Mark Boyle

Biography

BSc University of Glasgow (1988), PhD University of Edinburgh (2002). Lecturer/Senior Lecturer University of Strathclyde, Glasgow (1992-2007). Chair of Geography, National University of Ireland Maynooth from 2007. At Maynooth, Head of the Department of Geography 2007-2012 and Director of the National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analysis (NIRSA) 2013 - 2016. Currently, Chair of the Research Committee in the Department of Geography, and Chair of the Maynooth University Examination Appeals Committee. I conduct research on a) the politics of urban and regional development; b) migration and development in both host and destination regions and c) western hegemony, colonial and post-colonial geographies. I serve as Section Editor (Political Geography/Philosophy of Geography) of the Elsevier Human Geography Encyclopedia (due 2019).

Research Interest

1. Urban and Regional Development and Spatial Planning: I conduct research on Irish cities and regions, their struggles to recover after the crash, the social, political, economic, cultural, and environmental challenges they face, and the role of public policy in addressing these challenges. 2. Migration and development: I conduct research on the impact of emigration on migrant sending states, diaspora centred development and diaspora strategies. 3. Postcolonial Studies and the 'West and the World': I conduct research which exposes - and ruminates on the politics of - the western-centricity of academic and lay geographical imaginaries of the West and its relationship with the rest of the world.