Professor Michael Bradshaw
Professor of Human Geography
Contact Details
- Tel: 0116 252 3842
- Email: mjb41@le.ac.uk
- Fax: 0116 252 3854
- Office: Bennett Building F39
Research Interests
At present my research is organised around two major research themes: the political economy of the Russian oil and gas industry (this relates to the research theme on Spatial Politics and Change); and global energy dilemmas (this relates to the Environment, Society and Space theme). Both areas of research also contribute to the wider theme of Nature, Environment and Society. In one way or another, these two themes involve the inter-relationships between energy security, globalization, economic transformation, regional change, resource-based development, sustainable development and climate change. In recent years four projects have been completed and two are on going. I have also been involved in a number of ESRC funded seminars and a seminar series entitled the Geographies of Energy Transition has just been completed. This has formed the basis for the creation of a RGS-IBG Limited Life Working Group on Energy Geographies that will continue to promote geographical research on the energy system and the low carbon transition.
Completed Projects
- The Russian Far East: Resource Frontier for the Pacific Century?
- Understanding Patterns of Regional Economic Change in Russia
- A New Economic Geography of Russia
- A New Russian Heartland
Current Projects
The Changing Political Economy of Russian Oil and Gas
This project continues my on-going research on the Sakhalin oil and gas projects and broadens the scope to consider the wider political economy of Russian oil and gas, with a particular focus on the role of foreign investment (see 2009 paper in Geopolitics of Energy). This research charts the rise of resource nationalism in Russia under the Putin Presidency and is now examining the changing attitudes to foreign investment in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis. This research locates events in Russia with in the wider debate about the relationship between National Oil Companies and International Oil Companies.
Presentations and Articles about the Sakhalin Oil and Gas Projects.
Global Energy Dilemmas: Energy Security, Globalisation and Climate Change
The mainstay of this research activity is a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship entitled: Global Energy Dilemmas: A Geographical Analysis, which runs from October 2008 to September 2011.This project examines the relationship between energy security, globalisation, and climate change. The first phase develops a theoretical framework to examine the various ‘energy dilemmas’ that face the World. It also examines the historical and geographical development of the global energy system. The second phase delivers a set of regional and country case studies that span the globe that examine specific energy issues and their interrelationships with globalisation and climate change. The project concludes by examining the policy challenges posed by the variety of global dilemmas and assesses the ability of current national and international organisations to address them. Project outputs will include: journal articles, working papers, an on-line bibliography and a book and a website.
External Activities
Completed Seminars
- Geographies of Energy Transition: Security, Climate Governance
ESRC Funded Seminar, October 2009-September 2011. - Energy Transformations in Central and East Europe
ESRC Funded Seminar, 31st January to 2nd February 2007 - Trans-sectoral Partnerships, Sustainability Research and the Oil and Gas Industry in Russia ESRC funded seminar, October 2004-September 2006. This was a joint project with Emma Wilson then at the Scott Polar Research Institute (Cambridge) and Andy Gouldson then at the LSE.
Academic Service
- Vice-President (Research and Higher Education), Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), (2010-2013).
Honorary Positions
- Honorary Senior Research Fellow, Center for Russian and East European Studies, The University of Birmingham
- Visiting Senior Research Fellow, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, Oxford.
Current Editorial Positions
- Editor in Chief (Human Geography): Geography Compass
- Contributing Editor: Eurasian Geography and Economics
- Member of Editorial Board of Sibirica: The Journal of Siberian Studies
- Member of Editorial Board of Applied Geography
- Member of Editorial Board of Fennia
Past Editorial Positions
- Honorary Editor of Area, a journal of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geography) (2000-2005)
- Co-Editor, Eurasian Geography and Economics (2005-2006)
- Member of Editorial Board, Book Series of the Royal Geographical Society (with the IBG) (2003-2007).
- Senior Correspondent, Pacific Asia Oil and Gas Report, Alaska, USA (1999-2008).
PhD Supervision
Current
- Ahmed Albassam, 2007, Urbanisation and immigration in the Gassim Region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. (Saudi Government Funded), (co-supervisor with Caroline Upton)
Completed
- Mohammed Al-Dageri, 2008, Economic Diversification in Resource Abundant Economies: The Case of the Minerals Industry in Saudi Arabia, (Saudi Government Funded). Department of Geography, University of Leicester.
- Sultan Al-Kahtani, 2009, Security of the Saudi-Yemeni Border in a Globalising World, (Saudi Government Funded).
- Murtala Chindo, 2007, Land use practice in communities of active and historic mining operations in Nigeria, (Nigerian Government Funded), (co-supervisor with Clare Madge)
- Sophie Hadfield-Hill, 2006, Responsible Lending in India, (Self-funded), (co-supervisor with Jenny Pickerill).
Research Areas for PhD Supervision
Critical resource geographies, Energy security, globalisation and climate change, Low carbon energy transition, Economic geography of Russia.
Enquiries: If you are interested in studying for a PhD in one of these research areas, please make informal enquiries via geogPhD@le.ac.uk
Most Recent Publications
Bridge, G., Bouzarovski, S., Bradshaw, M., Eyre, N. (2012) Geographies of Energy Transition: Space, place and the low-carbon economy. Energy Policy
Bradshaw, M J (2009) ‘The Geopolitics of Global Energy Security,’ Geography Compass, 3/5 (2009): 1920–1937, DOI 10.1111/j.1749-8198.2009.00280.x.
Bradshaw, M J (2009) ‘The Kremlin, National Champions and International Oil Companies: The Political Economy of the Russian Oil and Gas Industry, Geopolitics of Energy, Vol. 31, No. 5, pp.2-14.
Bradshaw, M J (2010) ‘UK energy dilemmas: energy security and climate change.’ In Reading the Economy: the UK in the 21st Century. Edited by N.M. Coe and A. Jones. London: Sage, pp. 196-208.
Bradshaw, M J (2010) ‘A New Energy Age in Pacific Russia: Lessons from the Sakhalin Oil and Gas Projects,’ Eurasian Geography and Economics, Vol. 51, No.3, pp. 330-359.
Bradshaw, M J (2010) ‘Global Energy Dilemmas: A Geographical Perspective,’ The Geographical Journal, Vol. 176, No. 4, pp. 275-290, DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-4959.2010.00375.x.
