Dr Simon Cook
Simon is a human geographer with specialisms in sport, exercise, physical cultures, mobilities, transport and everyday life.
His research concerns everyday active practices, how they change, and what that tells us about society, spaces, cultures and bodies. This has included research into run-commuting, post-collision cycling practices, active travel, and long-distance walking. Simon’s work is contributing to the development of new interdisciplinary fields on sport mobilities and running studies.
Public engagement is also an important part of Simon’s academic practice, in which he seeks to communicate and share his research with relevant organisations and the wider public in order to improve, educate and entertain.
His teaching focus at BCU is on researcher development, supporting postgraduate students, new-to-academia staff, and early career researchers with their work, writing and publications. As well as teaching modules on Writing for Academic Publication and Digital Scholarship, Simon is Co-Director of the HELS Research Writing Lab.
Areas of Expertise
Research Expertise:
- Sport mobilities
- Active travel
- Running studies
- Mobility and transport geographies
- Social and cultural geographies
- Physical Cultural Studies and sport geographies
Teaching Expertise:
- Researcher development
- Writing for academic publication
- Doctoral-level academic writing and critical thinking skills
- Digital scholarship
- Doctoral supervision and support
Qualifications
Academic Qualifications:
- (2020) PhD in Human Geography - Royal Holloway University of London
- (2018) Programme in Skills of Teaching to Inspire Learning - Royal Holloway University of London
- (2014) MA in Cultural Geography (Research) - Royal Holloway, University of London
- (2013) BA (Hons) Geography - Plymouth University
Honours and Awards:
- 2024 Top Downloaded Paper in Geography Compass for ‘Geographies of running cultures and practices’
- 2022 Shortlisted - Personal Tutor of the Year. I am BCU Awards, Birmingham City University
- 2019 Shortlisted – Geographical Association Award for Excellence in Leading Geography for ‘Geographies of Mobility: A Brief Introduction' published in Geography.
- 2017 Mobile Lives Forum New Voices – Award Winner
- 2017 RHUL Postgraduate Teaching Prize – Commendation
- 2017 Co-producing Mobilities paper included within the Routledge Geography Article Collection 2017
- 2016 Co-producing Mobilities paper identified as High Impact Research by Routledge
- 2015 Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award – AAG Transport Geography Specialty Group
- 2013 Best Undergraduate Dissertation in Social and Cultural Geography, RGS-IBG Social and Cultural Research Group – Runner up.
- 2013 The Plymouth City Coach Prize for Best Dissertation in Geography - Plymouth University.
- 2013 The Geography Prize for Best Overall Performance in Geography - Plymouth University.
Memberships
External groups and networks
- Cycling and Trauma Research Network (co-creator and leader)
- EDGE Lab - Environments Designed for Gender Equity in Sport & Physical Activity Lab (inaugural member)
- International Society of Qualitative Research in Sport and Exercise
- Cycling & Society Research Group
- Running Cultures Research Group
- Social and Cultural Geography Research Group – Royal Geographical Society
- Geographies of Health and Wellbeing Research Group – Royal Geographical Society
- Geography and Education Research Group – Royal Geographical Society
- Transport Geography Research Group – Royal Geographical Society
- Universities Transport Study Group
Internal groups and networks
- Physical Activity, Society and Environment (PHASE) Research Group (Director)
- Sport and Exercise Sciences Cluster - Centre for Life and Sport Sciences
- Space, Time, and Everyday Life – Centre for the Study of Practice and Culture in Education
- Practitioner Education Research Group - Centre for the Study of Practice and Culture in Education
Professional Referee:
I regularly peer-review for a range of geography, transport, mobilities, sport, health and education journals, including:
- Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health
- International Review for the Sociology of Sport
- German Journal of Exercise and Sport Research
- Wellbeing, Space & Society
- Social Sciences
- Mobilities
- Social Science & Medicine
- Ethnography
- Applied Mobilities
- Area
- Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science
- Gender, Place and Culture
- Geography Compass
- Social & Cultural Geography
- Leisure/Loisir
- Leisure Studies
- Journal of Transport Geography
- GeoJournal
- Journal of Geography in Higher Education
- Geoforum
- Active Travel Studies
- Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education
- Routes: The Journal for Student Geographers
Teaching
- LBR7643/LBR7646 Writing for Academic Publication
- LBR7337 MSc Dissertation
- RES7005 Digital Scholarship and Research Development
- RES7007 Advanced Research Methods
Research
My research concerns everyday active practices: the ways in which they happen, how they change, and what they can tell us about societies and spaces. Collectively, this work seeks to bridge disciplinary perspectives on the active moving body, working between geography, sport, mobilities, transport, health and physical cultural studies. I am currently involved in the following projects.
Sport mobilities and active travel
Through a range of collaborations, this meta-project aims to review and set agendas for the field of sport mobilities. This includes a collaboration with Rachel Aldred, Tom Cohen and Lorna Stevenson at the (University of Westminster) into active travel beyond walking and cycling; with Sarah Bell (University of Exeter) into healthy mobilities; with Pete Adey (Royal Holloway University of London) and Jonas Larsen (Roskilde University) into the relationship between mobilities and sport studies; and with Jonas Larsen (Roskilde University) into the geographies of running.
Long-distance walking
Working with Farzaneh Bahrami (University of Groningen), This project aims to redefine walking as a mode of transport by exploring long-distance walking's use, potential and significance. It questions current walking distance standards and investigates its potential impact on future mobility. Through literature review, surveys, and analysis, it seeks to provide new insights and policy recommendations, challenging conventional views on walking.
Post-collision cycling practices
This project seeks to explore previously unresearched post-collision cycling practices. It is interested in what happens to cyclists and their practices following collisions and what the experiences of this are. It hopes to inform work supporting cyclists after collisions and help to maintain cycling practices, contributing to the production of cycling societies.
Run-Commuting in the UK
My PhD research was the first large-scale study into run-commuting. It sought to understand how run-commuting emerged, happens and the potential it has in the UK. I spent five years surveying, interviewing and running alongside run-commuters around the UK to better understand this mobile practice.
Postgraduate Supervision
I welcome applications from doctoral students and visiting postgraduate researchers interested in qualitative research into sport, exercise, travel, transport, mobility and health experiences, especially on active travel, sport mobilities and running.
Current and Past Doctoral Students:
- Alvaro Ramoneda F.(2024) Visiting PhD Student from the Universitat de Barcelona.
- James Gillies. (2023 – present) What shapes local health system actors' attitudes and behaviours towards women who smoke during pregnancy? Birmingham City University (Second Supervisor)
Publications
Books
- Cook, S. (under contract) The Rise of Run-Commuting, Routledge, Abingdon.
- Cook, S. and Waite, C. (under contract) An Introduction to the Geographies of Sport, Exercise and Physical Cultures, Routledge, Abingdon.
Journal Articles
- Adey, P. and Cook, S. (Forthcoming) ‘Teaching Mobilities from where? The disciplines, institutions, positionalities, and spaces of mobility pedagogies’ Transfers: Interdisciplinary Journal of Mobility Studies.
- Cook, S. (2023) ‘Running with a bag: encumbrance, materiality and rhythm’ Social & Cultural Geography. 24(7): pp.1104-1122.. DOI: 10.1080/14649365.2022.2052169
- Cook, S. and Larsen, J. ‘Geographies of Running Cultures and Practices’ Geography Compass. 16(10): pp.e12660. DOI: 10.1111/gec3.12660.
- Cook, S., Stevenson, L., Aldred, R., Kendall, M. and Cohen, T. (2022) More than walking and cycling: what is ‘active travel’? Transport Policy, 126: pp.151-161
- Cook, S. (2022) ‘Running with a bag: encumbrance, materiality and rhythm’ Social & Cultural Geography. Online First. DOI: 10.1080/14649365.2022.2052169
- Bell, S. and Cook, S. (2021) ‘Healthy mobilities’ Transfers: Interdisciplinary Journal of Mobility Studies. 11(2): pp.98-108. DOI: 10.3167/TRANS.2021.110207
- Liu, Y., Alnababtah, K., Cook, S. and Yu, Y. (2021) ‘Healthcare providers’ perception of faecal microbiota transplantation with clostridium difficile infection and inflammatory bowel disease: a quantitative systematic review’ Therapeutic Advances in Gastroenterology, 14: pp.1–17. DOI: 10.1177/17562848211042679
- Cook, S. (2021) ‘Geographies of run-commuting in the UK’ Journal of Transport Geography, 92: 103038. DOI: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2021.103038
- Cook, S. (2018) 'Geographies of Mobility: A Brief Introduction' Geography, 103(3): pp.137-145.
- Cook, S., Shaw, J., and Simpson, P. (2016) ‘Jography: Exploring Meanings, Experiences and Spatialities of Recreational Road-running’ Mobilities, 11(5): pp.744-769.
- Cook, S., Davidson, A., Stratford, E., Middleton, J., Plyushteva, A., Fitt, H., Cranston, S., Simpson, P., Delaney, H., Evans, K., Jones, A., Kershaw, J., Williams, N., Bissell, D., Duncan, T., Sengers, F., Elvy, J., and Wilmott, C. (2016) ‘Co-Producing Mobilities: negotiating geographical knowledge in a conference session on the move’ Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 40 (3): pp.340-374.
Book Contributions
- Cook, S. (Forthcoming) ‘Sporting Mobilities’ in Adey, P., Barry, K, and Lin, W. (eds) The Encyclopedia of Mobilities, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham.
- Cook, S. (Forthcoming) ‘Run-commuting’ in Adey, P., Barry, K, and Lin, W. (eds) The Encyclopedia of Mobilities, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham.
- Cook, S. (2023) ‘In the Field with Simon Cook: Running Geographies’ in Squire, R. and Jackman, A. Political Geography: Approaches, Concepts, Futures, Sage, London: pp.150-151.
- Coen, S.E., Cook, S., and Hayes, S.J. (2021) ‘Pandemic Geographies of Physical Activity’ in Andrews, G.J., Crooks, V.A., Pearce, J.R. and Messina, J.P. (eds) COVID-19 and Similar Futures: Pandemic Geographies, Springer, London: pp.165-172. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-70179-6_21
- Cook, S. (2020) 'Researching the run: methods for exploring mundane jographies' in: Holmes, H. and Hall, S.M (eds) Mundane Methods, Manchester University Press, Manchester: pp.193-210.
- Cook, S. (2017) ‘Rushing, dashing, scrambling: The role of the train station in producing the reluctant runner’ in: Spinney, J., Reimer, S. and Pinch, P. (eds) Mobilising Design, Designing Mobilities: Intersections, Affordances, Relations, Routledge, Abingdon: pp.62-75.
- Cook, S., Shaw, J., and Simpson, P. (2016) ‘Running Order: Urban Public Space, Everyday Citizenship and Sporting Subjectivities’ in: Koch, N. (ed.) Critical Geographies of Sport: Space, Power and Sport in Global Perspective, Routledge, Abingdon: pp.157-172.
- Cook, S. (2016) ‘Run-commuting’ in: Sultana, S. and Weber, J. (eds) Minicars, Maglevs, and Mopeds: Modern Modes of Transportation Around the World, ABC-CLIO/Greenwood Press, Santa Barbara, California: pp.255-258.
Book Reviews
- Cook, S. (2023) ‘The Walkable City: Dimensions of Walking and Overlapping Walks of Life by Jennie Middleton’ Cultural Geographies. 30(2): pp.334-335. DOI: 10.1177/14744740221110576 Cook, S. (2019) 'Transit Life by David Bissell' Journal of Transport Geography, 78: pp.230-231
- Cook, S. (2016) ‘A Jensenian approach to mobilities’ Journal of Transport Geography, 52: pp. 159–161.
- Cook, S. (2015) ‘Mobility, space and culture by Peter Merriman Abingdon: Routledge, 2012, 214 pp notes and index, £85.00 hardcover, ISBN 978 0 415 59356 4’ Area, 47(2): pp.214-215.
Invited Talks and Seminars
- Cook, S. (2023) Geography of sport: running in cities. Keynote for Urban Health Case Challenge 2023 at 4EU+ European University Alliance on 29 November 2023.
- Cook, S. (2023) Getting Back on the Bike? Cycling Collisions and the Deformation, Reformation, and Transformation of Mobile Practices. Invited presentation for 2023 Mobility Humanities International Conference, Konkuk University, South Korea on 4 May 2023.
- Cook, S. (2023) Object lessons: teaching mobilities with artefacts. Invited presentation for 2023 Mobility Humanities International Conference, Konkuk University, South Korea on 3 May 2023.
- Cook, S. (2020) Run commuting: productively contentious active travel? Inaugural keynote for the Active Travel Postgraduate Network on 28 October 2020.
- Cook, S. (2019) The Rise of Run-Commuting. Presented at Active Travel - Can commuting to work be your daily exercise? Healthy Active Cities Seminar Series, Salford University on 02 October 2019.
- Cook, S. (2019) The Rise of Run Commuting. Presented at Department of Geography Seminar Series, University of Plymouth on 27 March.
- Cook, S. (2017) The Rise of Run Commuting. Presented at Promoting Health and Wellbeing Research Cluster Meeting, Birmingham City University on 30 November.
- Cook, S. (2016) What we know and what we don’t about run-commuting. Presented at IAMRUNBOX Run-Commuting Event, The Running Works, London on 11 October.
- Cook, S. (2015) Running as transport: a research agenda. Presented at the Centre for Transport and Society Seminar Series, University of West of England on 20 April.
- Cook, S. (2015) The potential of run-commuting. Presented at the Running Dialogues Seminar Series, Roxy Bar & Screen, London on 13 April.
- Cook, S. (2015) Run-commuting: towards understanding an emergent mobility. Presented at Transport and Health Group Seminar Series, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine on 17 March.
Conference Sessions and Workshops Organised
- 2024 - Walking Further: new perspectives on long-distance walking and walking distance. Double paper session at the RGS-IBG Annual Conference 2024 (27th – 30th August). Organised by Farzaneh Bahrami and Simon Cook
- 2024 - Sport Mobilities: new directions and connections at the intersection of sport and mobilities research. Triple paper session at the RGS-IBG Annual Conference 2024 (27th – 30th August). Organised by Simon Cook, Peter Adey, Diti Bhattacharya, and Jonas Larsen
- 2022 - Cycling and Trauma 2. Online workshop hosted by Cycling & Society Research Group (30 June). Organised by Simon Cook and Esther Anaya-Boig.
- 2022 - Cycling and Trauma. Online workshop hosted by Cycling & Society Research Group (23 March). Organised by Simon Cook and Esther Anaya-Boig.
- 2022 - Celebrating Female Researchers in Sport. Online symposium hosted by the Sport Science for Health and Disease Research Cluster, Birmingham City University (18 January). Organised by Lewis Gough and Simon Cook.
- 2018 - Teaching the Geographies of Sport. Paper session at the RGS-IBG Annual Conference 2018, Cardiff (28 – 31 August). Organised by Catherine Waite, Simon Cook, Nicholas Wise, Jacqueline Tivers and Paul Gilchrist.
- 2017 - Teaching Mobilities: Practice, Pedagogies, Power. Paper session at the RGS-IBG Annual Conference 2017, London (29 August – 01 September). Organised by Peter Adey, Justin Spinney and Simon Cook.
- 2015 - Geographies of Sport: Everyday Sport. Double paper session at RGS-IBG Annual Conference 2015, Exeter (01-04 September). Organised by Miranda Ward and Simon Cook.
- 2014 - Co-Producing Mobilities. Double experimental session at RGS-IBG Annual Conference 2014, London (26 – 29 August). Organised by Anna Davidson and Simon Cook.
Conference Presentations
- Cook, S., Adey, P., Bhattacharya, D. and Larsen, J. (2024) An introduction to Sport Mobilities. Presented at RGS-IBG Annual Conference 2024, London (27th – 30th August) in the session ‘Sport Mobilities 1’.
- Bahrami, F. and Cook, S. (2024) An introduction to Walking Further. Presented at RGS-IBG Annual Conference 2024, London (27th – 30th August) in the session ‘Walking Further 1’.
- Cook, S. (2024) Towards Sport Mobilities: developing dialogue between mobilities studies and sport studies. Presented at International Conference on Qualitative Research in Sport and Exercise 2024, Bath (30 July – 1st August).
- Cook, S., Adey, P. and Larsen, J. (2023) Sport mobilities: sport, exercise and the ‘active body’. Presented at RGS-IBG Annual Conference 2023, London (30 August – 1st September) in the session ‘Mobility, Health and The Body’.
- Cook, S. (2022) Healthy Mobilities. Presented at C-SCHaRR Annual Health Conference 2022, Birmingham (12 May) in the session ‘Health Behaviour’.
- Cook, S. (2021) Getting back on the bike? Post-collision cycling transformations. Presented at Australian Mobilities Research Network Symposium, online (6 – 7 December) in the session ‘Embodiment’.
- Cook, S. (2021) What happens after crashes? Narratives of post-collision cycling practices. Presented at Cycling & Society Annual Symposium 2021, online (16 – 17 September) in the session ‘Spaces for Cycling’.
- Cook, S. (2021) What happens after cycling accidents? Researching post-collision cycling practices. Presented at Centre for Life and Sport Sciences Annual Conference, online (15 September).
- Cook, S. (2021) Crash: Disarticulations of a cycling accident. Presented at RGS-IBG Annual Conference 2021, online (31 August – 3 September) in the session ‘Disarticulated Subjects (2)’.
- Waite, C., Cook, S., Wise, N., Tivers, J. and Gilchrist, P. (2018) Introduction to Teaching the Geographies of Sport. Presented at RGS-IBG Annual Conference 2018, Cardiff (29 – 31 August) in the session ‘Teaching the Geographies of Sport (1)’
- Adey. P., Spinney, J. and Cook, S. (2017) Introduction to Teaching Mobilities. Presented at RGS-IBG Annual Conference 2017, London (29 August - 01 September) in the session 'Teaching Mobilities: Practice, Pedagogies, Power (1)’.
- Cook, S. (2017) What is it like to run with a bag?: Exploring the methodological potential of wearable technology for understanding embodied experiences of run-commuting. Presented at AAG Annual Conference 2017, Boston (05-09 April) in the session ‘Mobile bodies, technologies and methods: critical perspectives’.
- Cook, S. (2017) Stopping on the move: tales from the run-commute. Presented at AAG Annual Conference 2017, Boston (05-09 April) in the session ‘Mobile Dwelling 1: Labouring’.
- Cook, S. (2015) Towards active travel beyond walking and cycling: the potential of run-commuting for transport geography. Presented at RGS-IBG Annual Conference 2015, Exeter (01-04 September) in the session ‘Current and Emerging Research in Transport’.
- Ward, M. and Cook, S. (2015) Towards everyday sport geography. Presented at RGS-IBG Annual Conference 2015, Exeter (01-04 September) in the session ‘Geographies of Sport 1: Everyday Sport I’.
- Cook, S. (2014) Not Just Running: Coping with and Managing Everyday Life through Road-Running. Presented at RGS-IBG Annual Conference 2014, London (26-29 August) in the session ‘Exercise and environment: new geographies of the exercise experience and learning from them (2)’.
- Cook, S. (2014) Moving with difference: encounters on the street. Presented at International Conference on The Future of Social Relations: Rethinking Prejudice and Togetherness in Times of Crisis, Sheffield (21-23 May) in the session ‘Everyday encounters’.
- Cook, S. (2014) Running Order: Space, Power and Mobile Subjectivities. Presented at Inside/Outside/In-between: Perspectives on Space, Power and Subjectivities - BISR Postgraduate Conference, London (09 -11 May) in the session ‘Bodies’.
- Cook, S. (2014) Accomplishing Road-Running: Negotiating Space, Mobile Politics and Order on the Street. Presented at AAG Annual Conference 2014, Tampa, Florida (08-12 April) in the session ‘Geographies of Mobility V: Climate Change, Disaster and Resilience’.
- Cook, S. (2013) Experiencing the Run: ‘Go-Along’ and Video-Ethnography. Presented at RGS-IBG Postgraduate Mid-Term Conference 2013, Birmingham (25-27 March) in the session ‘Transport, Mobility and Movement’.
Media Work
I have run the website www.jographies.wordpress.com since 2013 which brings geographical perspectives on running to a public audience. It has a regular audience of over 6000 people and has engaged over 33,000 unique visitors. The site also acts as a hub and resource for the running studies community, particularly through the ‘I’m a Running Researcher’ profile series
I have written for a range of media outlets about my work on running, including:
- The Guardian
- The Runner’s Guide to London
- Geography Directions
- Tracksmith Journal
My work into running and run-commuting has been featured in over 50 national, international and specialist media outlets, including:
- “The Secret Life of the Running Geographer” Runner’s World UK profile
- The Telegraph
- Huffington Post
- The Financial Times (2014)
- The Financial Times (2024)
- GQ Magazine
- Runner’s World UK
- Athletics Weekly
- Women’s Running UK
- Men’s Running UK
- The Centre for London
- The Coca-Cola Company
I have been the featured interviewee on four podcasts:
- Physical Activity Researcher Podcast Part 1
- Physical Activity Research Podcast Part 2
- Running for the Wine Podcast
- Everyday Running podcast
I led the award-winning educational film society Passengerfilms between 2014 and 2016. Passengerfilms is a car-crash of cinema and geography, bringing hot topics from geography to London’s film going public.
Work With Industry
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Policy Citations
- 2024 - International Transport Forum and OECD. Improving the Quality of Walking and Cycling in Cities.
- 2023 - International Transport Forum and OECD. Towards the Light: Effective Light Mobility Policies in Cities.
- 2023 - Economic and Social Research Institute. Using Behavioural Science to Design and Implement Active Travel Infrastructure: A Narrative Review of Evidence.
Campaigns and advisory
- Expert interviewee for Sport England’s 10-year strategic forecasting insight work
- Ambassador and advisor for the RunSome campaign https://www.runsome.org/
- UMRun: The Run Commuter Group. Advised and helped to launch a run-commuting scheme at the University of Manchester. https://www.sustainability.manchester.ac.uk/travel/staff/running/