The spaces of knowledge: Contributions towards a historical geography of science

Reprinted in Trevor Barnes and Derek Gregory (eds), Reading Human Geography: The Poetics and Politics of Inquiry, (London: Arnold, 1997), pp. 27-48

Perceiving and acting upon spaces in a VR rugby task: Expertise effects in affordance detection and task achievement

This study used a virtual simulated 3vs3 rugby task to investigate whether gaps opening in particular running channels promote different actions by the ball-carrier player and whether an effect of rugby expertise is verified. We manipulated emergent gaps in three different locations: gap1 in the participant’s own running channel, gap 2 in the 1st receiver's running channel, and gap3 in the 2nd receiver's running channel. Recreational, intermediate, professional and non-rugby players performed the task. They could i) run with the ball, ii) make a short pass, or iii) make a long pass. All actions were digitally recorded. Results revealed that the emergence of gaps in the defensive line with respect to the participant’s own position significantly influenced action selection. Namely, ‘run’ was most often the action performed in gap 1, ‘short pass’ in gap 2, and ‘long pass’ in gap 3 trials. Furthermore, a strong positive relationship between expertise and task achievement was found.

“Voices, Spaces and Processes in Constitutionalism - Editorial"

(With C. Harvey, J. Shaw .)

A Companion to Border Studies

Originally published 2012, paperback published 2015.

Ageing in changing community contexts: Cross-border perspectives from rural Ireland and Northern Ireland

Ongoing demographic, social, economic and cultural changes point to the dynamic and continually changing contexts of rural areas in Ireland and Northern Ireland. However, the influence of such changes on the lives of older people remains under-explored, particularly the question of how older people perceive, connect to and engage in their communities. Drawing on interviews and focus groups with indigenous and non-indigenous older people in three case-study sites in Ireland, Northern Ireland and a cross-border region, this article presents a comparative analysis of how changing community contexts have shaped the lives of rural-dwelling older people. The analysis focuses on four key areas: economic structure and service access; social relations and social cohesion; meanings and attachments; and community engagement. While the findings demonstrate that some dimensions of participants’ lives were affected by complex economic and social changes, others dimensions were connected in a more significant way to life course and residential history and the desire to maintain community capacity.