缅北禁地

I am a Lecturer in Political Geography. I re-joined the department in September 2024, having worked in Geography at 缅北禁地 from 2018-2021 and 2022-2023. I have also worked at Northumbria University and the University of Glasgow. I hold a PhD in Human Geography from Durham University (2019), a MRes in Human Geography from the University of Glasgow (2013), and a BA in Human Geography from 缅北禁地 (2012)

My work sits across cultural, environmental, and political geography, and is broadly centred on mobility politics and resource colonialism, and to date has mostly been focused on Jordan. I am currently PI of three projects: the first an ESRC funded research project looking at the resource politics of nature reserves in Jordan; the second a British Academy funded knowledge exchange partnership with a conservation organisation in Jordan, Wadi for Sustainable Ecosystems Development, that integrates social and physical science knowledge to address biodiversity loss; the third a project with a Bedouin artist in Jordan, Gazua Matruak, that explores changing Bedouin cultural heritage in Jordan.

I also hold the following roles:

Forum and Review Editor for the journal Geopolitics.

Chair of the Political Geography Research Group of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG).

Committee member of the RGS-IBG Higher Education Committee.

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

External Examiner for the Geography BA at King's College London.

My current research covers four main areas:

1) Mobility politics

I am interested in the politics of movement, especially how movement is conditioned by situated cultural politics, colonialism, and how it can unearth embodied accounts of territory. My interest in mobility politics has resulted in work exploring the  and  in Jordan and the  across the Middle East. I have also written about the politics of , the , and the .

2) Resource colonialism

My research examines how historical and contemporary forms of colonialism shape the environment. I am currently PI of a UKRI-funded project entitled ‘A cultural politics of nature reserves in Jordan’ that examines the relationships between resource extraction and scarcity, indigenous rights, and postcolonialism. I have written about the (post)colonial politics of ,  and how the  can be used to understand the current violent socio-ecological epoch. Further work has explored the in Jordan and the between local communities, cultural heritage, and conservation sites.

3) Environmental justice

I am committed to environmental and social justice and I have conducted fieldwork using a range of qualitative methods including participatory filmmaking, story-mapping, and mobile interviews. I have worked extensively with NGOs, policymakers, artists, and local communities to produce more equitable environmental futures.

4) The politics of knowledge production in higher education

My research has explored the production of academic knowledge within an increasingly neoliberalised academic system. This has resulted in work exploring the impacts of  and how neoliberalism is shaping what it . My interest in how geography is changing as a discipline has also resulted in editorial pieces exploring changing .

I have over 10 years undergraduate and postgraduate teaching experience across a variety of topics and subjects including political geography, geopolitics, environmental politics, the Middle East and North Africa, mobile research methods, and cultural politics. I believe in centring students in real world issues and concerns and connecting teaching to community and justice led work.

I currently lead the following modules:

• GEO8028: Political Geographies of the Middle East.

And I also teach on the following modules:

• GEO1010: Interconnected World.
• GEO1026: Becoming a Geographer.
• GEO2047: Political Geography.
• GEO3102: Geopolitics

I would welcome contact from postgraduates interested in PhD supervision, especially on topics related to mobility politics, environmental politics, and political geographies of the Middle East.

• Articles

  • Abu-Hamdan T, Mason O. . Geographical Journal 2026, 191(1), e70010.
  • Mason O. . Journal of Historical Geography 2025, 88, 118-131.
  • Mason O, Hughes SM. . Geopolitics 2024, 30(1), 350-377.
  • Mason O. . Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 2023, 48(3), 506-524.
  • Mason O, Riding J. . Progress in Human Geography 2023, 47(6), 769-789.
  • Mason O, Megoran N. . Geografiska Annaler. Series B. Human Geography 2023, 105(1), 17-37.
  • Marr N, Lantto M, Larsen M, Judith K, Brice S, Phoenix J, Oliver C, Mason O, Thomas S. . GeoHumanities 2022, 8(2), 555-585.
  • Mason O, Megoran N. . Learning and Teaching: The International Journal of Higher Education in the Social Sciences 2021, 14(1), 35-59.
  • Mason O. . Political Geography 2021, 88, 102392.
  • Mason O. . Cultural Geographies 2020, 27(3), 395-414.
  • Patterson C, Emslie C, Mason O, Fergie G, Hilton S. . BMJ Open 2016, 6, e013124.

• Book Chapters

  • Riding J, Mason O. . In: Alexander, N; Cooper, D, ed. The Routledge Handbook of Literary Geographies. Abingdon, Oxon; New York: Routledge, 2024, pp.326-335.
  • Mason O. . In: Ajebon, M;Diego, A;Kwong, C, ed. Navigating the Field. Springer, 2021, pp.13–24.

• Editorials

  • Mason O, Sarma J, Sidaway JD, Bonnett A, Hubbard P, Jamil G, Middleton J, O'Neill M, Riding J, Rose M. Interventions in walking methods in political geography. Political Geography 2025. In Preparation.
  • Mason O. . Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography 2025, 46(2), 282-286.
  • Griffiths M, Hughes S, Mason O, Nassar A, Printy Currie N. . Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography 2024, 45(1), 6-17.
  • Mason O, Barry A, Grove K, Massey R, McConnell F, Menga F. . Political Geography 2023, 104, 102906.

• Letter

  • Hussein H, Mason O. . Science 2024, 386(6724), 859-860.

• Online Publication

  • Ahearn A, Mason O. . London: Council for British Research in the Levant (CBRL), 2023. Available at: .

• Reviews

  • Mason O. . Gender, Place & Culture 2022, 29(8), 1204-1207.
  • Mason O. . The Arab World Geographer 2015, 18(4), 315-318.