation Studies. In the recent past, he taught courses on the politics of globalisation and critical theories of GPE. 

In 2022, he was a highly commended winner of the Outstanding Teacher Award (Faculty of Humanities), and was a winner of the same award in 2021. 

Memberships of committees and professional bodies

Greig is Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

He is a member of the editorial board of the journal Capital & Classand serves on the advisory board of URBS: Revista de Estudios Urbanos y Ciencias Sociales (Spain). 

Research interests

Greig's research is interdisciplinary, and is mainly focused at the intersection between global political economy and urban studies. He is co-author of two books: David Harvey: A Critical Introduction to His Thought (Routledge, 2023) and The Limits to Capital in Spain: Crisis and Revolt in the European South (Palgrave, 2014). He is co-editor of two volumes: 22@barcelona: Un distrito de innovación en disputa (Icaria, 2023), and The New International Division of Labour: Global Transformations and Uneven Development (Palgrave, 2016).

Greig's current research agenda focuses on contemporary processes of industrial and urban transformation in an era of 'digital capitalism'. This agenda represents a natural progression from his collaborative theoretical work on the new international division of labour, with its attention to the shifting dynamics of production and labour markets across the world. In particular, he is interested in whether such developments are so disruptive as to worsen conditions of social-ecological reproduction in the crisis economies of the European South, or whether they can be harnessed to enhance democratic means of participation and administration, as well as to generate new and more sustainable economic models at the local scale.

Presently, Greig's primary case study is the city of Barcelona, which is not only attracting unprecedented levels of investment in ICT sectors, but which has also become a global referent for ‘smart city' transformation, digital social innovation, and a ‘new municipalism’. He is currently working on a book which will chart the transformation of Barcelona's 22@ Innovation District over the last twenty years. 

Since 2020, Greig has been a member of the Coworking Research Collective (CORECOL). Seen by many as being integral to 'urban ecosystems of innovation' within digital capitalism, coworking spaces have fast become an integral feature of cities, offering corporate teams, startups and freelancers opportunities to work and network on a flexible basis. CORECOL's ESRC/digit-funded research into the future of UK coworking spaces after the Covid-19 pandemic has found that these spaces have become embroiled in fierce competition with traditional commercial real estate providers of late, with consequences for the future of work and workspaces in English city-regions. 

My group

Greig is a member of the Global Political Economy research cluster in the department of Politics. He is also affiliated to the Manchester Urban Institute.

He is an active member of the Coworking Research Collective (CORECOL), with Ödül Bozkurt (Sussex), Jennifer Johns (Bristol), Harry Pitts (Exeter) and Edward Yates (Sheffield). 

Supervision information

Completed PGR Supervisions

Dr William Harvey (2019) Global Transformations and the British Working Class, 1997-2010. Will is a Senior Policy Advisor at HM Treasury.

Dr Kelvin Charles (2017) The Common in Hardt and Negri. 

Dr Jon Las Heras (2017) Spanish Trade Union Strategy in the Automotive Industry. Jon is Lecturer in Industrial Economics at the Universidad del Pais Vasco (Spain).

Dr Martín Arboleda (2015) Resource Extraction and the Extension of the Urban Form. Martín is Lecturer in Sociology at the Universidad Diego Portales (Chile). 

Dr Giulia Sirigu (2015) Continuity and Change in Mexican Foreign Policy under Fox. Giulia is a Represenative of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in the UK. 

Dr Thomas Houseman (2011) Adorno, Conceptuality and Global Governance Institutions. Tom is Senior Lecturer in Politics & IR at Leeds Beckett University. 

Dr Thomas Purcell (2010) A Marxian Analysis of 'Endogenous Development' in Venezuela. Tom is Senior Lecturer in IPE at King's College, London. 

Dr Japhy Wilson (2009) Abstract Space and the Plan Puebla Panama. Japhy is a Lecturer in Geography at the University of Bangor. 

 

Activities and esteem

Lectures and conference activity (2014-)

Academic invitations received for the presentation of external lectures or departmental seminars 

  1. (2017) ‘El capital y la revolución urbana: A favor de la crítica de la economía política y en contra de su superación espacial’, First International Symposium on Studies in the Critique of Political Economy, Universities of Buenos Aires and Quilmes (Argentina), 14 March.
  2. (2016) ‘Space, Time and Value’, ESRC SWDTC Workshop: Marx in the Key of Hope, University of Bath, 29 January.
  3. (2015) ‘Why does space matter?’, International Workshop: Labour in Transition and Urban Transformation, University of Bath, 9 September.

Presentation of seminar and conference papers internationally

  1. (2022) ‘Coworking Through and After Covid-19’, International Labour Process Conference (Padua, Italy), April
  2. (2020) ‘Co-working Spaces, Cities and Covid-19’, Research Group on Collaborative Spaces (Milan, Italy), December

Presentation of conference papers in the UK

  1. (2022) ‘Co-working While Competing?’, Co-working and the Future of Work Research and Stakeholder Workshop (Brighton), October
  2. (2019) ‘Digital Capitalism and the Production of Space’, BISA-IPEG Annual Conference (London), May. 

Conference and workshop organisation

  1. (2020) Organiser UoM-funded workshop on 'Co-working Spaces, Labour and the City' (Manchester), March. 
  2. (2016) Co-convenor of two conference panels on ‘Understanding Global Transformation and Uneven Development’, Historical Materialism annual conference (London), November. 

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

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):

  • SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
  • SDG 4 - Quality Education
  • SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth
  • SDG 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
  • SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities
  • SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
  • SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
  • SDG 17 - Partnerships for the Goals

External positions

School Of Humanities External Examiner, Liverpool Hope University College

Sept 2022Jul 2024

Undergraduate and Postgraduate Taught External Examiner, Politics & International Relations, Liverpool Hope University College

Sept 2021Jul 2025

Undergraduate External Examiner, School of Politics, Economics and Philosophy, University of York

Sept 2017Jul 2021

Taught Postgraduate External Examiner, School of Politics, Economics and Philosophy, University of York

Sept 2017Jan 2019

Research Beacons, Institutes and Platforms

  • Manchester Urban Institute

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