Anthropologist to Spend One Year in Airport

About £30,000 of taxpayers’ moneys will go into funding a new study of the behavior of flyers and airport staff, with anthropologist Dr. Damian O’Doherty about to embark on a year-long study. For 12 months, the anthropologist will be living at Manchester’s terminal in order to better analyze people’s behavior when at the airport, the Telegraph informs.

Unlike Tom Hanks’ character in the 2004 “The Terminal,” to whom he’s already been compared, Dr. O’Doherty will not be living at the airport 24/7, though he will spend enough time there to allow him to say that. In other words, the anthropologist will spend about 18 hours a day on the premises, going home to his wife and child only to change clothes and sleep in his own bed.

“Dr. Damian O’Doherty a university academic is getting paid £30,000 of public money to spend 18 hours a day at Manchester's terminal for the next year. Anthropologist Dr. Damian O’Doherty said he would be studying the ‘kinetic elite’ who pass through it, which he described as those who are ‘always on the go, fixing business deals on their laptops, at the same time talking on their iPhone and perhaps posting a Twitter to friends and family.’ The project is being funded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills,” the aforementioned publication writes.

“I’ve been researching airports for five years and I just thought this would be the opportunity to experience airport life for myself. It is very unusual for an anthropologist to do this but this place is a vibrant hotbed of change and it fascinates me. Fortunately my wife Hannah has a sympathetic ear,” Dr. O’Doherty told the media in reference to his upcoming study.

Taxpayers are not as happy as the anthropologist about the research, though. The TaxPayers’ Alliance, for instance, deemed the study a complete waste of money, with Chief Executive Matthew Elliott saying those interested in people’s behavior at the airport only need to rent Tom Hanks’ movie to find out.