Dr Brian Garvey
Reader
Work, Employment and Organisation
Personal statement
My current research investigates local and global tensions regarding labour, land use and commodification of natural resources. I have a particular interest in Scottish land reform, mineral prospecting in Ireland and the territorial demarcations and resistance by agrarian, traditional and indigenous communities in the Global South. I currently work closely with academics and civil society organisations in Scotland, Europe, Africa, Brazil and Latin America and share an ambition to challenge Eurocentric and colonial paradigms in our collective research. I am co-founder of the Centre for the Political Economy of Labour, which seeks to reflect this ambition in its praxis.
Prize And Awards
- Nevile-Plowman Prize for best article 2023
- Recipient
- 7/2024
- Best doctoral presentation
- Recipient
- 2003
Publications
- Critical labour studies and new directions for labour and social research in an era of new authoritarianism
- Holgate J, Garvey Brian, Mrozowicki Adam
- Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research (2026)
- A determinação social do trabalho escravo contemporâneo na comunidade quilombola de Chumbo, Mato Grosso
- Pistorio Bianca, Garvey Brian, Sambajee Pratima
- Direitos Humanos no Brasil 2026. (2026) (2026)
- Radical confrontations across the boundaries of land, language and labour struggles : lessons from the north of Ireland and the Brazilian Amazon
- Garvey Brian, Quinn Caoimhe, Baracho Wanderley Barbara Evelyn
- Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research (2026)
- The illegal foundations of land markets in the Brazilian Amazon
- Alfinito Ana, Garvey Brian
- Cambridge Handbook of Illegal Markets (2026) (2026)
- A critique of the political economy of agribusiness
- Garvey Brian
- Tensões Mundiais Vol 22, pp. 403-408 (2026)
- https://doi.org/10.33956/m1tk6g36
- Confrontando o poder e as políticas públicas em novas zonas de mineração : a campanha para salvar as montanhas Sperrin na Irlanda do Norte.
- Garvey Brian, Baracho Wanderley Barbara Evelyn
- Trabalho, Territórios e Políticas Públicas no Brasil. (2026) (2026)
Teaching
At the Department of Work, Employment and Organisation, I teach on several undergraduate and MSc courses and focus on labour, migration, organisational strategies and collective resistance linked to globalised commodity chains and extractive industries. I have supervised PhD and post doctoral studies on south-south migration, pesticide harm, forestry and land reform, labour organisation and gender, and community repsonses to dispoessession and deindustrialisation. I welcome interest from potential PhD candidates on any of the broad themes of my research.
Professional Activities
- The Life and Works of Ariovaldo Umbelino de Oliveira
- Participant
- 4/5/2027
- Social Boundaries of Work
- Member of programme committee
- 21/10/2026
- The materiality of the supposed energy transition II
- Organiser
- 31/5/2026
- 30 Years of The Centre for the Study of Geography of Labour, Sao Paulo (CEGeT)
- Keynote/plenary speaker
- 21/5/2026
- The materiality of the supposed energy transition
- Organiser
- 2/5/2026
- Soraya Conde
- Host
- 30/4/2026
Projects
- Fostering Inclusive Academic Cultures: Interdisciplinary Collaboration, Wellbeing, Teaching and Research Culture
- Vasquez Pistorio, Bianca (Project Lead) Baracho Wanderley, Barbara Evelyn (Co-investigator) Gherghina, Gabriela Loredana (Co-investigator) Rani, Misbah (Co-investigator) Fergus-Allen, Cameron (Co-investigator) Garvey, Brian (Academic) Remnant, Jennifer (Academic) Werkmeister, Astrid (Academic) Taylor, Yvette (Academic)
- This project seeks to co-produce an inclusive, interdisciplinary network that strengthens a supportive teaching and research culture, bridges gaps between postgraduate researchers and academic staff across SBS, Engineering, and HASS to address the challenges of navigating academic culture.
- 16-Jan-2026 - 31-Jan-2026
- Porous boundaries of forest system governance: territory and tribulation in the Amazon
- Garvey, Brian (Principal Investigator) Vasquez Pistorio, Bianca (Researcher)
- 20-Jan-2026 - 19-Jan-2028
- Porous boundaries of forest system governance: territory and tribulation in the Amazon
- Garvey, Brian (Principal Investigator)
- 20-Jan-2026 - 19-Jan-2028
- Accelerating the protection of territory and rights in the Amazon
- Garvey, Brian (Principal Investigator) Owens, Steven Robert (Co-investigator) Torres, Mauricio (Co-investigator) Loures, Rosamaria (Principal Investigator) Vasquez Pistorio, Bianca (Researcher)
- This project addresses illegal gold mining and deforestation in Brazil’s Crepori National Forest and the territories of Munduruku and Montanha & Mangabal communities. Integrating geospatial data, legal timelines, and community narratives from previous field visits and recent workshops, we expose unlicensed operations on Indigenous lands: constitutionally prohibited yet aided by municipal-level licensing loopholes
- 01-Jan-2025 - 31-Jan-2026
- Accelerating the protection of territory and rights in the Amazon
- Garvey, Brian (Principal Investigator) Owens, Steven Robert (Co-investigator) Torres, Mauricio (Co-investigator) Loures, Rosamaria (Co-investigator)
- This project addresses illegal gold mining and deforestation in Brazil’s Crepori National Forest and the territories of Munduruku and Montanha & Mangabal communities. Integrating geospatial data, legal timelines, and community narratives from previous field visits and recent workshops, we expose unlicensed operations on Indigenous lands: constitutionally prohibited yet aided by municipal-level licensing loopholes
- 01-Jan-2025 - 31-Jan-3026
- Conservation as an extractive industry? Timber, territory and the trouble with new regulations
- Garvey, Brian (Principal Investigator) Owens, Steven Robert (Co-investigator)
- The main aim of this project is to (i) map the existence of areas traditionally used and occupied by Amazonian indigenous and riverine communities in an area destined for commercial timber extraction; (ii) locate zones and corridors of illegal timber extraction beneath the forest canopy; and (iii), make this data available for the Brazilian Federal Public Ministry to inform legal procedures towards safeguarding traditional peoples.
- 08-Jan-2024 - 01-Jan-2025
Contact
Dr
Brian
Garvey
Reader
Work, Employment and Organisation
Email: brian.garvey@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 548 3999