Academic Writing & Background
I began my academic life at Trinity & All Saints College (Leeds University), graduating with a First Class BA (Hons) in English and Media, followed by an MA in English Literature at the University of Leeds. My early interests were rooted in narrative, culture, and the politics of representation — themes that continue to shape my writing today.
After teaching at Trinity in Media Theory, Recording for Pop Music, and digital research methods, I joined the University of Bradford, where I eventually became a Senior Lecturer. My research during this period explored how people learn, communicate and make meaning in a rapidly changing world. Although some of my published work sits within mobile and mixed‑reality learning, my deeper concerns were always about power, inequality, the environment, and the lived experience in spaces. (I was particularly angry at one moment about how Asda had replaced a town called Pudsey!)
As an “Ecoversity Pioneer”, I helped develop early institutional thinking around sustainability and ecological responsibility. This work sharpened my understanding of how consumerism, climate breakdown and social inequality intersect — concerns that now inform my poetry, fiction and community work far more than any technical research ever did.
After more than a decade in higher education, I made the deliberate decision to leave academia. I wanted to work in the real world, with real communities, on issues that mattered directly to people’s lives. This led to the founding of Capital of Cycling, and to my involvement in environmental and civic campaigns across Bradford and West Yorkshire.
My academic background remains part of my story, but it no longer defines it. Instead, it sits alongside my creative work, activism and community organising — all of which shape the themes I explore in writing.
Selected Academic Publications
Although my research career was only one part of my life, the work I published at Bradford reflects a sustained interest in learning, culture and the environments we inhabit.
Learning, Culture & Digital Environments
- The MOBO City: A Mobile Game Package for Technical Language Learning
Fotouhi‑Ghazvini, Earnshaw, Robison, Excell — International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies (2009) - From E‑Learning to M‑Learning: The Use of Mixed Reality Games as a New Educational Paradigm
Fotouhi‑Ghazvini, Earnshaw, Moeini, Robison, Excell — iJIM (2011) - Designing Augmented Reality Games for Mobile Learning Using an Instructional‑Motivational Paradigm
Fotouhi‑Ghazvini, Earnshaw, Robison, Excell — CyberWorlds Conference (2009) - A Psycho‑Pedagogical Approach to M‑Learning in a Developing‑World Context
Fotouhi‑Ghazvini, Excell, Moeini, Robison — International Journal of Mobile Learning and Organisation (2008) - Using a Conversational Framework in Mobile Game‑Based Learning
Fotouhi‑Ghazvini, Earnshaw, Robison, Moeini, Excell — Education Unplugged (2011) - A Design Methodology for Game‑Based Second Language Learning Software on Mobile Phones
Fotouhi‑Ghazvini, Moeini, Robison, Earnshaw, Excell — Internet Technologies & Applications (2009) - Interactive and Augmented Information Spaces to Support Learning and Dynamic Decision‑Making
Robison, Earnshaw, McClory — CyberWorlds Conference (2009)
Media, Culture & Communication
- Tsunami Mobilisations: Mobile Phones, Citizen Journalism and the Mass Media
Robinson & Robison — in The Cell Phone Reader: Essays in Social Transformation (2006)
Environmental Awareness & Place‑Based Learning
- Geocache Adventures: Ubiquitous Handheld Computing as an Aid to Promote Environmental Awareness
Robison — International Journal of Innovation and Leadership in the Teaching of Humanities (2011)
Creative & Cultural Academic Work
Alongside research, I founded and directed the Media and Conflict Film Festival at Pictureville Cinema (National Media Museum, Bradford). The festival brought together filmmakers, academics, journalists and peace‑studies thinkers — including Dr Paul Rogers — to explore how war, propaganda and representation shape public understanding.
Earlier in my career, I wrote and directed the play Death, Love and Ecstasy, and worked on several short films, including Graham Reaper, now available on YouTube. These creative projects sit alongside my academic work as part of a long‑standing interest in how stories, images and technologies shape our sense of the world.