Co-leads: Shela Sheikh (Media, Communications and Cultural Studies) shela.sheikh@gold.ac.uk  and Wood Roberdeau (Visual Cultures) w.roberdeau @gold.ac.uk. For more up-to-date info, visit the Critical Ecologies site.

The issue of climate change and environmental transformation is clearly one of the most significant challenges we face today. What is at stake in the ecological crises of the 21st century that raises specific questions and areas of concern for the arts, humanities, and cultural production? Who and what suffers or benefits from these crises, and through what legal, economic, and political structures? How can we represent and narrate multi-scalar and multi-temporal phenomena to plan for and respond to uncertain futures? An era looms for which we have no clear template. The Critical Ecologies research stream tackles questions of global warming, environmental justice, colonial dispossession, climate migration, nuclear cultures, media geology and e-waste from an arts and humanities perspective that takes scientific research and practices seriously. The stream formalizes connections between existing areas of research and practice by bringing together established environment-focused initiatives from across Visual Cultures/Research Architecture, Cultural Studies, Anthropology, Art, Sociology, Media & Communications, and English & Comparative Literature to develop collaborations, funding bids, and curricula. Our core aspiration is to evolve new academic platforms capable of shaping public debate.