I work at the University of Kent, where I am Reader in English and Environmental Humanities. I won the university's 'Best Teacher' award in 2015 and am currently a Faculty Prize holder, also for teaching. I'm also a writer. I have published lots of academic articles, a couple of books, and have written for the BBC, The Guardian, The Literary Review, The Telegraph, and other outlets.

My Second book, a study of running, nature and modern life is called "Footnotes: How Running Makes us Human". It is published by Ebury, Penguin RH. Research for it has been supported by Arts Council England and the University of Kent. The book is very loosely based on my blog (www.psychojography.com). I am also interested in nineteenth-century literature (especially Hardy and Dickens), landscape, science and nature writing. I'm represented by GMC literary agency.