Dr David Haigh, Head of Subject

Dr David Haigh

Head of Subject

David leads the Planning, Housing and Human Geography teaching staff at Leeds Beckett University and teaches into the housing and human geography curriculum. He is a very experienced lecturer and academic team leader with over 20 years of experience in a wide range of professional disciplines such as housing, community economics and urban regeneration. David is motivated by helping students learn and develop broader life skills, delivering high quality, engaging teaching and by developing progressive environment for teams to flourish. David’s goals are to foster excellent research both personally and through partnership and to help students get the best out of their educational experience.

David has been at Leeds Beckett University for over 13 years, before this David had various roles at Leeds City Council including Research Manager, Neighbourhood Planning, Housing and Estate officer and Regeneration team manager.

Personal impact: Professional but engaging and empathetic learning environment through development of confidence and inspiration.

David is an external examiner for housing and planning courses at London South Bank University and Leicester De Montfort University.

Current Teaching

David delivers modules relating to:

  • urban policy
  • local economic development
  • community economic development
  • social enterprise
  • housing and neighbourhood regeneration
  • social research methods
  • economic geography
  • housing policy
  • personal career and skills development

David is also a franchise course leader and link tutor with the Asian Institute for the Built Environment in Hong Kong.

Research Interests

David is involved in two research clusters:

  • Just Places Research Cluster:
    This research aims to develop a new and leading area of competence in neighbourhood planning research and enterprise
  • Women and Built Space Cluster:
    This research aims to build networks with interested parties regarding women / buildings / built environment

David's interests include:

  • Trust in social enterprise networks
  • Social enterprise policy support structures
  • Alternative economic spaces
  • The implications of longer-term urban policy evaluations which make use of qualitative and quantitative methods of analysis
  • The role of social enterprise in the generation of social capital and the wider roles involved in local economic restructuring in deprived areas
Dr David Haigh, Head of Subject