An urban geographer at the University of Nottingham has been awarded a prestigious 2025 Philip Leverhulme Prize for his research.
Dr Tom Cowan, Associate Professor in the School of Geography, has received one of the Leverhulme Trust's prizes in recognition of his work on agrarian urbanisation and digital geographies.
His research has examined extended urbanisation in North India with a particular interest in the creation of urban real estate markets, and deployment property digitisation programmes within agrarian settings.
In particular, Dr Cowan's research has asserted that mass urban expansion in contemporary India is being facilitated by the selective incorporation of agrarian institutions, capital, actor and territories into urban development projects; a process he terms 'agrarian city-making.' His more recent research, supported by a British Academy Wolfson Fellowship, has traced the social and technical politics of large-scale property digitization programmes in contemporary India.
I am honoured and incredibly grateful to receive this prize from the Leverhulme Trust. It's testament to the fantastic research culture in the School of Geography at Nottingham. The prize will support a new direction of research exploring the political and technical dynamics of GeoAI governance tools in cities across the majority world."
The Philip Leverhulme Prize is aimed at researchers at an early stage of their careers whose work has had international impact and whose future research career is exceptionally promising.
The Prizes have been offered since 2001 in commemoration of the contribution to the work of the Trust made by Philip Leverhulme, the Third Viscount Leverhulme and grandson of William Hesketh Lever, the founder of the Trust.
Dr Cowan has been awarded the £100,000 prize which can be used over two to three years to advance his study into this area of research.
