Tom originally trained as an earth scientist (BSc, London University) and worked after graduation in museums as a geologist and natural historian, and was soon elected a Fellow of the Geological Society of London. After developing an interest in museum education, he qualified (PGCE, Liverpool University) as a secondary teacher of geography and science and eventually became a head of geology. He then returned to museums as the education officer at England’s largest urban churchyard nature reserve in London. He then went on to establish a new museum education service in northern England in which he had considerable involvement with INSET and the preparation of museum, library, school and heritage centre collections and exhibitions. In 1991 He was awarded an MA in Museum and Gallery Administration (City University) with a thesis on the history of museum education; concomitantly he gained professional recognition as a full Member of the Institute of Leisure and Amenity Management (now the Institute of Sport and Leisure). Within museums, he researched, lectured and published on regional natural history collections and museum education matters.

For almost twenty years Tom has held a university lectureship, initially in arts and heritage management and countryside management and latterly, as a principal lecturer, in heritage and tourism management. Over the past decade he has been involved in the design and production of interpretative materials for geosites and delivering associated interpretation workshops for a range of agencies, including the British Geological Survey. This is a consequence of his doctoral studies (University of Birmingham), and the first submission anywhere of a PhD thesis in 2003, on ‘geotourism’ – a field of study he has pioneered and promoted after recognising, in the mid-1980s, that the loss of geosites was because their societal significance was clearly unrecognised outside of the discipline. This work melded his interests and professional engagements in geology, environmental interpretation and visitor studies.

In developing the geotourism concept, Tom undertook extensive fieldwork in Europe, the UK and the USA. Now as an acknowledged international authority on geotourism, he regularly contributes keynote addresses, conference presentations and practitioner-focused workshops in the UK and Europe. He has co-authored an English Nature report on geoconservation and interpretation, and has authored geotourism chapters for four Geological Society of London books, several geotourism chapters for specialist tourism and geoconservation books, as well as numerous geosite management and interpretation articles in, for example, the UK, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Poland and Spain. His geotourism research and publications range from the practical aspects of geotourism provision and evaluation to its underpinning theoretical and philosophical frameworks, alongside the history and promotion of landscape appreciation.

Tom is presently on the Executive Committee of GeoConservationUK, the national voluntary co-ordinating geoconservation body, and is the editor of its national newsletter. He is also much involved in his limited spare time, drawing upon his extensive knowledge of British and European natural history to supplement his field-craft and outdoor pursuits skills, in the provision of outdoor learning experiences for young people. 

Email contact