The population geography community is sad to hear of the passing of Alison McCleery earlier this year. Alison was an active member of the Population Geography Research Group and described as a ‘tower of strength’ in her role as Secretary. The following is a tribute written by Allan Findlay.
Professor Alison McCleery (nee Bruce) died in February 2023 after a long period of illness.
She was one of the influential cohort of students that graduated from the Department of Geography at the University of St Andrews in the mid-1970s. Inspired particularly by staff such as John Paterson, Andrew Dawson and Kay MacIver, she went on to conduct research on economic development issues, as well as on a range of topics in population geography. Alison was always very proud of her St Andrews’ academic heritage, talking often of the inspiration she drew from engaging in the many undergraduate field trips organised by the Department of Geography, as well as of the key academic links offered to her by her time in St Andrews.
Graduating from St Andrews in 1976, she moved to the University of Glasgow for her doctoral research. She then spent time as a senior researcher at the Central Research Unit of the Scottish Development Department and found great satisfaction in applying the research and analytic skills she had acquired as a student. In 1981 she moved to Edinburgh Napier University where over a forty-year career she served as senior lecturer, professor, and research director. She also spent time at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg and as visiting professor at France’s premier demographic centre (the Institut National d’Etudes Demographiques) in Paris.
As an economic geographer with an early interest in the significance of Scotland’s cultural heritage, she researched aspects of ‘peripheral’ geographies in many parts of the world. For a time, she was a member of the IGU commission on peripheral regions, as well as secretary of what today is called the Population Geography Research Group (PGRG) of the Royal Geographical Society-Institute of British Geographers. Those of us who attended PGRG conferences with Alison in the 1980s, will remember fondly that she was sometimes accompanied by one of her children. It was therefore not without personal experience that she presented her research on ‘Migration, marriage and the lifecourse’ (1999). Her later research focus lay more in the realms of development and culture such as her study of ‘Living Culture and Tourism in Scotland’ (2015).
Most of us will remember Alison not only for her scholarly contributions but also for her generous wider contributions to the discipline, and to the academy in Scotland. For example, she served as editor of the Scottish Geographical Journal, and was an excellent ambassador for geography and social science during her time on the Research and Innovation Committee of the Scottish Funding Council. She also gave much time to inter-university doctoral training programmes, winning the Times Higher Award for UK research training (2010). Later she took on the time-intensive role of Director (2016-18) of the Economic and Social Research Council’s Doctoral Training Centre for Scotland. In this short and selective appreciation of her work, it would be remiss to restrict her influence to a list of publications or academic roles. Those of us privileged to know Alison from her undergraduate days onwards, cherished not only her earnest and scholarly interest in a wide range of social science research topics, but the integrity, deep care, and intense professionalism that she brought to every aspect of her work. Throughout her career she gave time selflessly to so many people as lecturer, research supervisor, co-researcher, colleague, co-author and editor. All those of us who benefited from sharing part of her academic journey will be forever grateful to her.
Please see the following obituary: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/mar/22/alison-mccleery-obituary
Population Geography 