Redell Olsen

Professor of English, Director of Living Sustainably

Themes: Biodiversity and natural capital, Greener futures, Sustainability and creativity

Together with Klaus Dodds and Caroline Harris, I curated the COP26 Forum at Royal Holloway in 2021, which brought together academic, local, and national expertise on climate solutions, policy, and research. I am an arts practitioner, poet and academic who is committed to addressing environmental concerns, biodiversity, plant humanities, climate literacy and justice through research and teaching.

My own creative and academic work approaches the reuse and repurposing of apparently outdated technologies, archives, and historical materials as the basis for innovative literary and artistic practice-based research. My film Now Circa (1918) was shortlisted for an AHRC best research film of the year award in 2018. I was awarded the DARE art prize in 2020 for a collaboration with BioDar scientists at the University of Leeds, the Tetley Art Gallery in Leeds and the Museum of Science and Media in Bradford. I have taught poetic practice, visual arts, literature, environmental literatures, and creative writing at undergraduate and postgraduate level and I am an expert in the field of practice-based research.

I am interested in environmental policy, and specifically how the arts and humanities can be instrumental in the shaping of thriving and sustainable communities within the university and more widely. I have previously collaborated with local groups, scientists, galleries, museums, science and heritage institutions through creative projects and practice-led workshops.

Website: http://redellolsen.co.uk/

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Erica Rowan

Lecturer in Classical Archaeology, Member of the Food Group

Themes: Biodiversity and natural capital, Greener futures, Thriving communities

Expertise: I am passionate about creating a greener and more sustainable planet for human, plant, and animal communities

My work on ancient diet and fuel consumption contributes to our understanding of past human/environment relationships and provides future solutions for sustainable food production and consumption. My current AHRC project, Negotiating the Modernity Crisis: Globalization, economic gain and the loss of traditional and sustainable food practices in Turkey (AHRC AH/V000454/1), aims to articulate and find solutions to local and globalising pressures by studying the dynamics of both ancient and modern sustainable foodways in the province of Manisa, and especially the agency of women.

I am also one of the founding members of The Food Group at RHUL where I have co-organised and participated in our two sustainability events, Inedible, Unpalatable and Indigestible and Food and Drink on the Brink. I enjoy discussing and sharing the findings of my research with the public through a variety of media, including blogs and podcasts.

Helen Tregidga

Professor of Accounting

Themes: Greener futures, Biodiversity and natural capital

Expertise: Accountability, stakeholder engagement, sustainability reporting

How we currently live is unsustainable. As a social and environmental accountant I am interested in the role of accounting and accountability practices in contributing to this current unsustainable state, as well as imagining new forms of accounting and accountability practices which might play a role in the transition towards sustainability. I consider both how organisations account for and discharge accountabilities relating to sustainability (oftentimes through reporting), and also what is needed to create action. With this in mind, I am particularly interested in working with academics, social movements and others in countering or resisting organisations in an attempt to advance sustainability.