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Aled Singleton  BSc, MSc, PhD, FHEA

Dr Aled Singleton

(he/him)

BSc, MSc, PhD, FHEA

Teams and roles for Aled Singleton

Overview

I am a social and cultural geographer with an interest in long-term emotional and affective attachments to space and place. I specialise in public participation, using online spatial workshops, walking approaches and qualitative biographical methods. My PhD considered the long-term relationships with infrastructure investments made to industry, housing and shopping centres in the 1960s and 1970s. My current research focuses on energy transitions, where I am currently leading a public value engagement project on energy supply futures that links Wales to Pakistan. 

I am a member of the 2025 Welsh Crucible cohort, Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and Treasurer of the Participatory Geography Research Group. I am an HEA Fellow and teach across Human Geography, including climate emergency, sustainable development, globalisation, dissertation preparation, weeklong fieldtrips, and qualitative research methods. 

Since joining Cardiff University in 2024 I have been exploring the socio-economic dimensions of Tidal Reach in Wales, with partners including engineers and developers. Working directly for Welsh Government I have conducted interviews with key stakeholders to understand how different ownership and linked development/financing models might impact how far tidal range developments have positive impacts on the Welsh economy.

I co-edited the first edition of Agoriad: A Journal of Spatial Theory with a specific focus on Indigenous ontologies. I am experienced writer with a growing body of publications in social and cultural geography, publishing in journals including GeoHumanities, Geo: Geography and Environment, Visual Studies, Cities & Health, Soundings and have book chapters in three Routledge publications: researcher vulnerability, walking methods for lifecourse research, and teaching outdoors

Publication

2025

2024

2023

Articles

Book sections

Websites

Research

2024-ongoing: Tidal Lagoon Challenge. Five-package Welsh Government programme exploring the barriers and opportunities for tidal power in Wales across dimensions of funding, regulation, and ownership.

2018-21: PhD Researcher at Swansea University. Pursuing the Post-war Dream” offers methods to uncover the ‘rhizome’ (Thrift, 2000) which lies below the surface: offering ways to understand the role of the past in the present day. This inquiry sits between human geogrpahy and gerontology to develop a methodology which explores how the everyday – such as stories about houses, streets and neighbourhoods – allows people from different generations to build empathy in research relationships. ESRC funded.

for Department for Work & Pensions (secondment through UKRI)

Teaching

I am a Fellow of the HEA and specialise in geographical methods and approaches.

Geography Department, Swansea University

2022-24: Geographical Skills; Sustainable Development & Climate Emergency; Globalisation; Geographical Methods and Data Analysis; Dissertation Preparation Skills; Berlin Fieldtrip; Tourism, Heritage and Leisure; Qualitative Research Methods.

2022: Guest lecturer MArch Sustainable Architecture - Centre for Alternative Technology

2021: Webinar facilitator for Society Dataset Digimap, University of Edinburgh

2020-2023: Lecturing and assessment for MA Creative Writing Non-Fiction – Swansea University

Biography

I am an inter-disciplinary researcher and teacher whose work is driven by empowering citizens and policy makers in decisions around public services and infrastructure. 

I have 20 years' experience from local government and the third sector building teams, applying for funding, managing complex budgets, and procuring consultants and suppliers of services. I am experienced in working within politicised environments where strategies sometimes change quickly. As an academic this gives me a deeper insight into how initiatives may work on the ground in everyday life, and how local stakeholders could be involved.

After three years post-PhD employment at Swansea University, including an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow and teaching, I joined the Welsh Economy Research Unit at Cardiff University’s Business School. In September 2025 I will move to Geography and Planning as a Lecturer in Human Geography.

I contribute to the arts. I was a trustee at Chapter Arts Centre Cardiff and continue to write reviews for Nation Cymru. I worked as a freelancer to establish the Full Colour Maindee street art festival in Newport. In 2024 I was a key organiser for the Heritage and Hiraeth weekend conference in Canterbury. I am a Royal Geographical Society fellow and treasurer of the Participatory Geography Research Group.

In 2025 I gained a place on the Welsh Crucible professional development programme. From this experience I have a strong network across different research disciplines. The Crucible has opened me to self-reflection and challenge; building on my experience of community coaching.

Honours and awards

  • 2025: Welsh Crucible
  • 2025: Cardiff Business School Public Value Engagement Fellowship: £1,872  
  • 2024: Co-I Co-creating the Climate Comic Intergenerational Activity Pack - ESRC Impact Accelerator: £14,238
  • 2022: Co-I OPTIC Intergenerational Climate Change: UKRI Healthy Ageing Challenge: £99,637
  • 2021: Member of first cohort ESRC Postdoctoral Development Programme
  • 2021: ESRC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship: £104,972
  • 2019: ESRC Festival of Social Science Award: £980
  • 2017: ESRC Inter and Cross-disciplinary Small Grant: £1,460.50.
  • 2017: British Society of Gerontology Small Grant: £400

 

Professional memberships

  • Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Fellow
    • Executive Committee Participatory Geography Research Group
  • Advance HE Fellow

Academic positions

Cardiff University

Welsh Economy Research Unit, Cardiff University

Research Associate (Sept 2024 - ongoing)
Tidal Lagoon Challenge. Five-package Welsh Government programme exploring the barriers and opportunities for tidal power in Wales across dimensions of funding, regulation, and ownership. 

Geography Department, Swansea University

Research Officer (2022-24)
OPTIC Intergenerational climate change conversations and the
Climate Comic Grant: £99,637 through UKRI Healthy Ageing Social, Behavioural & Design Research Programme.

Geography Tutor (2022-24)
Teaching Sustainable Development and the Climate Emergency; Globalisation; Human Geography Methods; Berlin Fieldtrip; Qualitative Methods; and Creative Writing Non-Fiction

ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow (2021-22)
Exploring long-term impact of UK socio-economic change from late-1950s through to the early-1970s. Case study in Newport to explore long-term spatial relationships using online interviews, public participation with site-specific performance, and film. Grant: £104,972 (2021-22).

Speaking engagements

2024: Speaker Publications and Communications Mini Crucible: Sealey Associates

2023: Walkshop Leader: Forming deeper connections with the university - CELT Bangor University

2022. Urbanism workshops with M.Arch Sustainable Architecture students at Centre for Alternative Technology

2022: Co-designer Connecting Through Culture as We Age with Watershed and Bristol University

Committees and reviewing

  • 2023: Editor for first edition of Agoriad: Journal of Spatial Theory

Contact Details

Email SingletonA1@cardiff.ac.uk

Campuses Aberconway Building, Colum Road, Cathays, Cardiff, CF10 3EU

Specialisms

  • ethnography
  • Qualitative Research
  • creative methods
  • teaching
  • Wales