Sharing some wonderful news from the (Un)worlding Collaboratory. Huge congratulations to Sophie and Blanche!

Sophie Chao and Blanche Verlie awarded prestigious ARC Future Fellowships

Congratulations to (Un)worlding Collaboratory co-convenors Sophie Chao and Blanche Verlie on being awarded ARC Future Fellowships. These awards, granted by the Australian Research Council, are the most prestigious mid-career research fellowships in the country. They are highly competitive and are awarded to emerging leaders in their research fields. Sophie and Blanche both received Future Fellowships in the 2026 round of funding.

unworlding.net

Mourning in a time of planetary crisis: Making room for grief I recently co-authored an essay with Blanche Verlie and Zoë Sadokierski on "mourning in a time of planetary crisis" in The Griffith Review, vol. 92 (2026). The full text is available here. This essay builds on a conversation that the…

Mourning in a time of planetary crisis: Making room for grief

I recently co-authored an essay with Blanche Verlie and Zoë Sadokierski on "mourning in a time of planetary crisis" in The Griffith Review, vol. 92 (2026). The full text is available here. This essay builds on a conversation that the authors began as a roundtable discussion with Natasha Mitchell for an episode of ABC Radio National’s Big Ideas (

thomvandooren.org

It was SUCH a treat to write this story for Audubon, which includes my sister @akpresto.bsky.social's crow friends Sal and Pal, @carlbergstrom.com sneaking across campus in a tunnel, philosopher @thomvandooren.bsky.social, and me meeting thousands of crows at once: www.audubon.org/magazine/are... 🧪

Are Crows Really Our Friends?

An investigation into the state of corvid–human relations.

audubon.org

I’m honoured to be the recipient of the BBVA Foundation’s 7th Biophilia Award in Environmental Humanities and Social Sciences www.biophilia-fbbva.es/en/noticias/... @seisydney.bsky.social @mitpress.bsky.social @usyd-humanities.bsky.social @columbiaup.bsky.social @mesh-research-hub.bsky.social

Thom van Dooren | Biophilia Award in Environmental Humanities

Philosopher Thom van Dooren receives the BBVA Foundation’s 7th Biophilia Award for what the committee describes as his “central role” in “understanding and addressing species extinction.”

biophilia-fbbva.es

Please join us for this event in November to honour Elspeth Probyn, an amazing scholar, friend, and mentor to so many people in cultural studies, gender studies, the environmental humanities, and beyond. She is sorely missed. events.humanitix.com/celebrating-...

Celebrating the Life and Work of Elspeth Probyn

Celebrating the Life and Work of Elspeth Probyn

events.humanitix.com

If Melbourne University Publishing doesn’t want to keep publishing Meanjin, they should hand over the journal to someone worthy of the responsibility. Me in The Conversation theconversation.com/the-decision...

The decision to close Meanjin misunderstands its wider importance. Australian culture deserves better

The decision to close Meanjin is the latest in a string of recent decisions that suggest universities are not safe harbours for priceless cultural institutions.

theconversation.com

Wishing I could be there in person. Looking forward to Zooming in to present on "Multispecies Storytelling for Catastrophic Times" (Sat morn in Europe, evening in Australia). Anyone interested can join the zoom! More info here: mesh.uni-koeln.de/events/meshw...

Maan Barua@maanbarua.bsky.social · last yr.

Looking forward to this wonderful #MESH conference in Kõln, with Kate Rigby, @franzkrause.bsky.social, @thomvandooren.bsky.social and others.

Looking forward to this wonderful #MESH conference in Kõln, with Kate Rigby, @franzkrause.bsky.social, @thomvandooren.bsky.social and others.

Great speaking with you, Josh.

Josh Milburn@joshmilburn.bsky.social · last yr.

On the latest episode of Knowing Animals, I speak to @thomvandooren.bsky.social about his 2023 @mitpress.bsky.social book A World in a Shell: Snail Stories for a Time of Extinctions. The episode is available free below, or in all the usual podcast places. knowinganimals.libsyn.com/episode-238-...

One of the many problems with "de-extinction": "The day Colossal released its promo video, Doug Burgum, the Trump administration’s secretary of the interior, wrote a long post on X celebrating the news as the first step in ending protections for endangered species." www.nytimes.com/2025/05/07/m...

There’s No ‘Undo’ Button for Extinct Species

nytimes.com

"I think that the word is being misused. Extinction's forever. It's irreversible...I think it's a really dangerous precedent to claim we can fix some of these irreversible problems," @dieterhochuli.bsky.social says on the podcast. The U. of Sydney ecologist unpacks what's wrong with 'de-extinction'

‘De-extinction’ isn’t just misleading — it’s dangerous, ecologist says

A biotech company in the United States made headlines last month by revealing photos of genetically modified gray wolves, calling them “dire wolves,” a species that hasn’t existed for more than 10,000...

news.mongabay.com

We congratulate the ALP on their election victory. This term of government will be critical for nature. We encourage @albomp.bsky.social to grasp the nettle on protecting our ecosystems and tackle Australia's failing environmental protection framework.” biodiversitycouncil....

New book on our Environment & Society Portal: Deborah Bird Rose's 𝘋𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘌𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 (ANU Press, 2024), edited by Darrell Lewis and Margaret Jolly. #EnvHum #CCBY

Dreaming Ecology: Nomadics and Indigenous Ecological Knowledge, Victoria River, Northern Australia

Full volume of Deborah Bird Rose's posthumous book Dreaming Ecology: Nomadics and Indigenous Ecological Knowledge, Victoria River, Northern Australia.

environmentandsociety.org

The Italian translation of Flight Ways is now out! A big thanks to the translator, Lorenzo Vetta, and to the publisher, Nottetempo (not least for a beautiful cover!). More information here: www.edizioninottetempo.it/it/in-volo @mitpress.bsky.social

Registration is open for our final 'Rethinking Fables' conference (May 22-24, 2025: University of Kent, Canterbury UK & online) with Profs Vinciane Despret and Susan McHugh as our keynote speakers. Please spread the word – and we'd be delighted if you can join us. research.kent.ac.uk/rethinking-f...

We're thrilled to announce our CALL FOR PAPERS for the 2025 AASA Conference: "Centring Animals Across the Disciplines"! 📆 5th Nov. - 7th. Nov. at the University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia ⏰ Proposals due 20 June 2025 #animalstudies #academia animalstudies.org.au/aasa2025-cen...

AASA 2025: Centring Animals Across The Disciplines | Australasian Animal Studies Association

animalstudies.org.au

The Australian Environmental Humanities Hub is now on Bluesky. Follow for news, events, and more.

Libby Robin@libbydeq.bsky.social · 2y ago

@aehhub.bsky.social is now on bluesky! Welcome.

My book A World in a Shell is now available in Japanese translation. A big thanks to the publisher and translator, and to the wonderful team at @mitpress.bsky.social. It's so nice to see these snail stories out in the world in this new way. www.seidosha.co.jp/book/index.p...

can register here --> forms.office.com/e/rfKrvjTnE2

Dear MSM journos writing about #nuclear today…weekend… Take 8min to listen to the first part of this podcast @reneweconomy.com.au Frontier Economics has completely trashed its credibility with this “real costs” costings of Dutton’s concept of a nuclear plan. That’s the real story today!! #auspol

Renew Economy@reneweconomy.com.au · 2y ago

In this episode we take a quick look at the Coalition’s #nuclear plan and its costings. Not much of it makes sense. Plus: The other news of the week

Our new article is out now: "Animal Cultures at the Edge of Extinction" (open access). It takes a critical #envhum approach to biological research on animal cultures and asks how humanities scholars might contribute to these discussions in a time of extinctions. journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Another thoughtful summer reading guide from @seisydney.bsky.social. www.sydney.edu.au/sydney-envir...

SEI's summer reading guide

From oil palm plantations in West Papua and the vanishing flight paths of the Regent Honeyeater to practical guides for emergency preparedness and powerful podcasts, SEI has you covered this summer. E...

sydney.edu.au

Migrating here from Twitter, to learn, discuss and share all things related to the eucalypts, Australia's iconic and most dominant group of native plants. This bark mosaic illustrates bark diversity in 12 of the 845 known eucalypt species.

This makes me so sad and angry at the same time. We have no right to treat such wonderful and ecologically important animals this way. Drum-lines and shark-nets are an abomination. www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11...

Researchers studying body of largest great white shark caught on a Queensland drumline

A 5.62-metre great white female shark carrying four young pups was found dead on a regional Queensland drumline in August. She was the size of a dual-cab ute and scientists are now doing genetic studi...

abc.net.au

Check out the CFP, and calls for panels, for the ASLE 2025 Biennial Conference "Collective Atmospheres" July 8-11, 2025 at Univ of Maryland. Deadline for submissions is Jan. 3, 2025. Please share! #envhum #environmentalhumanities www.asle.org/conference/b... www.asle.org/conference/p...

Excited that this series on substitution, co-edited by Alice Rudge, Véra Ehrenstein, and myself, is now live. “Substitution constitutes a method for tracing continuities amid seeming change, disruption amid seeming continuity, and possibility within constraint.” culanth.org/fieldsights/...

Substitution

Substituting one thing for another–things, people, habits–happens all the time. Substitution is so mundane that it can easily be taken for grante...

culanth.org

I’m thrilled with the final product of this multimedia essay we made on the critically endangered regent honeyeater. It can’t be viewed on a phone but if you’re near a big screen, check it out: www.curatorium.au/taja-journal...

Take your ears and imagination on a journey with me into the sonic riches and brokenness of our world. Music, nature, listening. A Pulitzer and PEN finalist. Now out in paperback. 🦜💚🎵🐸🎻🏙️⚖️