School of Global Studies

photo of Tony Binns

Prof Tony Binns

Post:Emeritus Professor (Geography, School of Global Studies)
Location:ARTS C C168
Email:J.A.Binns@sussex.ac.uk

Biography

Tony Binns graduated from the University of Sheffield, UK with BA (Hons) in Geography and Diploma in Education (with Distinction). After a period of school teaching in South Yorkshire (UK), he then graduated from the University of Birmingham with MA and PhD in Geography and African Studies. He was appointed at the University of Sussex (UK) in 1975 as Research Fellow in Economic Geography, and in 1976 as Lecturer in Geography in the School of African and Asian Studies. He was subsequently promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1994, and to Reader in 2000.

Tony took up the position of Ron Lister Chair of Geography at the University of Otago in October 2004, and became Head of the Department of Geography in July 2005. Tony maintains his connection with the Geography Department at the University of Sussex as a Visiting Profesorial Fellow.

Among his appointments outside the university, Tony was Honorary Secretary of The Geographical Association (1985-89), its first elected President (1994-95), Honorary Vice-President (1997-2002) and Chair of the Association's International Committee (1999-2004). He was also Chair of the Institute of British Geographers, Higher Education Study Group (1988-93). From 1995 to 2004, he was a Director and Council member of Worldaware, a UK-based development education organisation, and a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Geography in Higher Education. He currently serves on the Editorial Advisory Boards of New Zealand Geographer and Progress in Human Geography, and is Editor of the Routledge Perspectives on Development series. In 2001, he was elected President of the Geographical Field Group, and in 2005 was elected Honorary Secretary (2005-8) of the Commonwealth Geographical Bureau. Tony was elected in 2004 as a member of the Steering Committee of the International Geographical Union (IGU) Commission: C04.27, Marginalization, globalization and regional and local responses.

Tony has acted as external examiner at Undergraduate, Masters and Doctoral levels at many universities in UK, Africa, Australia and New Zealand. He was external examiner (2002-4) for the Masters programme in Development Studies at Royal Holloway (University of London). Since 1998, in addition to presenting numerous papers at international conferences, he has also led workshops and delivered keynote lectures in Nairobi (Kenya), Freetown (Sierra Leone), Kano (Nigeria), Grahamstown, Stellenbosch, Matjhabeng (South Africa), Halifax (Nova Scotia, Canada), Delhi (India), Rajshahi (Bangladesh), Brisbane (Australia), and at the National University of Ireland (Maynooth).

Recently completed doctoral theses supervised by Tony:

  • Kim Geheb: The regulators and the regulated: fisheries management, options and dynamics in Kenya's Lake Victoria fishery (University of Sussex, 1997)
  • Mariel Snel: The formal and informal sector of solid waste management in Hyderabad, India (University of Sussex, 1997)
  • Alvin (University of Sussex, Chin-hung) So: Economic development, state control and labour migration of women in China (University of Sussex, 1997)
  • Robert Barratt: Special needs children and the environment (University of Sussex, 2000)
  • Simon Milligan: Searching for symbiosis: Pastoralist-farmer relations in north-east Nigeria (University of Sussex, 2003: funded by ESRC)
  • Peter Kyle: Food crop marketing and local economic development in Eastern Cape province, South Africa (University of Sussex, 2004)
  • Roy Maconachie: Sustainability under threat? Urban pressure and land degradation in the Kano Close-Settled Zone, Nigeria (University of Sussex, 2004)
  • Dawn Sanders: Botanic gardens: 'Walled, stranded arks', or environments for learning? (University of Sussex, 2004)
  • John Kimani: Risk management and coping strategies in a large-scale irrigation project: a case study of Mwea Irrigation Settlement, Kenya (University of Sussex, 2005)
  • Alec Thornton: Beyond the Metropolis: A critical analysis of urban and peri-urban agriculture in two selected small urban centres in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa (University of Sussex, 2006)
  • Loch Brown: Collective action among micro- and small-scale enterprises in The Gambia (University of Sussex, 2006)

For details of Tony's current teaching, research profile, and publications details please visit his home page at the University of Otago.

http://www.geography.otago.ac.nz/Geography/People/TonyBinns.html

Ron Lister Chair of Geography
Department of Geography
University of Otago
PO Box 56
Dunedin 9001
New Zealand
Telephone: ++ 64 3 479 5356
Fax: ++ 64 3 479 9037

Email: jab@geography.otago.ac.nz

 

 

Role

Visiting Professorial Fellow (Geography)