Paul Dowson

Background

About Paul Dowson

What if our identities, both professional and personal, are closer to being fluid rather than being static? Our authentic identities are complex and multi-faceted. There's much more to us than the categories which summarise us, or the job descriptions that sometimes pigeon-hole us. How then do we approach describing who we are or what others can expect of us? As we answer some of these questions, we might focus on, what is it about us that stands out? What do we connect with, who do we connect with and why? At Bath Spa University my subject specialism is Professional Development. I teach and research this area with an emphasis on appreciating the contemporary context, the 'historical now' of late-modernity. As an interdisciplinary academic I operate as a Business and Management lecturer who draws extensively on the Humanities. A couple of formative influencers on my thinking are Erik Erikson (1902-1994) and Peter Sloterdijk (1947-). A favourite notion of mine is, left to our own devices, what emerges as the foci of our research?