Nigel Thrift
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Sir Nigel John Thrift (born 12 October 1949 in
Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...
) is a British academic and
geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...
. In 2018 he was appointed as Chair of the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management, a committee that gives independent scientific and technical advice on
radioactive waste Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. It is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, nuclear decommissioning, rare-earth mining, and nuclear ...
to the UK government and the devolved administrations. He is a visiting professor at the
University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
and
Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (THU) is a public university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Constructio ...
and an emeritus professor at the
University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...
. In 2016 and 2017 he was the executive director of the Schwarzman Scholars, an international leadership program at Tsinghua University in Beijing. He was the
Vice-Chancellor A vice-chancellor (commonly called a VC) serves as the chief executive of a university in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Kenya, other Commonwealth of Nati ...
of the
University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of ...
from 2006 to 2016. He is a leading academic in the fields of
human geography Human geography or anthropogeography is the branch of geography which studies spatial relationships between human communities, cultures, economies, and their interactions with the environment, examples of which include urban sprawl and urban ...
and the social sciences.


Early life and career

Born in 1949, and educated at Nailsea School south west of Bristol, Thrift then studied geography at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth and did his PhD at the
University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...
. Thrift has held posts at numerous universities, including the
University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
, the
University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...
, the
Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...
, the University of Wales, Lampeter, the
University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...
, and the
University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
. In 2005 he was appointed vice-chancellor of the
University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of ...
, taking up the position in July 2006. He intended to retire at the end of the university’s 50th anniversary year in 2015, but extended by a month to the end of January 2016. Thrift served as Executive Director of Schwarzman Scholars until 2017, and was appointed as Chair of the UK Government's Committee on Radioactive Waste Management in 2018. Thrift was knighted in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to higher education.


Contribution to geography

Thrift has been described as one of the world's leading human geographers and social scientists. He was the third most highly cited human geographer between 1996 and 2017. In 1982 he co-founded the journal ''Environment and Planning D: Society and Space'' whilst serving as managing editor, from 1979 to 2012, of ''Environment and Planning A''. Thrift's early work was most readily associated with the study of time and time-geography and with economic geography, especially international finance. His later work has paid attention to a variety of topics including the nature of space, cities, information technology, repair and maintenance, and especially 'non-representational theory', a body of work that stresses the performative aspects of practice in Western societies. His work on time,
language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...
, power, representations, and the body has been particularly influential, and it has been suggested that Thrift's career reflects and in some cases spurred substantial intellectual changes in human geography in the 1980s and 1990s. Non-representational theory is concerned with performative and embodied knowledges and is a radical attempt to wrench the social sciences and humanities out of an over-emphasis on representation and interpretation by moving away from contemplative models of thought and action to those based on practice. Thrift has claimed that non-representational theory addresses the "unprocessual" nature of much of social and cultural theory. Major themes within non-representational theory include subjectification, space as a verb, technologies of being, embodiment, and play and excess. Non-representational theory has provoked substantial debate within the field of human geography around the limits of the mediation of our world through language and how we might see, sense, and communicate beyond it. Thrift has also edited and authored a number of books, encyclopaedias, and primers in human geography.


University Leadership

At Bristol, Thrift was Chair of the Research Assessment Panel and then the Research Committee. At Oxford, Thrift served as head of the Life and Environmental Sciences Division before becoming Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research. Thrift's role as Vice Chancellor at Warwick saw him launch several new initiatives, boosting the University's presence in London (an expansion of the Business School in
The Shard The Shard, also referred to as the Shard London Bridge and formerly London Bridge Tower, is a 72-storey mixed-use development supertall pyramid-shaped skyscraper, designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano, in Southwark, London, that for ...
building) and overseas (through a strong partnership with
Monash University Monash University () is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Named after World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the ...
, and with plans to develop a campus in California). Warwick is now ranked firmly in the world's top 100 universities, and in the top 10 in the UK. Thrift was a chair of a section of the British
Research Assessment Exercise The Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) was an exercise undertaken approximately every five years on behalf of the four UK higher education funding councils ( HEFCE, SHEFC, HEFCW, DELNI) to evaluate the quality of research undertaken by British ...
(Main Panel H, 2005–07 and member, 2001 Panel for Geography), chaired the Industry Commission on Higher Education (2012-) and the IPPR Commission on the Future of Higher Education.


Controversies

In the financial year 2011–12, Thrift's salary rose by £50,000 (21%) to £288,000. Some students claimed that the pay raise was unjustified, but their protests were rebuffed. In June 2013 when a pay rise of £42,000 (to £316,000) was announced, a small number of students again protested. The grounds were that the raise went against university cutbacks to staff and student support/bursaries. Thrift's pay increase of £16,000 announced in December 2014, was again met with protests. On 3 December 2014 police used CS spray to tackle protests at the University of Warwick, after a security guard was assaulted (two protestors, including a student were later prosecuted). The University issued a written statement that expressed concern at the situation and denounced the alleged violence.


Recognition and awards

* Knighted, for services to higher education (2015) * Deputy Lieutenant for the West Midlands (2014) *Honorary LLD,
Monash University Monash University () is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Named after World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the ...
(2013) *Honorary LLD,
University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...
(2010) *Scottish Geographical Medal, Royal Scottish Geographical Society (2008) *Distinguished Scholarship Honours, Association of American Geographers (2007) * Victoria Medal of the
Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...
. (2003) *
Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (post-nominal letters FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in t ...
(2003)(2003) *Fellow, Academy of Learned Societies for the Social Sciences
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 t ...
(2000) *Fellow, Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences (1999) *University of Helsinki Medal (1999) *Newbigin Prize, Royal Scottish Geographical Society (1998) *Fellow, Netherlands Institute of Advanced Study (1993) *Royal Geographical Society Heath Award (1988)


Selected bibliography


Selected books

Thrift has written several monographs and co-authored books.A full list of all of the books he has authored and co-authored is available from Professor Thrift's website
Nigel Thrift's Books and Monographs – nigelthrift.wordpress.com
*Peet R & Thrift N (Eds.) (1989) ''New Models in Geography: The Political-Economy Perspective'', Boston: Unwin-Hyman. *Pile S & Thrift N (Eds.) (1995) ''Mapping the Subject: Geographies of Cultural Transformation'', New York, NY: Routledge. *Thrift N (1996) ''Spatial Formations'', Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. *Corbridge S, Martin R & Thrift N(Eds.) (1997) ''Money, Power and Space'', Oxford: Blackwell. *Leyshon A & Thrift N (Eds.) (1997) ''Money/Space: Geographies of Monetary Transformation'', London: Routledge. *Miller D, Jackson P, Holbrook B, Thrift N and Rowlands, M (1998) ''Shopping, Place and Identity'', London: Routledge. *Pile S and Thrift N (Eds.) (2000)''City A-Z: Urban Fragments''. London: Routledge. * Crang M and Thrift N (eds.) (2000) ''Thinking Space (Critical Geographies)'' London: Routledge. * Amin A Massey D and Thrift N (2000) ''Cities for All the People Not the Few''. Bristol: Policy Press. *Thrift N and May J (eds.) (2001) ''Timespace: Geographies of Temporality''. London: Routledge. * Amin A and Thrift N (2002) ''Cities: Reimagining the Urban''. Cambridge: Polity Press. * Amin A Massey D and Thrift N (2003) ''Decentring the Nation. A Radical Approach to the Regions''. London: Catalyst. *Harrison S Pile S and Thrift N (eds.) (2004) ''Patterned Ground: Entanglements of Nature and Culture''. London: Reaktion. *Thrift N (2005) ''Knowing Capitalism (Theory, Culture and Society)''. London: Sage. *Thrift N (2007) ''Non-Representational Theory''. London: Routledge. *Glennie P & Thrift N (2009) ''Shaping The Day: A History of Timekeeping in England and Wales 1300 – 1800''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. *Kitchin R. & Thrift N. (2009). ''The International Encyclopedia of Human Geography'', Oxford and Boston: Elsevier Publishing. *Amin A. and N. Thrift. (2013) ''Arts of the Political: New Openings For the Left''. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. *Thrift N, A. Tickell, S. Woolgar, and W.H. Rupp (eds.). 2014. ''Globalisation in Practice''. Oxford University Press. *Thrift N, A. Amin (2016) ''Seeing Like a City''. Cambridge: Polity Press *Thrift, N. (2021) ''Killer Cities''. London: Sage *Thrift, N. (2022) ''The Pursuit of Possibility. Redesigning Research Universities''. Bristol: Bristol University Press.


Journal articles

*Thrift N (1981) "Owners time and own time: The making of capitalist time consciousness, 1300–1880" in Pred A (Ed.) ''Space and Time in Geography: Essays dedicated to Torston Hagerstrand'', Lund: Lund Studies in Geography Series B, No. 48 *Thrift N (1983) "On the determination of social action in space and time", ''Environment and Planning D: Society and Space'' 1: pp. 23–57 *Thrift N (1997) "The Rise of Soft Capitalism" in ''Cultural Values'', Volume 1, Number 1, 1997, pp. 29–57 *Thrift N (1999) "Steps to an Ecology of Place" in Massey D, Allen J & Sarre P (Eds.) ''Human Geography Today'', Cambridge: Polity Press: pp. 295–323 *Thrift N (2000a) "Performing cultures in the new economy", ''Annals of the Association of American Geographers'' 4: pp. 674–692 *Thrift N (2000b) "Afterwords", ''Environment and Planning D: Society and Space'' 18 (3): pp. 213–255 *Thrift N & Olds K (1996) "Refiguring the economic in economic geography", ''Progress in Human Geography'' 20: pp. 311–337 *Thrift N (2004) "Intensities of Feeling: Towards a Spatial Politics of Affect" in ''Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography'', Volume 86, Number 1, pp. 57–78 *Thrift N (2005) "But malice aforethought: cities and the natural history of hatred" in ''Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers'', Volume 30, Number 2, pp. 133–150


References


External links

*Warf B (2004) "Nigel Thrift" in Hubbard P, Kitchin R & Valentine G (Eds.)
Key Thinkers on Space and Place
', London: Sage {{DEFAULTSORT:Thrift, Nigel 1949 births Living people British geographers Alumni of Aberystwyth University Academics of the University of Bristol Pro-vice-chancellors of the University of Oxford Academics of the University of Wales, Lampeter Vice-chancellors of the University of Warwick Fellows of the Academy of Social Sciences Fellows of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society Deputy lieutenants of the West Midlands (county) Fellows of the British Academy People from Nailsea Knights Bachelor Human geographers Victoria Medal recipients