Professor Tim May

Director of SURF

• Joule House Room 2.01
• T: +44 (0)161 295 4018
• M: +44 (0)7786 702 067
• E: t.may@salford.ac.uk
• SEEK: Research profile

I am a Research Professor with responsibilities for the running of the Centre, its projects and activities and liaison with external clients and funding bodies. I also supervise PhD students.  As a result, I do not have regular office hours, but can be contacted via the SURF Centre.

I obtained degrees from the London School of Economics and Political Science (1985) and the Universities of Surrey (1986) and Plymouth (1990). This followed a first career as an engineer in the agricultural sector and then an evening return-to-study course, during which time he worked in the retail sector. After my degrees, I was employed at the Universities of Plymouth and Durham before moving to Salford in September 1999.

PhD Supervision

I enjoy a national and international reputation in my areas of interest.  These centre upon the relationship between knowledge, strategy, context and practice. I have developed these in a variety of fields and settings including the following: universities; local government; regional and city innovation and knowledge partnerships; international and national research council funded programmes; Whitehall and regional agencies; health, probation, prison and social services and urban and regional policy in general. I have  taken this work to examine how it relates to knowledge generation and reception, sustainability, policy formulation and implementation and organizational actions and outcomes at different levels: from the local, to city, regional, national and international scales. The roles of management, culture, communication and coordination and intelligence, as well as developing more holistic views on city-regional development, feature in his work for SURF, along with concerns over the future of the university, active intermediation and urban arenas in knowledge exchange and the production and reception of different forms of knowledge. I have also been involved in the development of the Mistra Urban Futures Centre, based in Gothenburg, Sweden and works on an EPSRC funded Retrofit programme with partners in Cardiff, Oxford and Cambridge, as well as an AHRC project on Cultural Intermediaries.

In addition to my managerial, research and policy activities, I have given numerous talks nationally and internationally, as well having served on selection committees and commissioning bodies. I have written and edited fourteen books that, to date, have been translated into fourteen languages. The topics of his writings include: urban policy; universities and regional development; science policy; innovation; knowledge and sustainability; management and organizational change; politics and regional representation; social theory; research methodology and methods; thinking sociologically and philosophy of science and social science.

I was the series editor of ‘Issues in Society’ – an international book series with Open University Press/McGraw-Hill in which 17 books were published (1998-2010). Among his recent publications are a book on Social Research and Reflexivity (with Beth Perry, Sage Publications); a 4th edition of Social Research: Issues, Methods and Process (Open University Press/McGraw-Hill); a co-edited special edition of the ‘Built Environment’ journal, with Beth Perry, on ‘The Roles of Universities in Building Knowledge Cities’, as well as article son urban knowledge arenas, science cities and universities and reflexivity.

1993 – (Cert) - 'The Design and Development of Flexible and Open Learning Materials'. Plymouth College of Further Education.

1990 - PhD - Sociology and Social Policy, University of Plymouth.

1986 - MSc - Social Research Methods.  Department of Sociology,  University of Surrey.

1985 - BSc (Econ) - Sociology (Awarded the Hobhouse {Undergraduate} Memorial Prize in Sociology).  London School of Economics.

1978 – (Cert) - 'Agricultural Engineering', 030 Parts 1/2. Rycotewood College, Thame, Oxfordshire.

Since 2000, I have written over 120 publications ranging from books, articles, book chapters, research reports, government submissions and media articles. For a full list of publications, please see - http://www.surf.salford.ac.uk/SURF_Publications