Are you - or one of your students - a PhD researcher attending the RGS-IBG conference for the first time? I'm excited to speak at tomorrow's webinar (7th July, 1pm-2pm) on how to make the most of attending the society's annual conference. Tune in! www.rgs.org/events/upcom... @rgs-ibghe.bsky.social

And that’s a wrap! On my way home now for some rest after a very busy week at #POLLEN26 capped off with a closing party. Bye Barcelona & thanks to the @pollenetwork.bsky.social team for hosting

Final speaking duty at #POLLEN26 DONE - we had a lovely panel w/ @georgeiorda.bsky.social @danbrockington.bsky.social Gregg Mittman & Ines Pio on applying for @erc.europa.eu grants to develop team-based research. Thank you for all the engaged questions & discussions - please think about applying!

This was a terrific & very fitting final plenary with themes of struggle, resistance, collaboration, hope and love. But it’s not over yet- one more day of panels and a closing party to go 😀

What’s up with 4 Czech men getting arrested in Brazil for allegedly smuggling hundreds of endemic cacti? And what can it teach us about responses to illegal wildlife trade more broadly?- a little explainer for @theconversation.com here: theconversation.com/the-strange-...

New book 🎉Time to celebrate. Robert McKay has just published Anthropofugal Fictions - more on the book here ⬇️ multispeciesmutualisms.org/celebrating-...

I'm super happy to see this SI on Transnational Plant Studies out; I can't speak highly enough of Sushmita and Banu as editors and their introduction is such a valuable provocation - a must-read for anyone interested in the plant turn, plant studies, and/or the environmental humanities more broadly!

Day 1 of @pollenetwork.bsky.social 2026 done, and it was brilliant: catching up with old friends, meeting new people, smoothly organised, nice cool seminar rooms, lovely drinks and an engaging double panel organised by @georgeiorda.bsky.social & @eleofanari.bsky.social on GreenFrontiers.

Decolonize Conservation: “UBC researchers reviewed 111 studies and found Indigenous-managed lands match or outperform government protected areas on forests, biodiversity and carbon storage — yet remain under-resourced and under-recognized.”

Panagiota Kotsila, lead investigator of the IMBRACE project, shares her perspectives on urban climate justice and previews her group's participation in the POLLEN (Political Ecology Network) Conference, taking place in Barcelona from June 29 to July 3, 2026. #pollen2026

Totally 👏 Why not have done with it and just issue everyone with 1sts when they pay the last instalment of their fees? I mean they are ‘customers’ now not students, have bought and paid for their degrees. We are months away from being listed on ComparetheMarket.Com

Fantastic opportunities here for scholars based in Latin America - check it out ⬇️

More terrible news, this time from Exeter www.change.org/p/stop-redun...

It’s brutally hot 🔥 but I had a wonderful day in Manchester at the Albatross lecture - organised by Sustainable Futures at Manchester University. The topic was Nature, Climate Justice and Access: Reimagining Who Environmentalism Is For. And Dr Mya-Rose Craig gave the really compelling keynote

How might H5N1 (bird flu)—now in at least two Australian states—affect native wildlife and ecosystems, and compound Australia's extinction crisis? Some thoughts from me 👉 theconversation.com/bird-flu-has...

👏🏻👏🏻 @ledbydonkeys.org hit the nail on the head. As predicted my so many #Brexit been extremely negative. Very few of my younger relatives see their future in the UK, they can see the future is only getting bleaker.

I have a new chapter out in the Routledge International Handbook of Criminology and Affect. "'Caviar Hysteria' and the affective moral economies of illegal caviar trade in Europe' www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edi... It is not open access but I am happy to share a copy! Just message/email me

There’s always a bird angle 😀

Last week I was fortunate to visit the #kittiwake colony @balticgateshead.bsky.social It is fascinating how the city lives with these UK Red-listed birds. It’s a great chance to see them nesting

If you’re a researcher of Black, Bangladeshi and Pakistani heritage in the UK, our Accelerator Awards might be for you. It offers flexible grants for research or research-adjacent activities, such as training, secondments and networking. (1/2)

🐕‍🦺🐴🐦‍⬛🐄 Our new Multispecies Mutualisms project website is now live. The amazing design work is by Sheffield artist Lisa O’Hara. Some exciting announcements to come about our new post docs - keep a 👀 out 👇 multispeciesmutualisms.org

Today marks the start of my last month as a postdoc in Finland. As much as I would like to say I managed to secure myself another position, the (academic) job market is rough right now. I’m officially #OpenTowork. It’s not all bleak as I'm moving back to NL - and my partner and our cats (1/5)

In case you were wondering how year 2 of the #mole friendly garden is going…..It’s really matured, loads of lovely flowers, but as ever @feargalc.bsky.social has worked really hard on this #rewilding project 😀 and the moles still love visiting (digging up) the garden

Thousands have turned out for an Anti-Racism rally in Belfast city centre, organised by United Against Racism and supported by Trade Unions

Jared Kushner's $1.6bn project is expected to build luxury tourism real estate on the pristine Sazan island and surrounding waters and wetlands. The area shelters more than 200 bird species – many endangered. Albanians are protesting. www.theguardian.com/world/video/...

Albanian prime minister said on CNN that my PPNEA colleague was spreading disinformation, and some other troubling things. This is my reply. www.aljazeera.com/opinions/202...

Just a wee reminder for anyone listening to politicians doing the ‘I condemn the violence but people have legitimate concerns’, shuffle, immigration in NI is 3.5% of the population. Most of them working in NHS, social care and other badly paid jobs.

This post is drained of contextual meaning. ‘Unrest’ ‘anti-immigration demonstrations’? Not really. Unrest = orchestrated loyalist mob. & these weren’t ’demonstrations’ they were thugs attempting a racist pogrom, kicking in doors & forcing people out of their homes based on the colour of their skin

Another great paper just out from Utkarsh Roy Choudhury, published in environment planning e: “Maintained disrepair: Accumulation by rejuvenation, financialization, and the politics of restoration in India's Namami Gange program” journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Last week to send in your abstracts for this year's Animal Politics conference on Social Ties at University of Sheffield, 8-9th September! More details here philevents.org/event/show/1... Co-organisers @stevecooke.org @joshmilburn.bsky.social @drsvg.bsky.social and Alasdair Cochrane & Angie Pepper

Fantastic new research from Marina Requena-i-Mora & @danbrockington.bsky.social which picks apart #GreenGrowth claims. Read this short overview in @uk.theconversation.com as an appetiser for the main paper ⬇️ theconversation.com/green-growth...

Hooray - really pleased to see this report & arguments set out for the need to see climate and biodiversity crises as linked. I’m so often irritated by the idea that climate takes precedence over everything else when the feedback loops between interlocking crises are so obvious. We can do better ⬇️

Check these out - I have the Dr Who & pronoun pins and they are beautifully crafted ⬇️

“Nature for defense” will also come with military and other uniformed personnel presence and activities all associated with their own footprints (camps, vehicle traffic) often at the cost and exclusion of local people and other activities through for example establishment of no-go zones.

Look, I get it, this *sounds* great for defence, security and the environment. But this erases risks entailed in integrating environment & defence. Eg it’s not just re wetting bogs, these schemes also come with military infrastructure that blocks wildlife migration & damages ecosystems

One for the top of the reading list for 2026 - congrats to @rafdebont.bsky.social @vbateman.bsky.social & Tom Quick. The book is a series of engaging essays by brilliant writers ⬇️

Absolutely amazing post doc opportunity with @drjesshope.bsky.social on an #ERC project #Multispecies #PoliticalEcology

#EELS EELS EELS - there is nothing more I need say. Oh and it’s a funded PhD, on ✨EELS✨and people ⬇️

East Asian Studies is being gutted at Sheffield - all staff at risk with 8.6 FTE proposed to go (a third of us). Biggest cuts in Chinese and Japanese Studies. We’ll be taking a few days to process. Solidarity to Materials and Chemistry colleagues who are also dealing with similarly bad news.

Incredible operation to save invaluable heritage materials. It really says something about the nature of Israel's war against the Palestinians that an organisation founded to support refugee welfare also has to undertake such efforts to preserve the records of their existence.

For the next two days we are organising The Greyzone of the Green Transition conference in Sibiu, Romania. It brings together about 50 researcher from across Eastern Europe working on environmental justice issues. Full program grants.ulbsibiu.ro/ecojust/conf...

Fabulous day out at @rspb.bsky.social #Bempton Cliffs today. A couple of #puffins in the distance & a hunting barn owl as extra treat. I was there for the tree diaries & seabirds - loads of new year ticks & 1 new lifer (corn bunting)

A very important read, esp in the run up to the next CBD CoP ⬇️

POLLEn 2026 is creeping up on us. Here is some latest news on Linked In: www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

Our final book talk of the semester is Monday 11 May 2026. Bob McKay will talk to us about his new book Anthropofugal Fictions: Literature, Species Politics and Flight from Humanity (Edinburgh UP 2026). Join us for the live discussion at 4pm in Norway / 3pm in UK: newnatures.org/greenhouse/e...

Back on strike with @sheffielducu.bsky.social. Why? Management is pushing ahead with restructures despite sitting on £200m+ in reserves. Along with colleagues in East Asian Studies, I also find out in 12 days how many of us they want to fire. No justification is deemed necessary by management.

I wrote this article for the Irish News last year, but since it’s behind a paywall I’m sharing it below. It explores the return of species like red kites and eagles to Ireland, and the tensions that often surround conservation and nature restoration. open.substack.com/pub/darasand...

The latest in the militarisation of marine species and space. Pete Hegseth may scoff at the idea of Iran using 'kamikaze dolphins', but the US Navy has been using marine mammals for military interventions for decades (see @squirerachael.bsky.social work) edition.cnn.com/2026/05/05/p...

Important article documenting the persistence of sturgeon poaching in the Caspian Sea. Findings show the unintended consequences of state containment efforts - they can actually exacerbate and intensify IUU. conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Late spring has definitely sprung in the #PeakDistrict. Love the bluebell woods in full bloom 😀