about simon
PSIR and Pop Geoculture Enthusiast.
My passion, in particular, is popular geopolitics: the discourse of the non-elite through mediums such as movies, anime, music and social media, and how this contributes to perceptions of identity and geography.
I am completing a PhD with the University of Exeter, focusing on Kazakhstani citizens' attitude to the New Silk Road. This thesis studies non-elite perceptions of China's major geopolitical project, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), in Kazakhstan. It will research whether public opinion considers the BRI beneficial to Kazakhstan and/or Kazakhstani citizens. The research will be a mixed-methods study utilising qualitative interviews and quantitative population surveys, with critical popular geopolitics as a theoretical lens. Analysing attitudes to the BRI it aims to add to the discourse of China's rise and its perception in Kazakhstan and place that research within global studies of grassroot reactions to China's major geopolitical project.
I worked in the Humanities and Social Sciences Foundation department of Nazarbayev University (NU), Astana, Kazakhstan, as a Senior Teaching Fellow (co-authoring the program) before joining the NU Writing Center in 2018.
Prior to joining Nazarbayev University in 2015, I was a professor at RULE University and Pannasatra University in Phnom Penh, teaching modules on International Relations, International Environmental Law, Globalisation and Academic Writing. I taught EAP at Royal Holloway, Kanagawa University and RMIT University. I authored an English Research Skills program for an NGO assisting the Cambodian Senate in democratic governance. I also designed an Academic Writing skills module at Pannasatra University. Before starting my academic career, I worked for an elite secretarial unit in the British Government, overseeing legal reform.
I write a fortnightly newsletter on the New Silk Road, a collection of current web news pieces concerning Central Asia's Belt and Road Initiative, mostly concentrating on Kazakhstan. I compile and edit the Kazakhstan and the New Silk Road website:
https://www.kazakhstanandthenewsilkroad.com/
You can find my other research and projects here.
I like cats, guitars, Flatlines and obscure pop facts.
My favourite colour is gold.