Profile
Adam Badger
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About Me:
I LOVE music and spend a lot of time digging for new sounds and records. I’ve also been really fortunate to travel as part of my work, so spend any free time I can getting to see interesting new places. Oh, and I’ve got ADHD and dyslexia which I only found out as an adult, so I’m navigating what that means too 🙂
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My work and my social life are animated by two main passions. Firstly, I love connecting with new and interesting people and speaking with them about what they are passionate about. It’s something I just never fail to find really exciting. Secondly, I’m motivated by trying to help make the world a fairer and better place for everyone, and I really dislike seeing systems in place that stop this being a reality for so many.
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My pronouns are:
He/Him
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How I use Geography in my work:
I’m a Lecturer in Economic Geography at Newcastle University, so Geography is a pretty big part of what I do every day. This might be teaching people about geography and marking assessments, but it is also often about conducting research with geographical themes that – in my case – hopefully lead to making the world a better place. Whilst I’m interested in economic theories and geography, my real passion comes from trying to understand the lived experience of our economic lives – what does it feel like to live and work in the economy we’re in? How might it be better? How might it be worse?
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My Work:
As a lecturer in Economic Geography my work primarily involves teaching undergraduate and postgraduate geographers, as well as conducting research with a geographical theme. For me, this has mostly been about digital technology (what we academics might call ‘digital geographies’); work (‘labour geographies’) and the city (‘urban geographies’).
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My work really focuses in on trying to understand the lived experiences of work that is highly ‘digital’ in nature. Most of my career has been spent trying to understand the ‘gig-‘ or ‘platform economy’ – think Uber, Deliveroo, Amazon, that kind of thing. Not only do I try to understand what this feels like, but I also try to help find ways of supporting workers in advocating for meaningful change that might make their lives better in the long run. Sometimes this means working with unions; other times it means speaking to governments, indsutry and supra-national governing bodies like the ILO or World Bank. I initially did this in the UK, but have since carried out research in 5 other countries, and support research in a further 32 (hence all the travel, which was a real joy too)!
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My Typical Day:
Every day is different for me, which is something I love about this job. BUT, there are some patterns across my working life. Usually my mornings are spent dealing with admin tasks like marking, leccture prep, answering emails and supporting students who might have wellbeing concerns. The rest of my day is spent either teaching or researching and writing. I’m currently writing a book (my first book!) which is very exciting but is putting me under a bit of pressure to get it done, so I often work a bit late to finish that.
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My work tends to have rhythms. In the term time, I’m doing lots and lots of teaching and marking, alongside other admin roles like being the leader for a course here. In the non-term times I spend most of my time writing, reading and speaking to others about their interesting ideas.
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What I'd do with the prize money:
I didn’t know there was a prize! That’s a great surprise!
If I won I’d spend the money on working with some secondary school teachers I know who are quite involved in cirriculum development and design for A-Level and GCSE students. I’d like to make a platform for them to be able to share their expertise with more university lecturers so we can hopefully get a bit better at smoothing the transition from A-Level geography to degree level geography.
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Education:
I grew up in Birmingham – a city I still absolutely adore to this day. I went to a state primary school in the local area, and then to a state grammar secondary school (King Edward VI Five Ways). To be totally honest, I hated Geography for most of my time at school, but then in year 9 when it was still compulsory for me, I had a teacher who just totally changed my mind on it. She inspired me to see what Geography really was and what it had to offer me. I think I had a lot of questions about the world at that time; ones that I didn’t always feel were being answered very well by some other subjects. I knew injustice where I saw it, but couldn’t really say why, or how I might be part of trying to fix it (for example). This teacher showed me that Geography isn’t about just filling my head with facts about ox-bow lakes or population demographics (although they certainly help and are interesting). Rather it was about holding a lens up to everything I saw and figuring out the tools to make sure I could interpret and understand it. This teacher and the one I had following her in GCSE totally changed my life and led to the career I have today. Thinking about them inspired me to do this too 🙂 So really this whole journey began at school.
After school I went to Royal Holloawy, University of London to study BA Geography. Again, I had some inspirational teachers that deepend that knowledge and insight for me even further. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do next, so I stayed for a masters, and then a PhD! And teh rest, as they say, is history.
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Qualifications:
I got a range of GCSEs, with some A*s and As as well as Bs and Cs. (I don’t remember the exact numbers or subjects, sorry!)
I got 4 AS levels, but I did really badly in a few of them so had to resit – it was all part of the process for me:
Geography
History
English Literature
Physics
I then took the following 3 to A-Level
Geography
History
English Literature
At university I studied BA Geography, then MA Geography and then got a PhD in Geography & Business Studies.
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Work History:
I’ve done all sorts of jobs:
Piano salesman; call centre worker; event crew at music festivals; sky sports camera man (probably the most exciting to be fair…); customer support at a florist; DJ; community radio volunteer; etc etc.
When things got more serious in terms of settling into an academic career I worked at Royal Holloway for a bit, as well as Oxford University and now Newcastle.
I’ve always loved different kinds of jobs and so my employment history shows that.
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Current Job:
I’m currently a lecturer in Economic Geography at Newcastle University.
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Employer:
Newcastle University
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My Interview
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What did you want to be after you left school?
I have no idea... I've always been someone who didn't know what they wanted to do. As a primary school student though, I wanted to be a frog. Still not made that ambition come true (and I don't quite know why I thought frogs were so cool...)
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Sometimes... I never broke big rules, but I was often late with handing in homework and other things which didn't help.
If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?
I'd be a secondary school teacher or a fireman - those are still very much possible for me!
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Growing-up, I loved the Arcitc Monkeys! They just narrated how I felt at the time. Now, I think Ezra Collective top the list for me!
What's your favourite food?
Mediterranean food for me I think!
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
To have a long healthy and happy life surrounded by friends and family
Tell us a joke.
Why was the scarecrow promoted? Because he was outstanding in his field
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