Celebrating ShARC success

As we enter the final part of the academic year, we asked our ShARCs to send in their successes, with the prompt “this year, it means a lot to me that…” We had a great response, and we are very proud of every ShARC’s achievement. We look forward to seeing what everyone does next!

Daniel Bowman

This year, it means a lot to me that my article, ‘Horsepower: Animals, Automobiles, and an Ethic of (Car) Care in Early US Road Narratives,’ was published in the Journal of American Studies (JAS). It also means a lot to me to have completed my PhD.

Robert McKay

This year, it means a lot to me that Animal Remains, which I co-edited with Sarah Bezan, came out. I was also delighted that so many brilliant ShARC PhD students that I supervised (Daniel Bowman, Christie Oliver-Hobley, Peter Sands and Cecilia Tricker-Walsh) completed their PhDs.

John Miller

This year, it means a lot to me that I finished writing The Heart of the Forest, a book about trees, creatures, emotion and activism.

Dominic O’Key

I am most proud to publish my first book, Creaturely Forms in Contemporary Literature, and see it being read and criticised across the world. It’s no exaggeration to say that, without ShARC, my book would look and feel entirely different. They paved the way so that I could say what I wanted to say.

Frances Payne

It meant so much to me that I started off my PhD as part of the ‘Political Animals Group Class of 2021’ (as Alasdair puts it), which is, I believe, the first time we’ve had a group of politics and animal studies scholars at Sheffield since ShARC started. The workshop we arranged at the end of last year provided me with my first opportunity to present my project plans to a group of other scholars, which provided helpful feedback and the much welcome impetus for me to make significant changes to my research plans so early on.

It means so much to me that I’ve been able to be a part of the increasing interdisciplinarity of animal studies at Sheffield. First, the Political Animals Group and recently, through my involvement in co-organising ShARC Tales 2 alongside Sam Hind, Mo O’Neill, Rosanne van der Voet and Indigo Gray. I was so pleased to be able to invite Dr Tanya Wyatt to deliver her keynote speech on green criminology and it was a true privilege working with Beastly Business and helping to make their research a major part of ShARC Tales 2. It was a real highlight for me to see these efforts manifest in really stimulating, multidisciplinary discussion.

I was also really grateful to be able to bring my involvement with The Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures to ShARC as I learned about how to deliver an environmentally conscious and sustainable event. As well as ShARC Tales 2, this is something I’ve been pleased to be able to bring to other events at the University, such as in my co-organisation of the Pint of Science Festival in Sheffield.

I was also pleased to be successful in securing funding (‘Think Ahead Researcher-Led Activities) for an event I planned for ShARC. Although this has had to be cancelled this year for unprecedented reasons, it was a highlight for me to plan an event for something I felt to be important, to experience applying for funding, and to know that others agreed the event would be worthwhile.

Rosanne van der Voet

This year, it means a lot to me that my short story, ‘Flood,’ got published in Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment (ISLE). I am also very pleased to have been able to co-organise a much-awaited in person ShARC event. ShARC Tales II was really fun, thanks to all for attending and to Sam, Mo, Frances and Indigo for making it happen!

It also means a lot to me that I was able to do my knowledge exchange project at the centre for environmental humanities at Utrecht University. My creative writing workshop, ‘Writing with Water,’ led to some fascinating discussions.