Dr Lesley Murray

Dr Lesley Murray is an Associate Professor in Social Science at the Ï㽶ֱ²¥, teaching across the sociology programme and on research methods at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Lesley is an experienced researcher with a track record in commissioning and managing research and in successfully bidding for research projects. She recently led a work package (£238,000) of a RCUK Energy Programme funded research project, which aimed to understand urban mobility practices through the lens of disruption.

Lesley has over 20 years’ experience in urban mobilities research in academia and government, having worked as a transport researcher for the London Research Centre, the Greater London Authority and Transport for London, commissioning research on a range of issues. Lesley completed a PhD in 2007 through an ESRC studentship, followed by an ESRC-funded postdoctoral fellowship at the Ï㽶ֱ²¥.

Lesley’s research interests centre on urban mobilities and she has published extensively in this field, including on gendered and generational mobilities, the intersections between mobile and visual methods and urban mobile spaces.

Lesley-Murray

Dr Lesley Murray
Associate Professor in Social Science

How I like to teach

I teach across the sociology programme and module-coordinate the second year research methods module that runs across a number of disciplines. I offer a number of third year sociology options in visual sociology, urban sociology and the sociology of mobilities. I am a keen and active researcher and my research, along with my profession experience, shapes my teaching practice. I use a combination of traditional teaching activities: lectures, seminars, tutorials and supervision, ensuring that the activity is best suited to the learning outcomes and course assessment. Lectures are interspersed with questions, from and to students, and I use a range of modes of representation including film, literature, and visual arts, and different media including audio-visual and online, to communicate ideas through contemporary examples. I think that students learn best when they are fully engaged with a particular topic and can apply it in their social world.

My research interests

Although my research interests centre on the field of mobilities, this is a broad area of research that incorporates many diverse topics. I have four main areas of interest within his field. Firstly I have worked for a number of years on mobilities and transport and the ways in which transport intersects with other social issues. Secondly, recent work has focused on intergenerational and gendered mobilities and the ways in which these are mediated through communication technologies. Thirdly, another recent research project seeks to understand the significance of urban streets as spaces of social interactions and design. Lastly, I continue to pursue new ways of carrying out research through creative research methodologies and methods. I am co-chair of the university-wide Centre for Research in Spatial, Environmental and Cultural Politics.

Research activity

Current research projects

Previous research projects

Research centres and groups

Social media

 

Contact me

Watson Building Room 232
School of Applied Social Science
Ï㽶ֱ²¥
Brighton BN1 9PH.

Telephone: 01273 644558


Email: L.Murray@brighton.ac.uk

Biography

Lesley Murray is an Associate Professor in Social Science at the Ï㽶ֱ²¥, where her research centres around urban mobilities. She recently led a work package of a RCUK (Research Council UK) Energy Programme funded research project, Unlocking low carbon mobilities, which aimed to understand urban mobility practices through the lens of disruption. Lesley has over 20 years experience in urban mobilities research in academia and government, having previously worked as a transport researcher for the London Research Centre and the Greater London Authority, before moving to Transport for London. She completed a PhD in 2007 (ESRC studentship), followed by an ESRC funded postdoctoral fellowship, at the Ï㽶ֱ²¥. She is a trans-disciplinary researcher whose interests centre on the social and cultural aspects of mobilities.

Research output

 

PhD students

PhD students
Adam Jones (commenced 2014 part-time) Why do we still fly when we know the environmental cost? 
A critical analysis of the resources, mechanisms, practices
and networks that support leisure aviation consumption
Cara Courage (2012–2016) (completed) Making places: performative arts practices in the city
Kate Monson (2016–2019) Home strange home: Learning to live in a tangled, troubled place

Roles

Member, AHRC Peer Review College

Co-lead of Culture, Identity and Society research cluster in Social Science Policy and Research Centre (SSPARC)

Co-chair of Centre for Research in Spatial, Environmental and Cultural Politics (SECP)

Fellow of The Higher Education Academy (HEA)

Member of Editorial Board, Sociological Research Online (2014-present)

External reviewer for academic journals:

  • Cultural Geographies
  • Emotion, Space and Society
  • Geoforum
  • Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology
  • Journal of Environmental Science and Technology
  • Journal of Transport Geography
  • Journal of Urban Affairs
  • Mobilities
  • Qualitative Research
  • Social and Cultural Geography
  • Sociological Research Online
  • Transfers: Interdisciplinary Journal of Mobility Studies
  • Transport Policy
  • The London Journal
  • Women's Studies International Forum

Awards

Ï㽶ֱ²¥ Research Poster Competition first prizewinner in the staff category 2012 and 2015

2007-2008 ERSC Postdoctoral Fellowship Award 

2004-2007 ESRC PhD studentship Award