Fellows

Useful Information

Mia Gray

Official Fellow and Director of Studies in Geography

Dr Mia Gray is Official Fellow and Director of Studies in Geography at the College. In addition, she is a University Lecturer at the Department of Geography specialising in Labour, economic and urban geography.

Dr Gray states ‘I have two broad areas of research that I have pursued in my work. My first interest is in labour markets and the social and organisational dynamics of work. This research has been quite varied and I have looked at the workers in high tech industries as well as in low-paid service sector industries in the opposite end of the labour market. As part of this, I have looked at issues of social capital in the workplace; unionisation; social inclusion in high tech industries; knowledge flows; gender, ethnicity and the links to innovation; and globalisation and the organisation of cross-site project teams. In all of these projects I’ve brought a social perspective—particularly a lens that is sensitive to variations based on gender, ethnicity, and class—to the analysis.

My second area of interest is in regional economies. My work has challenged some of the literature on industrial districts formation and tried to characterise different types of regional growth. I have also explored the links between globalisation and vibrant regional economies. More recently, I have been exploring globalisation of R&D firms and their institutional efforts to promote knowledge diffusion within the firm.’

Dr Gray also undertakes a number of external activities related to her work:

Co-editor of Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society
Co-editor of Regional Studies, 2003–2006, a leading journal focussing on regional issues from a multidisciplinary view.
Management Committee for the Centre for Gender Studies

Research interests

Society and Space – Regional Political Economy: Theory, Applications and Policy Analysis

My current research explores variations in working patterns, identity and cultural norms in multi-sited transnational firms. I analyse the ways in which this variation disrupts the formation of communities of practice and its effect upon intra-firm flows of knowledge.

Related work explores the mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion in the workplace which are often embedded in micro-level work practices. I critique the extension of social capital theory into the workplace and explore how social networks and the resources contained within them function differentially among workers to reinforce existing patterns of preferential access to the most desirable positions in the labour market. I find significant inequalities in access to, and awareness of, the resources contained within some social networks in the workplace.

Another current project analyses elite female workers in high tech industries and how gender affects innovation and flexibility in high tech firms. Workers are active agents in much of the regional innovation literature, but most often this is presented as a generic worker, with no mention of gender. I look at the ways in which gender affects how this “generic” worker functions as an agent in dissemination and use of knowledge.

Another ongoing study looks at the growth of unions in the low-end of the service sector. This project looks at the HERE, the union representing the hotel and restaurant workers, in different local labour markets in the US.

Teaching

Dr Gray teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on economic geography, the geography of labour and work.

Dr Gray’s current Ph.D. students

Franz Huber 2006 – “The Social Network Foundation of Knowledge Spillovers: an Investigation of Mechanisms”
Karenjit Clare 2005 – “Cool, Creative and Diverse? Exploring Gender in Project-Based Advertising Work”
Will Harvey 2004 – “U.K. and U.S. skilled immigration networks: a comparison of biotechnology clusters”
Shiri Breznitz 2003 – “The Role of the University in Economic Development: A comparison of Yale and Cambridge”
Andrew Currah 2002 – 2006 “Digital Effects in the Spatial Economy of Film: Software Format, the Internet and Hollywood” ESRC Funded.
Alan James 1999 – 2003 “Regional Culture, Corporate Strategy, and High Tech Innovation: Salt Lake City” ESRC Funded.

Contacting Dr Gray

Dr Gray can be contacted via her Cambridge email address or her department telephone number.

Email address: pmg27@cam.ac.uk
Department Telephone number: 01223 (3)33349

Selected publications

2007	Gray, M., Kurihara, T., Hommen, L. and Feldman, J. (forthcoming). “Networks of Exclusion: Job Segmentation and Gendered Social Networks in the Knowledge Economy” Equal Opportunities International
2007	Gray, M. and James, A., (forthcoming). “Connecting Gender and Economic Competitiveness: Lessons from Cambridge’s High Tech Regional Economy.” Forthcoming in Environment and Planning A
2007	“Theorising the Gendered Institutional Bases of Innovative Regional Economies” in (Polenske, K. ed.) Innovation and Regional Growth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2006	“Rethinking the High Tech Firm: An Activity Specific Approach to the Firm” in Michael Taylor and Paivi Oinas (eds.) Reconceptualising the Firm. Oxford: Oxford University Press
2006	Gray, M., Martin, R. and Tyler, P., “The East of England: A Nebulous Region in Transition,” in Hardhill, I. ; Baker, M.; Benneworth, P.; and L.Budd (eds.) The Rise of the English Regions? London: Routledge, Regional Studies Development and Public Policy Series
2006	Hardill, I., Gray, M. and Benneworth, P. 2006. “Harnessing All a Region’s Capacities: Inclusion Issues,” in Hardhill, I.; Baker, M.; Benneworth, P.; and L.Budd (eds.) The Rise of the English Regions? London: Routledge, Regional Studies Development and Public Policy Series
2004	The Social Construction of the Service Sector: Institutional Structures and Labour Market Outcomes” Geoforum Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 23–34
2004	(Expanding) The Role of Geography in Public Policy, James, A., Gray, M., Martin, R., and Plummer, P. Environment and Planning A. Vol. 36, No. 11, pp1901–1906
2002	The Micro-Level Matters: Evidence from the Bio-Pharmaceutical Industry Zeitschrift wur Geographie. Vol. 46, No 2, pp. 124–136
1999	Colorado Springs: a military anchored city in transition. Gray, M. and Markusen, A. in: A. Markusen, Y-S Lee and S. Di Giovanna (eds.) Second tier cities: rapid growth outside the metropole in Brazil, South Korea, Japan and the United States. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press: 311–33
1999	New Jersey prospects: the pharmaceutical industry in a new age. in: J. Dunning (ed.) New Jersey in a globalizing economy. New Brunswick, NJ: Faculty of Management, Rutgers Univ. 6: 1–26
1999	Reconsidering Silicon Valley. Gray, M., Golob, E and Markusen, A. in: A. Markusen, Y-S Lee and S. Di Giovanna (eds.) Second tier cities: rapid growth outside the metropole in Brazil, South Korea, Japan and the United States. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 291–310
1999	Industrial clusters and regional development in New Jersey. Markusen, A. and Gray, M. in: J. Dunning (ed.) New Jersey in a globalizing economy. New Brunswick, NJ: Faculty of Management, Rutgers University. 4: 1–29
1998	New industrial cities:? the four faces of Silicon Valley. Gray, M., Golob E., and Markusen, A.,.Review of Radical Political Economics 30(4): 1–2
1998	Industrial change and regional development: the case of the US biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Gray, M. and Parker, E. Environment and Planning A 30: 1757–177
1997	Economic development strategies for the inner city: the need for governmental intervention. Fainstein, S. and M. Gray Journal of Black Political Economy. 24(2–3): 29–3
1996	Big Firms, Long Arms, Wide Shoulders: The “Hub-and-Spoke” Industrial District in the Seattle Region”. M Gray, E Golob and A Markusen. Regional Studies, Vol. 30.6, 651–666.