Dr Peter Forman

Research Interests

• Infrastructural politics, risk, and security
• Geographies of energy transitions and new energy futures
• Academic precarity and worker experiences in the university sector
• Circulation, mobility, (new) materialisms and circulatory governance
• Geographies of waste and discarded materials

Research Projects

• States of Precarity

Funded by the RGS-IBG and Antipode Foundation. Explores intersectional experiences of academic precarity within UK higher education geography departments, their contributing factors, and opportunities for change.

• Hydrogen Risk Landscapes

Funded by a British Academy/Leverhulme small grant. Explores the knowledge politics and recalculation of risk around UK natural gas networks, as proposals are developed to convert existing infrastructures to transport 100% hydrogen in the lead up to the 2026 government decision on hydrogen use for residential heating.

Current Roles (Internal)

Programme Leader, BA Geography

Current Roles (External)

Theme editor - Geographies of Energy Futures, GEO: Geography and Environment Journal

Current PhD Supervisions

• Ebenezer Amoah, Becoming e-waste: Plural performances, contested spaces, and the politics of value in Accra’s informal economy 

Background

Peter joined Northumbria University’s Department of Geography and Environmental Science in May 2020. Prior to this, he held research and teaching fellow positions in the sociology department at Lancaster University, the business school at the University of York, and the institute for political science at the University of Tübingen (Germany). He completed his PhD in Human Geography at Durham University in 2017, supervised by Professors Ben Anderson and Louise Amoore.

Publications

2026

Forman, P. (2026). Pluralizing Security: Molecular Security and the Circulation of Natural Gas. Security Dialogue. [Available at: doi.org/10.1093/secdia/xhaf014] 

2025

Squire, R., Esson J., Bruun, J., Colls, R., Forman, P., Jackman, A., Joanes, J. (2025) “States of Precarity in UK HE Geography” [Available at: doi.org/10.55203/LUKX8379].

2023

Forman, P.J., Shove, E., Lord, C., & Blue, S. (2023) "Beyond Fuel Switching and Substitution: A History of Fuel Supply on the Isle of Man" [Blog Post] Energy Flexibility Gallery, Centre for Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS) Beyond Fuel Switching and Substitution: A History of Fuel Supply on the Isle of Man – Energy Flexibility Gallery (lancs.ac.uk)

2021

Gregson, N. & Forman, P.J. (2021) "England's Municipal Waste Regime: Challenges and Prospects" The Geographical Journal https://doi.org/10.1111/geoj.12386

Blue, S., Forman, P., & Shove, E. (2021) "Flexibilities in Energy Supply and Demand: Legacies and Lessons from the Past" Journal of Energy History 5(1) pp.1-8.

Forman, P.J. (2021) "Materialist Dialogues and the Granular" Dialogues in Human Geography https://doi.org/10.1177/20438206211004859

Forman, P.J. & Gregson, N. (2021) "UK Waste Management Contracts by Local Authority, 2018-2019" [Dataset] UK Data Service doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-854682

Hughes, S.H., & Forman, P.J. (2021) "A Material Politics of Citizenship: The Potential of Circulating Materials from UK Immigration Removal Centres" In: Amelung, N., Gianolla, C., Sousa Ribeiro, J., & Solovova, O. (Eds) "Material Politics of Citizenship: Connecting Migrations with Science and Technology Studies" London: Routledge.

2020

Forman, P.J. (2020) "Histories of Balancing Demand and Supply in the UK's Gas Networks, 1795-Present" Journal of Energy History URL: Histories of Balancing Demand and Supply in the UK’s Gas Networks, 1795 – Present | Drupal (energyhistory.eu) 

Blue, S. Shove, E. & Forman, P.J. (2020) "Conceptualising Flexibility: Challenging representations of time and society in the energy sector" Time and Society DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0961463X20905479

Anderson, B. Wilson, H. Forman, P.J. Heslop, J. Ormerod, E. & Maestri, G. (2020) “Brexit: Modes of Uncertainty and Futures at an Impasse” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/tran.12348

2019

Forman, P.J. (2019) “Security and the Subsurface: Natural Gas and the Visualisation of Possibility Spaces” Geopolitics DOI: 10.1080/14650045.2018.1513918

Forman, P.J. (2019) “Materiality, New Materialisms” In: Kobayashi, A. (Ed) The International Encyclopedia of Human Geography (Second Edition) https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-102295-5.10330-0

Forman, P.J. & Shove, E. (2019) “The Fixity of Flexibility” [Guest blog post for CREDS website] Available at: https://www.creds.ac.uk/the-fixity-of-flexibility/ [Last accessed: 08/01/20]

2018

Forman, P.J. (2018) “Circulations beyond Nodes: (In)Securities Along the Pipeline” Mobilities http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17450101.2017.1403776 

Tironi, M., Hird, M., Forman, P.J., Simonetti, C., & Freiburger, N. (2018) “Inorganic becomings: Situating the Anthropocene in Puchuncaví” Environmental Humanities doi.org/10.1215/22011919-4385525

Forman, P.J. (2018) Book review: Global Undergrounds: Exploring Cities Within. Edited by Paul Dobraszczyk, Carlos Lopez Galviz, & Bradley Garrett [Reviewed for the Urban Geographies Research Group]

2017

Hughes, S.M. & Forman, P.J. (2017) “A Material Politics of Citizenship: The Governance of Circulating Materials from UK Immigration Removal Centres” Citizenship Studies http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13621025.2017.1341659 

Forman, P.J. (2017) “Hard to Follow Things: Natural Gas” [Online] Guest blog post for http://www.followtheblog.org. Available at: <https://followtheblog.org/2017/08/21/guest-post-hard-to-follow-things-natural-gas-by-peter-forman/> [Last accessed: 22/08/17]