Projects per year
Personal profile
Profile
I am a geographer interested in animals, the more-than-human, and environments. At Lancaster, I am teaching and researching the Sociology of Climate Change. I am currently researching the birds of Morecambe Bay, exploring the connections between the social and cultural life of humans, seabirds, and the bay. I am also the Chair of the newly-founded Animal Geography Working Group of the Royal Geographical Society.
My first book, ‘Veganism, Archives, and Animals,’ was published with Routledge in 2021. The book provides a unique and timely contribution to debates within animal and more-than-human geographies and is the first of its kind in “vegan geographies.” The book draws from my doctoral research on veganism in Britain (University of Birmingham, 2020). I am currently writing a second book on veganism, What is Veganism For?, which will be published in June 2024 with Bristol University Press.
Between 2020 and 2022, I was a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Geography, University of Cambridge on an ERC-funded project researching urban chickens in London. This research responds to changing demands on food systems, ecologies, and urban space, seeking to understand how non-human life is governed and regulated in cities. I am currently writing a book, The Chicken City, about this research (Manchester University Press).
In 2021, I was appointed as a Royal Geographical Society/Wiley Digital Archives Fellow (2021), receiving a fellowship to research animals in geographical exploration. My project is a Wiley Case Study, with an online curated exhibit. In 2021-22, I was also a fellow on the Global Urban History Project’s Dream Conversations series on Cities and the Anthropocene in 2021.
From 2016 to 2017, I worked in the archives of animal activist Richard D. Ryder at the British Library on a PhD placement with Dr Polly Russell and Gill Ridgeley, producing the British Library’s online curation, ‘Archiving Activism’.
Other recent projects include a feminist geography research project theorising academic conferences as microcosms of the university, an ongoing project on more-than-human metabolisms, and a newly launched project on alternative communities and the seek for connection in capitalist Britain.
I currently teach on SOCL221 Climate Change and Society, SOCL521 Environment and Culture, SOCL931 Methods in STS, and SOCL201 Skills for Researching Social Life. I also supervise PhD students, Masters projects, and undergraduate dissertations.
Office Hours
Monday 9.30-10.30 (in-person) and Friday, 3-4pm (on Teams).
Related documents
Keywords
- Culture
- Environmental change
- Science and technology studies
- Geography
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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More-than-human Metabolism
Oliver, C. (Principal Investigator), Turnbull, J. (Co-Investigator) & Searle, A. (Co-Investigator)
1/12/20 → …
Project: Research
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Animals of the Royal Geographical Society
Oliver, C. (Principal Investigator)
1/01/21 → …
Project: Research
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Longing to Belong: Cults, Communes and Conspiracy Theories
Oliver, C. (Principal Investigator) & Morris, A. (Co-Investigator)
1/08/22 → …
Project: Research
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Narrating The Historical Geographies of Environmental Change through the Personal Archives of Birdwatchers
Oliver, C. (Principal Investigator)
1/01/26 → 31/12/26
Project: Research
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Veganism, Archives, and Animals: Beyond-human geographies
Oliver, C., 13/08/2021, London: Routledge. 162 p.Research output: Book/Report/Proceedings › Book
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Transforming paradise: Neoliberal regeneration and more-than-human urbanism in Birmingham
Oliver, C., 28/02/2023, In: Urban Studies. 60, 3, p. 519-536 18 p.Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Open Access -
The Opposite of Extinction.
Oliver, C., 1/05/2022, In: Environment and History . 28, 2, p. 197-202 6 p.Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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Resisting the “academic circle jerk": precarity and friendship at academic conferences in UK higher education
Oliver, C. & Morris, A., 25/05/2022, In: British Journal of Sociology of Education. 43, 4, p. 603-622 20 p.Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Open Access -
Beyond‐human ethics: The animal question in institutional ethical reviews
Oliver, C., 12/2021, In: Area. 53, 4, p. 619-626 8 p.Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Open Access
Activities
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Animals, Health and Wellbeing
Oliver, C. (Speaker)
26/09/2023Activity: Talk or presentation types › Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
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Lancaster Environment Lecture: Feeding the World without Devouring the Planet by George Monbiot
Grass, D. (Organiser), Germond-Duret, C. (Organiser), Oliver, C. (Organiser), Potter, G. (Organiser), Dickinson, P. (Organiser), Gere, C. (Organiser), Thomas, N. (Organiser) & Childs, J. (Organiser)
24/05/2023Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
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Blue Avian Landscapes, Morecambe Bay
Oliver, C. (Speaker)
17/11/2022Activity: Talk or presentation types › Oral presentation
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Animals in the Royal Geographical Society Archives
Oliver, C. (Speaker)
7/02/2022Activity: Talk or presentation types › Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
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Animals in the Royal Geographical Society Archives
Oliver, C. (Speaker)
7/02/2022Activity: Talk or presentation types › Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
Prizes
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Royal Geographical Society Wiley Digital Archives Fellow
Oliver, C. (Recipient), 2021
Prize: Fellowship awarded competitively
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Global Urban History Project Emerging Scholar
Oliver, C. (Recipient), 2021
Prize: Fellowship awarded competitively
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Narrating The Historical Geographies of Environmental Change through the Personal Archives of Birdwatchers - Royal Geographical Society Small Grant
Oliver, C. (Recipient), 18/04/2024
Prize: Fellowship awarded competitively
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Newnham College Postdoctoral Research Associate
Oliver, C. (Recipient), 2021
Prize: Fellowship awarded competitively
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Press/Media
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Multi-Level Marketing Companies Are Cashing In on the Crisis
Oliver, C. & Morris, A.
20/09/22
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Newspaper Article
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Rescue chickens make the perfect allotment companions
10/08/22
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Newspaper Article
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New Documentary Transforms Cows From Methane Machines to Sentient Beings
17/02/22
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Newspaper Article
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Bird flu: domestic chicken keepers could be putting themselves – and others – at risk
13/01/22
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Newspaper Article
Impacts
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Time for Geography: Challenges of global food supply chains
Oliver, C. (Participant)
Impact: Other Impacts
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Time For Geography: Food in the UK: Changing production and demand and
Oliver, C. (Participant)
Impact: Other Impacts