Rorie Parsons is one of our Post-Doctoral Research Associates working on Many Happy Returns. Before this he worked on Plastics: Redefining Single-Use project.
Rorie is a Geographer with a research focus that is concerned with issues of sustainability and understanding social change. Particular interests involve a focus on everyday life, including mobility and consumption practices. He also has expertise in historical and archival research.
Rorie’s role within the team will help to better understand the role of single-use plastics in everyday life and its importance in today’s society.
This includes the commissioning of a new Mass Observation Directive. The Mass Obersevation Directive will gather preliminary and exploratory insights into how people relate to plastics and other materials in their everyday lives. Further, he will review the M&S Company archive to investigate the growing use of plastics, its development and ‘creeping normalisation’ throughout history.
Rorie has a BA (Hons) in Geography from the University of Hull (2012). He was awarded the ‘Wilkinson Dissertation Prize’ for best Undergraduate Thesis in the Department of Geography. Obtaining an ESRC studentship, he successfully completed his MA in Planning and Environmental Research and PhD at Newcastle University’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape (2013-2018).
Find out more about Rorie’s research at his Google Scholar page here