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Conor Moloney

Conor

PhD student

Email: c.moloney@qmul.ac.uk
Room Number: Geography Building, Room 218
Twitter: @conormolo

Profile

My professional background is in architecture urban design, masterplanning, regeneration and area-based planning policy. I have also worked in research on a range of built environment related topics, taught in design schools in Britain and across Europe, headed up a design advocacy organisation, and held a senior position in a sustainability social enterprise.

linkedin.com/in/conormolo

 

Research Interests: Cultural Geography; Urban Studies; Play; Performance; Urban Design; Urban Planning; Drawing

 

PhD research: Pop-ups, Protests and Places: a cultural geography of the production, design and staging of public life in contemporary London

Drawing on urban studies, cultural geography and critical scholarship on performance, relational aesthetics and participatory art, I examine the interests, discourses and practices behind the ‘ludic turn’ in the spaces of contemporary London. This research is co-supervised in the School of Geography and the School of English & Drama. London-based fieldwork is ongoing 2020-23, with an overseas institutional visit in Japan 2019 and thesis completion in 2024.

 

Academic background

  • Bachelor of Architecture (honours), University College Dublin
  • MSc Cities, Space & Society (distinction), Department of Geography & Environment, London School of Economics
  • MSc International Planning (distinction), Bartlett School of Planning, University College London

 

Supervisors

  • Regan Koch, School of Geography, QMUL
  • Jen Harvie, Department of Drama, School of English & Drama, QMUL

 

Funding

  • London Interdisciplinary Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership, +3 ESRC studentship https://liss-dtp.ac.uk
  • Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Summer Programme, Doctoral Fellowship based at Rissho University, Tokyo, June-August 2019.

 

Research Background

  • ‘Sustainable Regeneration in Urban Areas’, member of Specialist Advisor Team to URBACT II Capitalisation Project, URBACT, 2014-15
  • ‘Iconic Architecture & Capitalist Globalization’, Research Assistant to Prof. Leslie Sklair, London School of Economics, 2002-06
  • ‘Yellow Space: shared space in post-conflict Belfast’, Researcher & co-curator, Building Initiative design advocacy group, University of Ulster, 2003-08
  • ‘Density & Urban Neighbourhoods in London’, Research Assistant to Prof. Ricky Burdett, London School of Economics, 2003-04

 

Languages (CEFR Level)

  • German, French (C1-C2), Portuguese, Spanish (A2-B1), Japanese (A1-A2)

 

Conferences & Events

  • ‘Private makes Public: the domestic technologies of sharing in Lois Weaver’s Public Address Systems’, invited paper at Conference ‘The Age of Sharing? Practices of Sharing in Contemporary Media, Literature & Culture’, Universität Koblenz-Landau, Germany, March 2019
  • ‘Playing or being played? Turning the tables on ludic urbanism’, session paper at RGS-IBG Annual Conference, London, August 2019
  • ‘A Long Table conversation on the English Constitution’, double session convenor at RGS-IBG Annual Conference, London, August 2019
  • ‘Trust in Play’ European School of Urban Game Design, Training week participant, Technopolis, Athens, November 2019.
  • ‘Playing or Being Played? Tokyo 2020 Games Volunteers and the new urban dramaturgy’, session paper at UCL conference ‘At the frontiers of the urban: thinking concepts and practices globally’, London, 10-12 November 2019.
  • ‘Playing or Being Played? Ambivalence and Antagonism in the Tokyo 2020 Volunteer Programme’, session paper at web symposium ‘Relational Geographies of the Voluntary Sector’, University of Cardiff / University of Southampton, September 2020
  • ‘Ambiguity and ambivalence in London’s expanding field of play’, session paper at webinar ‘Cultures of Authenticity’, Centre for Research in Communication and Culture (CRCC), Loughborough University, October 2020
  • ‘From artificial hill to Artificial Hells: relational placemaking and regulatory hurdles at the Marble Arch Mound’, session paper at 13th Interpretive Policy Analysis Conference, June 2021
  • ‘Conviviality, materiality and performative assembly in contemporary London’s street based activism’, session paper at RC21 International Sociological Association Conference, July 2021
  • ‘Pop-ups and Honig’s “Public Things”’:session paper at Goldsmiths University of London conference City Public Space & Body, December 2021
  • ‘Dilemmas of Hospitality & Guestship’, session paper in‘Extending Hospitality’ study day at University of London in Paris (ULIP), May 2022
  • Invited Panel member, ‘Inside the Notebook’ session at RGS-IBG Annual Conference, Newcastle, August 2022

 

Memberships

Teaching

London Interdisciplinary Social Sciences Doctoral Training Partnership (Postgraduate)

  • LISS289 Drawing for Scholars, Convenor since 2021 (online)
  • LISS290 Drawing in Participatory & Collaborative Research, Convenor, 2020-21 (online)

 

UCL Geography (Postgraduate)

  • GEOG0137 Urban Imaginations, PGTA 2021-22 (in person)

 

QMUL Geography (Undergraduate)

  • GEG6150 New York – Nature & The City, Field Trip Staff 2021-22 (online) & 2022-23 (in person)
  • GEG6148 Public Life of Cities, Teaching Associate 2020-22 (online)
  • GEG5126 Cultural Geographies, Teaching Associate 2020-21 (online)
  • GEG4106 Reinventing Britain, Liverpool Field Trip Staff 2019-21 (online)
  • GEG5103 Geographical Research in Practice, Teaching Associate 2018-20 (in person, course essay marking)
  • GEG5131 Contemporary London: Life in the Global Metropolis, Demonstrator 2018-19 (in person)
  • GEG4004 Research Methods for Geographers and Environmental Scientists, Demonstrator, 2018-20 (in person)

 

Architecture & Urban Design (Undergraduate & Postgraduate)

  • Design Studio Lead / Studio Tutor at University College Dublin (1997-2001)
  • Design Studio Visiting Critic / Lecturer / Tutor at Royal College of Art (2018), Dessau Institute of Architecture (2018), SS. Cyril & Methodius University Skopje (2018), Technical University Berlin (2017), Dublin Institute of Technology (2015), University College Dublin (2008), Queens University Belfast (2007), University of Ulster 2003-5), University College London (2004), University of Sheffield (2003).

Research

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