PDRA in Human Geography

We are seeking to appoint a 30-month Postdoctoral Research Associate in Human Geography to work within the Leverhulme Trust funded project "Plants out of place: entanglements with 'invasive weeds' in the Anthropocene".

Plants out of place focuses on challenging conventional thinking about 'invasive weeds' through a transdisciplinary approach incorporating environmental humanities, vegetal cultural geographies, and political ecology. The project aims to advance new ways of thinking about and with weeds through three innovative interventions: a migrant ecology that questions 'invasion' narratives by tracing the histories of how weeds arrive in particular places; a decolonial ecology that challenges Western narratives and explores alternative ways of thinking and living with weeds by learning from traditional knowledges in their places of origin;

a multispecies geography that documents entanglements of weeds with other species (e.g. as food, medicine, matter) in the context of accelerating climate change. The project focuses on three invasive non-native plants in the UK and uses archival research, document analysis, participant observation, and semi-structured and go-along interviews in the UK and places of origin. A sensory exhibition of materials assembled during research will function as a creative community engagement to experiment and collaborate with 'invasive weeds'.

The successful applicant will work on the project alongside Prof. Cheryl McEwan (Principal Investigator, Department of Geography, Durham University). The primary duties will be to contribute to the development of the project's conceptual approach and to the preparation and planning of the research, undertake fieldwork and archival research in the UK and one of the three overseas locations, co-design and plan the sensory exhibition, and contribute to the writing up and dissemination of the research to multiple academic and non-academic audiences.

Applications from those with experience of plant humanities, Critical Plant Studies, political ecology, and vegetal geographies are encouraged.