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My current research focuses around four main themes:

• ICT4D
• The wine trade
• Geography and philosophy
• Contemporary rural change in Europe

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ICT4D

This research concentrates on the use of information and communication technologies to empower poor and marginalised communities. Core areas of expertise include:

•  Partnerships in ICT4D initiatives

•  The use of ICT for teacher training

•  Monitoring and evaluating ICT4D initiatives

The wine trade

The main focus of this research is on the historical geography of viticulture and the wine trade, and examines the cultural and historical significance of the wine trade from prehistory to the present. This work was inititially published as:

Unwin, T. (1996) Wine and the vine: an historical geography of viticulture and the wine trade, London: Routledge, paperback edition.

Currently, the focus of this research is broadening to address the development of the alcohol trade as a whole, and focuses specifically on the ways in which local traditions of alcohol production have been challenged by an increasingly international alcohol economy, dominated by a few large corporations.

Within this broad field recent research has addressed themes including:

• the use of hedonic price indexes for estimating wine prices

• perceptions of Swiss and Greek wines in the UK market

• John Locke's writings about French wine production in the 17th century

Geography and philosophy

Building on my arguments for a critical approach to geographical research and teaching in The place of geography (London: Longman, 1992), my recent research in this field has concentrated primarily on two themes:

• a critique of arguments suggesting that space is socially produced

• an exploration of the links between geography and ethics

The former of these involves a critical engagement with the work of Henri Lefebvre, David Harvey and Ed Soja, and argues for the need for geographers to explore a diversity of understandings of the concept of space and place. In particular it suggests that we need to abandon space for a more sensitive conceptualisation of the ways in which places are shaped in space-time.

The second theme involves a theoretical and practical concern with the ethics of place, and the involvement of geographers in moral debate. It also advocates the need for geographers to become more actively involved in debates concerning professional ethics in both research and teaching.

Contemporary rural change in Europe

This research focuses on a diversity of understandings of rural restructuring in Europe, focusing especially on recent changes in central and eastern Europe. One dimension of this focuses on the representation of national identities through objects such as bank notes. This research, in collaboration with Virginia Hewitt (formerly Curator of Paper Money at the British Museum) and funded by The British Academy, has provided a framework for analysing the imagery contained on the banknotes of nineteen countries in the region, and has also explored the political processes that led to the choice of these images.