Centre for Rural Economy

Staff Profile

Dr Menelaos Gkartzios

Reader in Planning & Rural Development

Background

I am Reader in Planning & Rural Development. I am interested in urban-rural mobilities and social change; governance and housing policy; art and place-based development; and international comparative research - especially questions around language politics. My research is published in journals such as the Journal of Rural Studies, Sociologia Ruralis, Regional Studies, Geoforum, Land Use Policy, Population, Space & Place, World Development, etc. Citations to my papers can be found in Google Scholar and Scopus. I have led or participated in research projects funded by the Economic & Social Research Council, the Arts & Humanities Research Council, the British Council, the Greek Latsis Public Benefit Foundation, the Irish Research Council, the Scottish Government and the European Regional Development Fund. I have held a competitive visiting professorship at the University of Tokyo in Japan (twice), where I lived and taught rural planning courses for over a year. I have also been awarded visiting fellowships at the National University of Ireland, Galway (Moore Institute) and at the University of Akureyri in Iceland.

I am Associate Editor of the academic journal Habitat International. I currently sit on the Editorial Boards of Progress in Planning, Journal of Rural Studies, Planning Practice & Research and Rural Society, and have also served on the Editorial Board of Sociologia Ruralis (2016-2021). At Newcastle University, I founded the #WeTheRural research cluster within the Institute for Creative Arts Practice about creative arts practice in and about the countryside. I also sit on the steering committee of the Centre for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. As part of my engagement practice, I have led a collaborative Artist Residency programme with Berwick Visual Arts, I have served on the Board of Directors of the Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival and on the steering committee of the Visual Arts in Rural Community project 'Entwined: Rural. Land. Lives. Art'. I regularly contribute with articles in Athens Voice (in Greek). I am a Fellow of the UK's Higher Education Academy. 

Area of Expertise

Spatial Planning, Rural Sociology, Art Studies

Career

  • Personal Reader, Newcastle University, Centre for Rural Economy (2020-)
  • Visiting Associate Professor, University of Tokyo (2021-2022)
  • Senior Lecturer, Newcastle University, Centre for Rural Economy (2016-2020)
  • Visiting Associate Professor, University of Tokyo (2017-2018)
  • Lecturer, Newcastle University, Centre for Rural Economy (2010-2016)
  • Post-Doctoral Researcher, University College Dublin (2008-2010)

Qualifications

  • Certificate in Advanced Studies in Academic Practice, Newcastle University (2014)
  • PhD in Urban & Regional Planning, University College Dublin (2008)
  • MSc in Environmental Resource Management, University College Dublin (2004)
  • MAgrSc in Agricultural Economics & Rural Development, Agricultural University of Athens (2002)

Professional Memberships

  • European Society for Rural Sociology
  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
  • Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts
  • Academician of the Academy of Urbanism

Research

Research Interests

  • Artistic practice and place-based development
  • Mobilities and counterurbanisation
  • Housing, governance and rural development 
  • International comparative research, especially language politics 

Editorships

Research Projects

Esteem Indicators

  • Associate Editor of Habitat International (2020-to date)
  • Editorial Board member: Progress in Planning (2019-to date); Journal of Rural Studies (2019- to date); Rural Society (2021-to date); Planning Practice & Research (2023-to date) Sociologia Ruralis (2016-2021)
  • Visiting Associate Professor (twice) at the University of Tokyo, Japan
  • Visiting Research Fellow: University of Akureyri, Iceland; National University of Ireland, Galway 
  • Expert review panel member of the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development (Formas) (2018-to date)
  • Advisor to the research project 'Socio-Economic Analysis of Counterurbanisation' awarded at Japan's Meiji University, funded by the JSPS
  • Reviewer for over 30 academic journals (my public profile as a reviewer is available in publons)
  • Research proposal reviewer: Economic and Social Research Council; Arts and Humanities Research Council; Natural Environment Research Council; British Council; British Academy; Czech Science Foundation; Teagasc - Agriculture and Food Development Authority; NHS National Institute for Health Research; Research Council of the Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain); Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia; National Science Center, Poland.
  • External examiner: Middle East Technical University (2023); University of Melbourne (2020); University of Toronto (2019); University of York (2018); Humboldt University of Berlin (2015)
  • Scientific committee member: XXIX European Society for Rural Sociology (ESRS), Rennes, France (2023); XV World Congress of Rural Sociology (IRSA), Cairns, Australia (2022); IV International Congress of Architecture and Planning (ICONARCH), Konya, Turkey (2020)
  • Organisation committee: Rural Entrepreneurship Conference, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK (2017); Swedish Academy of Agriculture & Forestry Bertebos conference, Falkenberg (2014)
  • Invited speaker/public lectures (selection): Istanbul Technical University, Turkey (2023); Tongji University, China (2023); Izmir Institute of Technology, Turkey (2022); Akita International University, Japan (2021); Chiba University, Japan (2021); Srishti-Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology, India (2021); New Europeans (civil rights movement) (2020); Hof Cultural Centre, Akureyri, Iceland (2019); University of Amsterdam (2019); Moore Institute - National University of Ireland, Galway (2019); International Symposium on the Global Countryside, Wales (2018); Whitechapel Gallery (2018); University of Tokyo (2017); University of Kyoto (2017); Kindai University, Japan (2017); German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) workshop on ‘Migration Processes and Rural Development in Peripheral Areas’ (2016); Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaiso, Chile (2016); James Hutton Institute (2015); University College Dublin Earth Institute (2012)
  • Book proposal reviewer: Routledge; Palgrave Macmillan; Rowman & Littlefield; Emerald 
  • National expert (Occupancy conditions in rural housing), Scottish Government (2009)

Postdoctoral Research Mentor

  • Dr Ian Merrell, ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship: 'Rural Business Knowledge Exchange and Innovation: The Contribution of Rural Enterprise Hubs' (now at Scotland's Rural College)



Teaching

Teaching Roles

  • Degree Programme Director of the MSc in Food & Rural Development Research (2011-2020)
  • Peer Dialogue (Peer Observation of Teaching) leader (2012-2016)

Teaching

In 2021 I was shortlisted for the Pandemic Solidarity Teaching Education Award by the Newcastle University Student Union for my work in the ACE3017 module.

  • NES3105 Rural Planning, Politics and Society (Module Leader)
  • NES2106 Qualitative Research Methods (Contributor)
  • ACE3093 Special Study (Contributor/Supervisor)
  • ACE3099 Agri-food Business Management and Marketing Dissertation (Contributor/Supervisor)

Postgraduate Research 

I am currently supervising the following postgraduate research students:

  • Jian Chen (China scholarship, Newcastle University, PhD)
  • Chisaki Fukushima (Sasakawa Award, PhD)
  • Wenqi Li (China Scholarship Council, occasional PhD)

PhD students completed: 

  • Dr Richard Austin (Northumberland National Park funded)
  • Dr Nur Bahiah Mohamed Haris (Malaysia Government funded)
  • Dr Fran Rowe (ESRC funded)
  • Dr Jorge Altamirano Flores (Ecuador Government funded)
  • Dr Heidi Saxby (ESRC funded)
  • Dr Rodolfo Sertori (São Paulo Research Foundation funded)
  • Dr Sabina Sallis (Research Excellence Academy funded, Creative Arts Practice)
  • Dr Carlos Bolomey Cordova (Chilean Government funded, PhD)



Publications