Rate My Professor Tracey Skelton

Professor Tracey Skelton held the position of Ron Lister Chair in Geography in the School of Geography, Humanities Division, at the University of Otago. She was appointed to this endowed chair in February 2023, following a distinguished tenure of over fifteen years as Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at the National University of Singapore. Skelton completed her PhD at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1989, with a doctoral thesis entitled "Women, men and power: gender relations in Montserrat." Her career encompasses numerous research fellowships and visiting appointments at universities in Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, Nordic countries, New Zealand, the UK, and a visiting fellowship at All Souls College, University of Oxford.

Skelton's research specializations include geographies of children and young people, gender, sexualities, politics, urban studies, and the lives of marginalised and vulnerable populations, with focuses on Asian cities and the Caribbean. She has produced over 130 scholarly outputs, comprising books, articles, and chapters. Key editorial contributions feature her role as Lead Co-editor of the Taylor and Francis *Critical Geographies* book series, which includes 20 monographs and edited volumes, and as Editor-in-Chief and Co-Editor of the Springer 12-volume reference collection *Geographies of Children and Young People*. Prominent publications encompass *Cool Places: Geographies of Youth Cultures* (1998), "Research with Children and Young People: Exploring the Tensions Between Ethics, Competence and Participation" (Children's Geographies, 2008), "Taking Young People as Political Actors Seriously: Opening the Borders of Political Geography" (Area, 2010), and recent works such as "The Death and Life of Urban Public Spaces: An Atmospheric Analysis of Spatial Reclamation by Young People" (Children's Geographies, 2026). Through her scholarship and editorial leadership, Skelton has significantly advanced critical human geography by highlighting social injustices, diversity, and inclusion. During her time at Otago, she taught courses including Social Geography (GEOG381) and Special Topic in Human Geography (GEOG379), while building research collaborations.