Peter Facss

I am a Professor of Social Geography and my research and teaching interests centre upon the challenges and complexities of social inequality and justice, and the experiences of those who are marginalised in society. More specifically, my research focuses upon the intersections of youth, migration and asylum, race and religion, and gender. I have been awarded a Leverulme Major Research Fellowship which runs from 2023-26. Elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in 2018, I received the President’s Medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in 2012 and the Gill Memorial Award of the Royal Geographical Society in 2011 (for contributions to geographies of religion, youth and race). I have held visiting positions at Deakin, RMIT, Monash, Western Sydney and the NUS and was a Distinguished International Professor at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (2020-21).

My current work focuses upon three interconnected areas of inquiry:

Islamophobia - a key focus of my ongoing research is upon the ways in which Islamophobia operates within society to exclude and marginalise Muslims and others mistaken for being Muslim. I am eager to promote better understanding of Islamophobia and to explore the ways in which it reveals itself in distinctive ways in different places. In collaboration with John Clayton (Northumbria) and TellMAMA, we recently produced a report about anti-Muslim hatred in the North East of England.

Refugee experiences – I have recently led two projects about the experiences of refugees, one funded by HERA Public Spaces call focusing on refugee youth and public space, and a second funded by ESRC about refugees and Covid-19. We have written short pieces about experiences of seeking asylum during a global pandemic and women refugees’ experiences of lockdown and produced a short report about researching refugee youth with the RGS-IBG.

Intersectionality – sensitivity to the complex intersections of multiple forms of discrimination (rather than only looking at single forms of oppression) has been a key focus of much of my research. I have reviewed work about intersectionality in social geography and working with Stacy Bias to produce an animated video to address the question, what is intersectionality? I have served as a member of the Athena Swan Intersectionality Subgroup of Advance HE.

Roles and responsibilities

• I have served in the following roles at Newcastle:
• School Ethics Convenor 2021-present
• University Dean of Social Justice, 2018 – 2021
• Research Director for Geography 2017 - 2018
• Academic Director of the ESRC North East Doctoral Training Centre 2015 - 2016
• Postgraduate Director, School of Geography, Politics and Sociology 2010 - 2013
• Director of Postgraduate Research for Geography 2008 - 2012

I was promoted to a Personal Chair in 2012 after earlier promotions to Reader and Senior Lecturer following my arrival in Newcastle in 2007. Before this, I worked briefly at Lancaster University, Glasgow University, and at the University of Edinburgh. I have a PhD from the University of Edinburgh, and an MRes and BA(Hons) from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. I completed a PGCert in Academic Practice at Lancaster in 2007. More recently, I completed a Certificate in Executive Coaching and Mentoring through the Institute for Leadership and Management in 2020.