Professor Felix Driver

Felix Driver is Professor of Human Geography at Royal Holloway, University of London. He is currently engaged in research on the visual culture of exploration supported by a Leverhulme Research Fellowship. He recently completed an AHRC research project and exhibition at the Royal Geographical Society on Hidden histories of exploration. 

Geography, empire and cultures of exploration. Much of my research considers the relationships between geographical knowledge, visual culture, exploration and empire, especially in the British context. This research has been funded by the Leverhulme Trust, British Academy and AHRC.

Collecting and collections. I have supervised numerous collaborative research and PhD projects on aspects of collecting and collections, including those of the Science Museum, the RGS-IBG, the National Maritime Museum, the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and the British Library.

Geography and the visual arts. I have been involved in collaborations with artists including Helen Scalway and Kathy Prendergast.  The AHRB Visualising Geography project resulted in an exhibition and publication, Landing. I was co-PI of the AHRC Fashioning Diaspora Space project, in collaboration with the V&A Museum.

Imperial cities. This research project, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, examined the significance of imperialism for the design and use of space in London and Rome. A book on Imperial Cities, co-edited with David Gilbert, was published by Manchester University Press.

Moral geographies, city & society. My doctoral research considered discourses of social policy and moral regulation in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. My book Power and Pauperism was reissued by Cambridge University Press in paperback in 2004.

Felix Driver is currently on research leave, supported by a Fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust. He has teaching expertise in the following areas: historical geography, cultural geography, modern British history, Victorian Studies, imperial history.