Adam Tickell

FAcSS The Fellowship of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS) is an award granted by the Academy of Social Sciences to leading academics, policy-makers, and practitioners of the social sciences. Fellows were previously known as Academicians and used the ...

(born 1965) is a British economic geographer, whose work explores finance, English local governance, and the politics of ideas. He is Vice-Chancellor of the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingha ...

, and was formerly Vice-Chancellor of the

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

. He also edited the ''

Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers The ''Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Royal Geographical Society. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the journal has a 2019 impa ...

''.

Background

Adam Tickell obtained a first-class degree in Geography in 1987 from the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The university owns and operates majo ...

and a PhD from the same institution on the social regulation of banking. Tickell moved jobs frequently, holding positions and professorships at the universities of Bristol, Leeds, Southampton, Birmingham and Royal Holloway, University of London. At the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a Red brick university, red brick Russell Group research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Society of Merchant Venturers, Merchant Venturers' sc ...

, from 2000, he became research director of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law. Simultaneously, he was the Vice Chair of the Research Grants Board of the

Economic and Social Research Council The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), formerly the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). UKRI is a non-departmental public body (NDPB) funded by the UK government. ESRC provides fund ...

(ESRC). He later joined

Royal Holloway Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public university, public research university and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It has six schools, ...

, becoming Dean and Vice-Principal. He joined the

in 2011, becoming Provost and Vice-Principal. He became the Vice-Chancellor of the

in 2016. He became Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham in January 2022. He is the current Chair of

Universities UK Universities UK (UUK) is an advocacy organisation for universities in the United Kingdom. It began life in the early 20th century through informal meetings of vice-chancellors of a number of universities and principals of university colleges and ...

Open Access Implementation Group.

Scholarship

Tickell is one a number of geographers active since the 1980s studying the spatial and economic expression of capital, finance, and global markets. Others with whom he has coauthored work include Eric Sheppard,

Nigel Thrift Sir Nigel John Thrift (born 12 October 1949 in Bath) is a British academic and geographer. In 2018 he was appointed as Chair of the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management, a committee that gives independent scientific and technical advic ...

and

Jamie Peck Jamie Peck FRSC FAcSS (born July 9, 1962 in Kimberley, Nottinghamshire, UK) is Canada Research Chair in Urban & Regional Political Economy and Professor of Geography at the University of British Columbia, Canada. He is the Managing Editor of ...

. In particular, he has explored the nature of

post-Fordism Post-Fordism is the dominant system of economic production, consumption, and associated socio-economic phenomena in most industrialized countries since the late 20th century. It is contrasted with Fordism, the system formulated in Henry Ford's au ...

and regional decentralisation in the UK. Tickell's most cited work is "Neoliberalizing space", an article with

in ''

Antipode Antipode or Antipodes may refer to: Mathematics * Antipodal point, the diametrically opposite point on a circle or ''n''-sphere, also known as an antipode * Antipode, the convolution inverse of the identity on a Hopf algebra Geography * Antipode ...

'' journal, published in 2002 and cited 4,600 times by 2018. He was editor of ''

'' in the mid 2000s and is a Fellow of the

Academy of Social Sciences The Academy of Social Sciences is a representative body for social sciences in the United Kingdom. The Academy promotes social science through its sponsorship of the Campaign for Social Science, its links with Government on a variety of matters, ...

Controversy

In 2018 Tickell attracted hostility from academics and students who felt his academic critiques of

neoliberalism Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent ...

were at odds with the stance he took as a Vice Chancellor during the

2018 USS pension dispute Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19 * one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the short ...

over threats to academic pensions. Posters appeared saying "Critiques neoliberalism in academic articles, but privatises the university for cash". He told '' The Badger'' that the UCU strikes would achieve nothing, even though he was once a UCU member and rep; this proved incorrect. The University of Sussex financial statements 2016–17 state that Mr Tickell was paid £267,000 for the period of September 2016 to July 2017, plus £17,000 relocation costs and £9,000 in pension contributions. In December 2020, during his tenure as Vice-Chancellor, Tickell presided over the largest

rent strike A rent strike is a method of protest commonly employed against large landlords. In a rent strike, a group of tenants come together and agree to refuse to pay their rent ''en masse'' until a specific list of demands is met by the landlord. This c ...

in the University's history. Involving over 750 students, it lasted seven months. It was led by the Sussex Renters’ Union in response to yearly increases in rent and poor mental health support and treatment by the University during the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

pandemic. In Autumn 2021, the Sussex branch of the University College Union (UCU) strongly criticised Tickell over a statement sent via email to all students enrolled at the University, regarding

academic freedom Academic freedom is a moral and legal concept expressing the conviction that the freedom of inquiry by faculty members is essential to the mission of the academy as well as the principles of academia, and that scholars should have freedom to teac ...

and

Kathleen Stock Kathleen Mary Linn Stock is a British philosopher and writer. She was a professor of philosophy at the University of Sussex until 2021. She has published academic work on aesthetics, fiction, imagination, sexual objectification, and sexual or ...

related to

transphobia Transphobia is a collection of ideas and phenomena that encompass a range of negative attitudes, feelings, or actions towards transgender people or transness in general. Transphobia can include fear, aversion, hatred, violence or anger tow ...

on the university campus. Sussex UCU claimed that Tickell had not upheld the dignity and respect of trans students and staff. UCU also called for an investigation into "institutional transphobia" at the University of Sussex in response to Tickell's statement.

Publications

*Thrift, N, A. Tickell, W.H, Rupp and S. Woolgar. (eds.) 2014. ''Globalization in Practice''. Oxford University Press. *Tickell A., E. Sheppard, J. Peck and T.Barnes (eds.). 2007. ''Politics and Practice in Economic Geography''. Sage.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tickell, Adam British geographers Alumni of the University of Manchester Living people Fellows of the Academy of Social Sciences Economic geographers 1965 births Academics of Royal Holloway, University of London