Formerly: Professor of Sociology, Head of Department and Director, Centre for Urban and Community Research (CUCR), Goldsmiths College, Univ. of London; 20 years as politician, East End of London, including as Council Leader, Tower Hamlets, Chair, Thames Gateway London Partnership & Commissioner, National Commission on Integration and Cohesion. Currently, Director, Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS) and Professor, Dept of Anthropology, Univ. of Oxford. Current work develops past projects on dynamics of urbanism, study of cultural difference & impact of migration on structures & processes of governance; one strand considers politics of migration, integration, cohesion & everyday life in the UK; a second considers the dynamics of migration, city transformation & emergent markets in contemporary China.