Who got that job?

Katie Walsh, lecturer in geography/migration studies, Sussex Centre for Migration Research. Sussex University. Job advertised in The Times Higher , June 2, 2006.

Vacant academic posts that combine migration studies and geography are rather rare. So Katie Walsh, who at 28 is about to embark on her first big postdoctoral research project, is delighted to be filling one at Sussex University.

The "social and cultural geographer", as Dr Walsh describes herself, said that working in the interdisciplinary environment that she has found at Sussex was essential to her work.

"The post enables me to work in an interdisciplinary research centre where my research resonates quite strongly with work being done in other disciplines. It is unusual for this kind of opportunity to come up, and it is an extraordinary resource and an ideal intellectual environment for me," Dr Walsh said.

The new position will allow her to build on the findings of her previous fieldwork in Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. There - supported by an Economic and Social Research Council postdoctoral fellowship and with backing from the Royal Geographical Society and the Institute of British Geographers - she conducted research into the social and cultural attitudes and behaviour of British expatriates.

One aspect of her study involved an investigation into the dating behaviour and attitudes of single expatriates.

"I was looking at how they might approach relationships differently in the context of moving around the world," she explained.

Dr Walsh said that her new work would focus on expat identities in terms of culture and ethnicity, rather than just intimacy.