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Tim Vorley MSc PhD

University Lecturer and Fellow of Churchill College

Economic geographies of education, entrepreneurship and enterprise

Biography

Career:

Qualifications

Research

My primary research interests are education, entrepreneurship and enterprise. My research focuses on high technology corporate activity and collaboration with universities and blue-sky research institutes. More specifically my research has developed into four broad thematic areas as identified below, although the importance of place and spatiality are intrinsic to my work and thinking. Subsequently the region and regionalisation are implicit to my research, although are critically considered amidst debates of the nation state, globalisation and more abstract spatial theories.

Universities and the Knowledge-Based Economy

Universities have undergone massive transformation over the past thirty years, from ivory tower elitist institutions to mass teaching and learning institutions in the knowledge business. With universities cited as the engines of the knowledge-based economy, this shift has implications for academia in terms of teaching, research and enterprise/entrepreneurship. My research in this area focuses on organisational transformation and public policy relating to contemporary universities.

Knowledge Management and Technology Transfer

With knowledge now recognised as a core economic resource there has been increasing interest in the processes of knowledge management and technology transfer, concepts that are increasingly important to knowledge intensive and learning organisations. Understanding the duality of knowledge and its dynamism is fundamental to effective knowledge management and technology transfer, and realsining the value of knowledge as an economic resource. My research interests in this area include the conceptualisation of knowledge management and technology transfer processes as well as the empirical study of best practice.

Educational Performance & Widening Participation

Given the emphasis place on higher education by public policy, and the role of universities specifically, through my work on universities I have developed an associated interest in educational performance and widening participation. My work in this area is twofold: first, I am interested in shifting patterns of academic attainment in higher education; and second, a related but separate aspect of my work is examining access to higher education and the widening participation agenda within England.

Governance, Power and Governmentality

All forms of economies are subject to prevailing modes of governance, formal and informal, exerted independently by numerous actors/agents but also through their collective action. My research considers the significance and power of actors/agents as relative to each other, and uses governmentality to examine the relationality of these actors/agents in exercising very specific albeit complex forms of power. My research also develops work on the significance of institutional governance, strategy and organisation.

Publications

Published/Forthcoming papers

Working papers

Editorials

Book reviews

Recent Presentations

Teaching

Geographical Tripos (Undergraduate level)

External activities