Celebrating ShARC success

15 June 2022

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.

Samantha Hind

This year, it means a lot to me that my chapter, ‘“We’ve Made Meat for Everyone!”: The Ideology of Distinction and Becoming Flesh in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road and Joseph D’Lacey’s Meat,’ was published in Matthais Stephan and Sune Borkfelt’s edited collection, Interrogating Boundaries of the Nonhuman: Literature, Climate Change, and Environmental Crises.

It also means a lot to me to have worked with my amazing ShARC colleagues, Mo O’Neill, Rosanne van der Voet, Frances Payne, and Indigo Gray, to organise the ShARC Tales 2 symposium. As well as organising a reading group and Q&A with Laura Jean McKay on her novel, The Animals in That Country, by myself. 

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.

Josh Milburn

This year, it means a lot to me that I:

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.

Politics ShARC Team (Alasdair Cochrane, Katharina Braun, Rocio Thovar, Frances Payne, and Josh Milburn)

The Politics and Animals Research Workshop was a highlight for permanent and visiting ShARC members at the Department of Politics in autumn 2021. It showcased research projects at the intersection of animal studies, politics, and related disciplines: topics included interspecies solidarity, in vitro meat, other aspects of ethical food systems, the international protection of farm animals, and animal consent.

The workshop not only provided a unique opportunity to discuss these ideas, but also helped to bring early-stage research projects to fruition. It started conversations that will continue to provide food for thought.

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.

Mo O’Neill

This year, it means a lot to me that I worked with my brilliant fellow ShARC PGRs Sam Hind, Rosanne van der Voet, Frances Payne and Indigo Gray on delivering our ShARC Tales symposium. It was lovely to bring the research network back together in person, and to finally see this through after multiple reschedules since 2019. It also meant a lot to me to write my first journal article on Edward Carpenter for Route 57, exploring some of my favourite Carpenter poems as well as a few of my favourite things: queerness, environmentalism, Sheffield, and the colour blue!

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.

Peter Sands

This year, it means a lot to me that I published my first book chapter in the volume Animal Remains. Having worked with other ShARCs to co-organise the conference that would later become the book, it feels brilliant to see my research printed alongside that of many who attended, all of whose work has profoundly impacted my own in the intervening couple of years.

I’m also immensely proud and relieved to have passed my PhD viva earlier this year, helped in so small part by the support of many other ShARCs and my supervisors Bob McKay and Fabienne Collignon.

ISLE logo

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.