Dr Morag Rose
Dr Morag Rose is a senior lecturer in human geography whose research explores walking as a creative, cultural and political act, using it to challenge inequality, reimagine public spaces, and build more inclusive, connected communities.
- Name – Dr Morag Rose
- Position – Senior Lecturer in Human Geography
- Group Name – PSCC (Power, Space and Cultural Change) Research Group
- Joined University of Liverpool – 2018
- Born – London, UK
- PhD – Urban Studies and Planning, University of Sheffield, 2018
What is your research about?
I am interested in walking as a creative, cultural, communal and political act. How can walking enable new connections between people, places and communities? How might it help us imagine different ways of being? And how can we make places more welcoming and inclusive for everyone to be able to walk in them. I draw on my experiences as a walking artist and activist, as well as my academic skills (those multiple roles aren’t always congruent). One of the threads that holds my work together is a belief in the value and importance of public space. Geographically, I’ve often focused on Manchester, for example my PhD explored women’s experiences of walking in the city. I take an intersectional feminist approach and draw on crip and queer theory. When I talk about walking it explicitly includes people who use wheelchairs and assistive technologies to move.
What or who first inspired you to be interested in your research subject?
There were a few strands which all came together, and my research is closely linked to my creative practice and activism. For many years I was a community worker across Greater Manchester, concerned about issues of spatial inequality and social justice. I wanted to better understand, and contest, what was happening because I could see progress was uneven and unfair. That was perhaps the foundations. My passion for radical history and DIY / alternative cultures led me towards psychogeography. What appealed to me was the idea of taking theory onto the streets, of blurring the lines between art and the everyday, and making space within the capitalist city for creative mischief and alternative visions to emerge.
In 2006 I founded The LRM (Loiterers Resistance Movement). Our manifesto says “We can’t agree on what psychogeography means but we all like plants growing out of the side of buildings, looking at things from new angles, radical history, drinking tea and getting lost; having fun and feeling like a tourist in your hometown. Gentrification, advertising and blandness make us sad. We believe there is magic in the Mancunian rain. Our city is wonderful and made for more than shopping. The streets belong to everyone and we want to reclaim them for play and revolutionary fun.”
Through The LRM I fell in love with walking art and performance, and I haven’t stopped exploring yet. We meet on the first Sunday of every month for a free, communal, public wander and that energises and inspires me every time.
What are you most proud of achieving during your research career so far?
Just being here makes me feel quite proud as I took the scenic route to academia. My first book, The Feminist Art of Walking, is published in October 2025. I am really proud of that, because it brings together various strands of my work. It celebrates some amazing artists and activists, and also shares findings from my both my academic research and nearly twenty years of wandering with The LRM.
I’ve also been lucky enough to be part of two research projects so far. The first, “Walking Publics / Walking Arts: Understanding Walking, Creativity and Community during Covid-19”, was led by Professor Dee Heddon at the University of Glasgow. We explored the benefits of creative walking, and how the pandemic changed walking. We used a range of methods – public surveys, interviews, commissioning artists to develop practice as research. One of the outputs was The WalkBook: Recipes for Walking and Wellbeing, and its great using it with different folk. You can download it here: https://walkcreate.gla.ac.uk/the-walkbook
I’m also part of the team working with Professor Bethan Evans on projects exploring Challenging Disbelief & Disregard in the lives of people with Energy Limiting Conditions. That work has included commissioning artists to facilitate creative workshops where people with lived experience imagined better futures of healthcare. Some workshops were targeted at women, LGBTQIA+ folk and Muslim women. Alongside creative outputs we have developed policy briefings and practical toolkits. You can find out more here: https://disbeliefdisregard.uk/
What techniques and equipment do you use to conduct your research?
I use a range of qualitative, creative, sensory and participatory methods.
Psychogeography uses the researcher’s body as a tool to investigate places and the power relationships that shape them. It utilises an attentive engagement whilst moving through research sites. I often use the drift, or derive, which means instead of planning a route I will throw dice or follow a line or my nose or a particular theme and use that to direct my journey. This helps give a new perspective on the environment. My approach to this also draws on ethnographic techniques.
Another primary method I use are interviews, and this sometimes includes walking interviews. Walking interviews can be helpful because they allow for rich interactions with the environment and can also help break down some of the power structures inherent in interviewer/interviewee conversations.
I also use practice as research and develop performances out of, and as part of, my research findings. WalkCreate commissioned other artists to develop new work based on our research questions.
In terms of equipment my most important bit of kit is my field diary and pen. I also tend to take a lot of photographs. I’d quite like to experiment with technology a bit more but my heart is very much into embodied and low-tech methods.
I’ve written about my research methods because I want to share what I have learnt, and thoughtful methods make for better research. You can find more in the articles here:
https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/area.12997
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0966369X.2021.1956436
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00167487.2021.1919414
and in these chapters
Morag Rose and Jane Samuels (2021). Psychogeography and Urban Exploration. In Creative Methods for Human Geographers. SAGE
Morag Rose (2020). Pedestrian Practices: Walking from the Mundane to the Marvellous. In Mundane Methods Innovative ways to research the everyday. Manchester University Press
Which other subjects are important for your research?
My work is inherently inter- and trans disciplinary, and as well as human geography I draw on work in sociology, planning, disability studies, performance studies, history, media studies, politics and liberal arts amongst others – I think the places where they cross over are often the most fascinating and I don’t like silos.
What impact is your research having outside of academia?
I hope it has an impact on multiple levels. Every year hundreds of people walk with me, including with The LRM or on one of the occasional performance tours, festivals or special events I organise. I love sharing my work this way and I’ll be taking The Feminist Art of Walking on a UK tour, full details here: https://www.plutobooks.com/the-feminist-art-of-walking-tour-dates-2025/
The WalkBook has been adopted and adapted for use by many different organisations, for example Northumberland County Council: https://www.northumberlandgearchange.co.uk/
I’ve contributed to several policy briefings such as these https://disbeliefdisregard.uk/resources/#policybriefs and contribute to bodies such as Manchester City Councils Highways Access Group.
I also use my research skills to support community groups where I can. One notable example was the successful campaign to save part of the towpath along The River Irwell in Salford. You can read about that here: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/feb/25/plan-to-build-over-salford-riverside-footpath-dropped-after-outcry I am currently chair of Our Irwell, a group whose aim is to protect, promote and progress access to the river for everyone.
What problem would you like to solve in the next 10 years through your research?
I want a more holistic and inclusive definition of walking and access. I want public spaces and streets that are truly open for anyone to use. And I never want to read another book or article about psychogeography and walking art that excludes women, disabled people and global majority artists from the practitioners it cites.
What advice would you give to someone considering a career in research?
Go for it! Remember that research happens in lots of contexts, not just within universities, so think about where you can have an impact. Read widely and often, and stay curious – let your data lead your conclusions not the other way around. Maybe most importantly, look for and cultivate communities of interest so you can share experiences and gain strength from each other. And reach out to people whose work interests you, most academics are keen to share their work. We tend to love our subjects and are happy to pass it on.
Where can readers learn more about your research?
My staff profile includes a list of my publications, including my work on methods: https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/people/morag-rose#tabbed-content
The Feminist Art of Walking: https://www.plutobooks.com/product/the-feminist-art-of-walking/
WalkCreate (Walking Publics / Walking Art: Walking, Wellbeing and Community During Covid-19 https://walkcreate.gla.ac.uk/
You can also here me on this BBC Sounds programme, The Art of Now: Women Who Walk https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000nmn