PhD candidate, Department of Geography and King’s College
Jonathon is a cultural and environmental geographer whose research examines how understandings of nature are produced and contested across geographical contexts and why this matters for more-than-human social, political, and economic life. His PhD research takes place in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone in Ukraine and examines competing narratives concerning nature’s recovery in the Zone. Conceptually, he is interested in more-than-human and animal(s’) geographies, new and historical materialisms, post-humanisms, digital ecologies, and the ‘weird’.
Джонатон — культурний та екологічний географ, до зацікавлень якого входять стосунки між людьми та тваринами, зокрема собаками, в Чорнобильській зоні відчуження. Концептуально Він цікавиться географією, що виходить за межі дослідження лише людей та тварин, новітнім та історичним матеріалізмом, постгуманізмомами, цифровою екологією та «дивним».
Qualifications
- PhD in Geography (ESRC funded), University of Cambridge, 2018 – present
- MSc (Dist.) in Nature, Society and Environmental Governance, University of Oxford, 2017
- BA (First) in Geography, University of Oxford, 2015
Funding and awards
- (Forthcoming) Procter Fellowship, Princeton University
- (2023) The Cambridge Festival, production grant for The Dogs That Survived / Собаки Що Вижили
- (2022) Ukraine Lab writing residency, the Ukrainian Institute London, PEN Ukraine, and the British Council
- (2022) Support for ‘Terraforming Terra’ workshop from The Greenhouse at the University of Stavanger and the Research Council of Norway
- (2022) AJ Pressland Prize for best language report (Ukrainian), University of Cambridge Language Centre
- (2021) Conference Support Grant, Department of Geography and King’s College, University of Cambridge, awarded for the Digital Ecologies inaugural conference
- (2021) AHRC funding for ‘Incorporeal Matter’ seminar series
- (2020-2021) Harding Fund, Hertford College, University of Oxford for ‘Anthropause Environmentalisms’
- (2020) AJ Pressland Award, University of Cambridge Language Centre
- (2018 – present) ESRC Doctoral Training Partnership Award, University of Cambridge
- (2017) Christ Church College, Oxford research grant
- (2017) SoGE, Oxford research grant
- (2015) JNL Baker Prize in Geography, Jesus College, Oxford
- (2013) Graham Ward Award, Jesus College, Oxford
- (2012) Eliahou Dangoor Scholarship, Oxford
Research
Radioactive Resurgence: Nuclear Natures in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone
My PhD research examines radioactive resurgence in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone in Ukraine. I am interested in how and why Chornobyl comes to be understood simultaneously as a post-apocalyptic wasteland and a thriving nuclear nature reserve, as well as the responsibilities that nuclear natures inaugurate for different groups of people. I unpack the scientific controversy that exists among radioecologists working on Chornobyl, focusing primarily on the lives and material ecologies of two especially charismatic members of the Canidae family: wolves and dogs.
The project is empirically grounded in two years of more-than-human ethnographic work in the Zone alongside a range of groups that research, care for, and represent wildlife at Chornobyl. This included a photovoicing project with the checkpoint guards who live with and care for Chornobyl’s free-roaming dog population. I also work with conservation biologists, radio-ecologists, tourists, local workers, and an NGO – the Clean Futures Fund – amongst others, to unpack the spectacle associated with Nature’s ‘return’ to Chornobyl and to offer situated, everyday, and grounded understandings of nuclear natures.
My thesis draws on a wide range of literature from across geography and the environmental humanities to conceptualise weird ecologies, spectacular natures, and contaminated care at Chornobyl. With a Ukrainian film crew, I am producing a film on the dogs in the Zone called Собаки Що Вижили (The Dogs That Survived). Our film and exhibition were shown at The Cambridge Festival in 2023.
Digital Ecologies
In 2021, I co-founded Digital Ecologies, an interdisciplinary and international research group seeking to foster critical conversations at the interface of more-than-human and digital geographies, political ecology, and new media studies. Together, we conduct empirical and conceptual research into the digitisation of more-than-human worlds, examining the varying ways in which nonhumans are digitised and for what purposes. Our first paper was published recently in Progress in Environmental Geography in which we develop an analytical framework to guide research in this emerging field.
Our inaugural conference was held online in 2021, and the proceeds of this will be published as an edited collection under contract with Manchester University Press in 2023. Our second conference – Digital Ecologies in Practice – was held at Bonn University in July 2022, and the proceeds with be published as a special issue of cultural geographies in practice.
Anthropause Environmentalisms
‘Anthropause Environmentalisms‘ is a collaborative research project that examines how human-nature relations were reconfigured during the COVID-19 Anthropause. We have explored resurgent natures, quarantine urban ecologies, and digitised human-nature relations (including virtual trips to Chornobyl to feed the dogs that roam the Zone), focusing particularly on the role digital technologies played in fostering eco-positive online communities and convivial relations with local natures. The Self-Isolating Bird Club, an online nature group that emerged in the early days of the pandemic, is used as an illustrative case study. This ongoing project is conducted with Dr Adam Searle, Professor Jamie Lorimer, Professor Bill Adams, Professor Christian Rutz, and Naomi Parker.
The Digital Peregrine
The Digital Peregrine is a collaborative research project with Dr Adam Searle and Professor Bill Adams. We explore the parallel history of peregrine falcon resurgence and the development of webcam technologies to offer a ‘technonatural history‘ of peregrines in the United Kingdom. We also explore how ‘nestcams’ are transforming understandings of peregrine ecology, leading to novel scientific discoveries.
Bovine Geographies
My MSc research (supervised by Dr Maan Barua) examined the bovine geographies of India’s sacred cows. Drawing on archival and ethnographic research, we show how certain cattle in India came to be understood as ‘surplus’, and track what life looks life for these animals, living on waste, in Delhi. This project brings biopolitics and bioeconomy into critical conversation to provincialise lively capital.
With Dr Catherine Oliver, Dr Adam Searle, Dr François Thoreau, and Dr Else Vogel, I am working on a project concerning metabolism and cattle. We are theorising metabo-politics as an emerging form of biopower that operates across scales, from the microbiome to the planetary.
Ukrainian Environmental Humanities
My PhD research contributes to the emerging field of the Ukrainian Environmental Humanities, which brings environmental humanities scholarship into conversation with Ukrainian studies. In 2022, I co-founded the Ukrainian Environmental Humanities Network with a group of early career researchers, designers, artists, and curators from Ukraine, Poland, and the UK: Karolina Uskakovych, Dmytro Chepurnyi, Oleksandra Pogrebnyak, and Ewa Sułek. The interdisciplinary network serves as a community and space to gather and share ideas, promote and support work, and enable and encourage collaboration within Ukraine and beyond. Our inaugural seminar series will run online over the summer in 2023.
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I have a long-standing collaboration with ceramicist, Thomas Hedley. We work together to understand how geographical ideas might be represented in ceramic forms to engage a variety of publics. I have also worked as a research assistant on a project entitled ‘Meat and Masculinities’ at Newcastle University with Dr Michael Richardson.
My other interests include science and technology studies, vegan geographies, lively capital, chemical geographies, cli/sci-fi, the weird, non-representational theories, minor ecologies, spiritual ecology, landscape, queer ecologies, more-than-human collaborations, and psychedelic geographies.
I have been a visiting researcher at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy based in Kyiv, Ukraine, from 2019-2022, and speak Ukrainian. From March – July 2022 I was a visiting research at Wageningen University, The Netherlands, under the guidance of Dr Clemens Driessen.
Between July and August 2022, I am undertaking a writing residency with Ukraine Lab, funded by the Ukrainian Institute, the British Council, and PEN Ukraine. My piece on the Kyiv thickets is published in The Ecologist (in English) and Українська Правда (in Ukrainian), alongside fellow environment resident Katia Iakovlenko’s work. The entire collection of Ukraine Lab essays can be found here in English and Ukrainian, and our launch event at the British Library can be viewed here.
I am an editorial board member of Routes: The Journal for Student Geographers.
Publications
Journal articles
2023
- Searle, A., Turnbull, J., Hartman Davies, O., Poerting, J., Chasseray-Peraldi, P., Dodsworth, J. and Anderson-Elliott, H. 2023. Glitches in the technonatural present. Dialogues in Human Geography. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/20438206231174633.
- Turnbull, J., Searle, A. and Lorimer, J. 2023. Anthropause environmentalisms: Noticing natures with the Self-isolating Bird Club. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 48(2): 232-248. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/tran.12569.
- Searle, A., Turnbull, J. and Adams, W.M. 2023. The digital peregrine: a technonatural history of a cosmopolitan raptor. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 48(1): 195-212. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/tran.12566.
- von Essen, E., Turnbull, J., Searle, A., Jørgensen, F.A., Hofmeester, T.R., and van der Wal, R. 2023. Wildlife in the Digital Anthropocene: Examining Human-Animal Relations through Surveillance Technologies. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 6(1): 679-699. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/25148486211061704.
2022
- Turnbull, J., Searle, A., Hartman Davies, O., Dodsworth, J., Chasseray-Peraldi, P., Von Essen, E. and Anderson-Elliott, H. 2022. Digital ecologies: Materialities, encounters, governance. Progress in Environmental Geography. https://doi.org/10.1177/27539687221145698.
- Turnbull, J. and Barua, M. 2022. Living Waste, Living on Waste: a bioeconomy of urban cows in Delhi. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/tran.12573.
- Unnithan Kumar, S., Turnbull, J., Hartman Davies, O., Hodgetts, T. and Cushman, S. 2022. Moving beyond landscape resistance: considerations for the future of connectivity modelling and conservation science. Landscape Ecology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-022-01504-x.
- Turnbull, J., Platt, B. and Searle, A. 2022. For a new weird geography. Progress in Human Geography, 46(5): 1207-1231. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/03091325221116873.
- Turnbull, J. and Van Patter, L. 2022. Thinking-Together through Ethical Moments in Multispecies Fieldwork: Dialoguing Expertise, Visibility, and Worlding. ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies, 21(2): 147-171. DOI: https://acme-journal.org/index.php/acme/article/view/2036.
- Turnbull, J. and Searle, A. 2022. Filmmaking practice and animals’ geographies: attunement, perspective, narration. cultural geographies, 29(3): 453-464. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/14744740211035471.
- Van Patter, L., Turnbull, J., and Dodsworth, J. 2022. “More-than-human Collaborations” for Hacking the Anthropocene. feral feminisms, 10: 85-102. DOI: https://feralfeminisms.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/9-FF-ISSUE10-Patter.pdf.
2021
- Oliver, C., Ragavan, S., Turnbull, J., Chowdhury, A., Borden, D., Fry, T., Gutgutia, S. and Srivastava, S. 2021. Introduction to the urban ecologies open collection: A call for contributions on methods, ethics, and design in geographical research with urban animals. Geo, 8(2): 1-7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/geo2.101.
- Turnbull, J. 2021. Weird. Environmental Humanities, 13(1): 275-280. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/22011919-8867329.
- Searle, A., Turnbull, J., and Lorimer, J. 2021. After the anthropause: Lockdown lessons for more‐than‐human geographies. The Geographical Journal, 187(1): 69-77. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/geoj.12373.
2020
- Turnbull, J. 2020. Checkpoint dogs: Photovoicing canine companionship in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Anthropology Today, 36(6): 21-24. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8322.12620.
- Turnbull, J., Searle, A., and Adams, W.M. 2020. Quarantine encounters with digital animals: More-than-human geographies of lockdown life. Journal of Environmental Media, 1 (Supplement): 6.1-10. DOI: doi.org/10.1386/jem_00027_1.
- Searle, A. and Turnbull, J. 2020. Resurgent natures? More-than-human perspectives on Covid-19. Dialogues in Human Geography, 10(2): 291-295. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/2043820620933859.
- Turnbull, J., Searle, A. and Adams, W.M. 2020. Quarantine urban ecologies. Cultural Anthropology, Fieldsights: 19 May.
Books
- Turnbull, J., Searle, A., Anderson-Elliott, H. and Giraud, E. (Eds.) In Press. Digital Ecologies: Mediating More-Than-Human Worlds. Manchester University Press.
Book chapters
2023
- Turnbull, J. and Searle, A. 2023. Digital Geographies and Ecologies. In T. Osborne and P. Jones (Eds.) A Research Agenda for Digital Geographies. Cheltenham and Camberley: Edward Elgar Publishing.
- Adams, W.M., Searle, A. and Turnbull, J. 2023. Peregrine flights: the emergence of digital winged geographies. In Petri, O. and Guida, M. (Eds.) Winged Worlds: Common Spaces of Avian-Human Lives. London: Routledge.
2022
- Eriksen, C. and Turnbull, J. 2022. Insure the volume? Sensing air, atmospheres, and radiation in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone. In K. Booth, C. Lucas and S. French (eds.) Climate, Society and Elemental Insurance: Capacities and Limitations. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003157571-17.
2021
- Alexis-Martin, B., Turnbull, J., et al. 2021. Nuclear Geographies and Nuclear Issues. In D. Richardson, N. Castree, M.F. Goodchild, A. Kobayashi, W. Liu and R.A. Marston (eds.) International Encyclopedia of Geography: People, the Earth, Environment and Technology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118786352.wbieg2109.
Public scholarship
2022
- Торнбулл, Д. 2022. Київські хащі: що приховують зелені зони столиці. Українська Правда, 23 Вересня [переклад Ніни Мюррей].
- Turnbull, J. 2022. The Kyiv Thickets. The Ecologist, 22 September. [Part of Ukraine Lab writing residency & Ukrainian translation available in Українська Правда]. Public reading available online. Print copy in Resurgence & Ecologist Magazine available here.
- Noemi Duroux with the Digital Ecologies team. 2022. The Slowness of Digital Ecologies in Practice. Digital Ecologies Blog, 19 September.
- Zarkh, N., Uskakovych, K., Turnbull, J., Krichevsky, B. Rachkovsky, E. and Melnik, D. 2022. The Dogs That Survived / Собаки, Що Вижили. Against Catastrophe: Ukraine Dispatch, 1.
- Turnbull, J. 2022. All That Breathes: An Interview With Shaunak Sen. Anthroposphere, 8.
- Turnbull, J. 2022. What happened to Robin? Compass, 5th April.
- Turnbull, J. 2022. Chornobyl dogs, Ukrainian zoos, and abandoned animals in Kyiv. Alookso, 4 April. [Korean translation available].
- Unnithan Kumar, S., Turnbull, J., Hartman Davies, O., Cushman, S. and Hodgetts, T. 2022. Minimal Ecologies. Digital Ecologies Blog, 23 February.
- Searle, A. and Turnbull, J. 2022. Reflections on the Anthropause. Goethe Institute.
2021
- Turnbull, J., Searle, A. and Jasper, S. 2021. Ecologies of Emptiness. Emptiness: Living Capitalism and Democracy After (Post)Socialism Blog, 30 April.
- Turnbull, J. and Oliver, C. 2021. Metabolic Ruminations with Climate Cattle: Towards a More-Than-Human Metabo-Politics. CRASSH: Re-Scaling The Metabolic Blog, 24 February.
- Oliver, C. and Turnbull, J. 2021. A Conduit for Value: More-Than-Human Experiments With Chicken Metabolisms. CRASSH: Re-Scaling The Metabolic Blog, 16 February.
- Searle, A., Turnbull, J., and Lorimer, J. 2021. What can geographers learn from the 2020 ‘anthropause’? Geography Directions, 10 February.
2020
- Searle, A., and Turnbull, J. 2020. Pitch invasion! Football felines. The Urban Field Naturalist.
- Turnbull, J. 2020. Mutant Firebugs. The Urban Field Naturalist.
- Turnbull, J., Searle, A. and Adams, W.M. 2020. Quarantine urban ecologies. Geography Directions.
- Turnbull, J. and Searle, A. 2020. Winged fragility: Flight from evolution to extinction. King’s Review 6: 50-55.
- Turnbull, J. and Malcolm, A. 2020. Mushrooms, Modern Therapeutics and the Psychedelic Renaissance. BlueSci, 46: 12-14.
- Turnbull, J. and Searle, A. 2020. Anthropo(s)cene V: Extinction. The Philosopher 108(2): 107-111.
- Turnbull, J. and Searle, A. 2020. Anthropo(s)cene IV: Affect. The Philosopher 108(1): 110-113.
2019
- Turnbull, J. and Searle, A. 2019. Anthropo(s)cene III: Matter/Materiality. The Philosopher 107(4): 52-54.
- Turnbull, J. and Searle, A. 2019. Anthropo(s)cene II: Animals. The Philosopher 107(3): 68-70.
- Turnbull, J. and Searle, A. 2019. Anthropo(s)cene I: Posthumanisms. The Philosopher 107.2: 52-4.
- Alexis-Martin, B., Dyke, J., Turnbull, J. and Malin, S. 2019. How to save a sinking island nation. BBC Future, 15 August.
- Alexis-Martin, B., Dyke, J., Malin, S. and Turnbull, J. 2019. Climate crisis: migration cannot be the only option for people living on ‘drowning’ islands. The Conversation, 3 July.
- Turnbull, J. and Hedley, T. 2019. Radioactive Wildlife: Canids in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Anthroposphere, 3.
2018
- Turnbull, J. and Hedley, T. 2018. Glaciers in Clay: Exploring melting glaciers through ceramics. Anthroposphere, 2.
- Turnbull, J. 2018. Religion and Spirituality in the midst of climate change: learning from indigenous perspectives. Anthroposphere, 1.
Edited volumes
- Turnbull, J. and Searle, A. 2020. (eds.) The Other Animals. The Philosopher, 108(1).
- Including contributions from Bill Adams, Maan Barua and Anindya Sinha, Eva Giraud, Lori Gruen, Christine Korsgaard, Diane Morgan, and Cary Wolfe.
Reports
- Ukraine Lab. 2022. Ukraine Lab: British Library workshop. [Ukrainian translation available / Є український переклад].
- Turnbull, J. 2021. AJ Pressland Fund Winning Report. University of Cambridge Language Centre.
- Turnbull, J. 2019. British Academy Animal Welfare and the Posthumanities Workshop Report.
Dissertations
- Turnbull, J. 2017. Got Milk? Material Biopolitics and More-than-Human Health at the Gaushala. MSc Thesis, University of Oxford. [available on request].
Exhibitions
- Uskakovych, K., Turnbull, J., Zarkh, N., Krichevsky, B., Rachkovsky, E. and Melnik, D. 2023. The Dogs That Survived / Собаки Що Вижили. The Cambridge Festival, University of Cambridge.
- Turnbull, J. and Searle, A. 2022. Nature Buffering. Digital Ecologies in Practice, University of Bonn.
- Turnbull, J. 2020. ‘Contaminated Canids in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone’, in Visualizing Toxic Places Exhibition, Center for Ethnography, Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography.
Media appearances and public engagement
- ‘The Dogs That Survived / Собаки Що Вижили’. BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, 23rd March 2023. Available here: https://soundcloud.com/jonnyjt/the-dogs-that-survived.
- ‘More-than-human perspectives on COVID-19’. COVIDCalls podcast, 22 October 2021. Available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ul7U2s_Fjfo&t=668s.
- ‘Gone to the dogs’. University of Cambridge, 25 May 2021. Available here: https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/chernobyldogs.
- ‘Chernobyl Guards Befriend Abandoned Dogs In Exclusion Zone’. The Koala, 7 May 2021. Available here: https://thekoalabears.com/2021/05/07/chernobyl-guards-befriend-abandoned-dogs-in-exclusion-zone/.
- ‘The guards caring for Chernobyl’s abandoned dogs’. BBC Future, 23 April 2021. Available here: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210422-the-guards-caring-for-chernobyls-abandoned-dogs.
- Lockdown and Nature. BBC Radio 4: Reignite, 28 March 2021. Available here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000tm9r.
- Digital human-animal relations during lockdown. In https://arobase.substack.com/p/des-pomes-prdits-par-lordinateur, 11 February 2021.
- Digital human-animal relations during lockdown. In https://arobase.substack.com/p/des-animaux-en-direct-et-une-blogueuse, 28 January 2021.
- Virtual tourism to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Lonely Planet, 24 April. Available here: Explore Chernobyl virtually as the world marks the anniversary of the disaster.
Conference presentations
- Turnbull, J. 2022. ‘Making Sense of Nature in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone With Dogs and Wolves’, Chernobyl as a Historical Causera: Environment, Politics, and Science, Naples, Italy.
- Turnbull, J. and Searle, A. 2022. ‘The Digital Peregrine: Technonatural history as method’, Digitised and Datafied Animals: Emerging Technologies and Human-Animal Entanglements, online. Available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRH4bA-9nXU.
- Richardson, M. and Turnbull, J. 2022. Post-industrial Pollination: bees and their hidden animal geographies. RGS-IBG Conference, Newcastle University, UK.
- Turnbull, J., Platt, B. and Searle, A. 2022. ‘Towards weird geographies and ecologies: VanderMeer, Miéville, and Chornobyl’, POLLEN, online.
- Turnbull, J. and Brown, K. 2022. ‘Compounding Catastrophes in Polissya: Chornobyl’s Legacy Along the E40 Waterway’, Nuclear-Water Nexus workshop, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm (online).
- Parker, N., Turnbull, J. and Searle, A. 2022. ‘Feminist digital ecologies: Challenging birding’s masculinity online’ [poster presentation], Debugging (In)equality in Data Science, London School of Economics.
- Parker, N., Turnbull, J. and Searle, A. 2022. ‘Feminist digital ecologies: Challenging birding’s masculinity online’, Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, online.
- Turnbull, J., Oliver, C., and Searle, A. 2021. ‘Anthropocene Atmospheric Animals: Ruminations with Climate Cattle’, Bovine Scholarship Network Conference, online.
- Turnbull, J., Searle, A. and Jasper, S. 2021. ‘Ecologies of Emptiness’, Emptiness: Ways of Seeing Conference, online.
- Turnbull, J. 2021. ‘Tracking wolves in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone: from keystone to mutant’, RGS-IBG Conference, online.
- Searle, A. and Turnbull, J. 2021. ‘Rethinking Wild Cities Through Digital Ecologies’, RGS-IBG Conference, online.
- Turnbull, J., and Searle, A. 2021. ‘Towards a Research Agenda for Digital Ecologies’, RGS-IBG Digital Geographies Annual Symposium: Where Next for Digital Geographies? Pathways and Prospects, online. Available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSUMiJ7tGKs&list=PLuTP1ZUD6o7ZwUnLbzWfjSpIQckyFrBYb&index=11.
- Turnbull, J., Oliver, C. and Searle, A. 2021. ‘Anthropocene Atmospheric Animals: Ruminations with Climate Cattle’, Heroes and Villains of the Anthropocene seminar series, Global Lives of the Orangutan, Brunel University, online. Available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmzrf-dYRJg.
- Turnbull, J. and Searle, A. 2020. ‘Nature buffering: Liveness, liveliness, and the digital animal encounter’, Worldly Togetherness? Showcasing sociological contributions to understanding multispecies entanglements Conference, online. Available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTHUXBH5cAI.
- Turnbull, J. 2019. ‘Tracking Mutant Wolves in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone: digital/bodily presence/absence’, British Animal Studies Network Meeting: Movements, Leeds, UK. Available here: https://www.britishanimalstudiesnetwork.org.uk/Portals/108/Jonathon%20Turnbull.MP3.
- Turnbull, J. 2019. ‘Tracking Mutant Wolves in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone: digital/bodily presence/absence’, RGS-IBG Conference, London, UK.
- Turnbull, J. 2019. ‘Living (on) Waste: putting India’s sacred cattle to work’, Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, Washington DC, USA.
- Turnbull, J. 2019. ‘Transgressing and Dissecting the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone’, WildCRU Conservation Geopolitics Forum, University of Oxford, UK.
- Turnbull, J. and Hedley, T. 2019. ‘A Radioactive Refuge: Caring for Contaminated Canids in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone’, Multispecies Storytelling in Intermedial Practices, Linnaeus University, Växjö, Sweden.
- Richardson, M. and Turnbull, J. 2019. ‘#MeatToo: left behind by vegan geographies’, Nordic Geographers Meeting, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway [presented by Dr Richardson].
- Turnbull, J. 2018. ‘The Southern Reach Trilogy and the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone’, Association of Sociation Anthropologists of the UK and Commonwealth Conference, University of Oxford, UK.
- Turnbull, J. 2018. ‘Got milk? Material Biopolitics and More-than-Human Health at the Gaushala‘, (Un)Common Worlds: Human-Animal Studies Conference, Turku University, Finland.
- Turnbull, J. 2018. ‘Radioactive Natures: Conserving Chernobyl’, Student Conference on Conservation Science, University of Cambridge, UK.
- Turnbull, J. 2017. ‘Religion and spirituality in the midst of climate change: learning from indigenous perspectives’, 24th AISNA Biennial Conference, Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy.
Invited talks
- Turnbull, J., Cusworth, G. and Welden, A. 2023. Bovine Geographies. Seminar for the more-than-human research group at the University of Oxford.
- Ukraine Lab Launch event at the British Library. 2022. Available here: https://www.bl.uk/british-library-player/videos/001-ukraine-lab-launch.
- Turnbull, J. 2022. ‘Chornobyl: A New Weird Wilderness’. Lecture for Atelier Landscape Architecture and Spatial Planning (MSc), Wageningen University & Research, online.
- Turnbull, J., Searle, A., Lorimer, J. and Rutz, C. 2022. ‘Anthropause and Anthropulse Environmentalisms’. Coronavirus Multispecies Reading Group. Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, online. Available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3Gy2WaI6qI.
- Turnbull, J. and Searle, A. 2021. ‘Reflections on the Anthropause’. Constellations for Futures: Stories on Ecologies, Kinship, and Sciences. Goethe Institute, Brussels. Available here: https://www.laloge. be/en/broadcasts/day-2-narrative-about-earth.
- Turnbull, J. 2021. ‘Making sense of nature in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone’. Chornobyl Forum.
- Turnbull, J. and Searle, A. 2021. ‘What is Nature?’ The Linacre Institute, Big Ideas workshop.
- Turnbull, J., Searle, A. and Adams, W.M. 2021. ‘Digital winged geographies: Peregrine nestcams in the wild city’, Winged Geographies Seminar Series, online. Available here: https://www.wingedgeographies.co.uk/seminar-series/.
- Guest Lecturer, Mohyla Academy Postgraduate Seminar Series: ‘Making Sense of Nature in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone’, April 2021: Available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKe0a77wZRs.
- Roundtable participant: (Un)precedented Ecologies: ‘Nature’ in the Age of the Anthropause. Cambridge University Geography Society, February 2021.
- Turnbull, J. and Searle, A. 2020. ‘Nature buffering: Liveness, liveliness, and the digital animal encounter’, Undergraduate Seminar, Keele University, online.
- Turnbull, J. and Searle, A. 2020. ‘Nature buffering: Liveness, liveliness, and the digital animal encounter’, More-than-Human Research Group, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, online.
Conference panels convened
- 2023. Co-convenor with Charlotte Wrigley, ‘Avian Anthropocenes’, Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, Denver, USA.
- 2019. Co-convenor with Adam Searle, ‘More-than-human haunted landscapes: Trace-ing binaries of hope/desolation’, RGS-IBG Conference, London, UK [co-sponsored by Social and Cultural Geography Research Group and the Postgraduate Forum]
- More-than-human haunted landscapes (1): Absence
- More-than-human haunted landscapes (2): Disturbance
- More-than-human haunted landscapes (3): Hope
- 2019. Co-convenor with Earl Harper, ‘Losing or Gaining Hope in the Apocalypse: Pre-/Peri-/Post-Apocalyptic Imaginaries in the Anthropocene’, RGS-IBG Conference, London, UK
- 2019. Co-convenor with Peter Sands, ‘Outside Paradise and The Animals at the End(s) of the World(s)’, ASLE Conference, University of California, Davis, USA
- 2017. Co-convenor with Dr Daniel Cooper, ‘Sacred Landscapes: The Role of Religion, Spirituality and Faith in Landscape Morphology’, AISNA Biennial Conference, Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy
Workshops
- April 2023. ‘Digital Ecologies x Bionic Natures’, The Oslo School of Environmental Humanities.
- November 2022. Co-organiser with Charlotte Wrigley and Adam Searle, ‘Terraforming Terra’, University of Stavanger.
- September 2022. Co-convenor with Clemens Driessen, ‘Digital Ecologies @ Wageningen’, Wageningen University & Research.
- July 2022. Co-organiser with Adam Searle, Pauline Chasseray-Peraldi, Oscar Hartman Davies, Jennifer Dodsworth, Henry Anderson-Elliott, and Julia Poerting, ‘Digital Ecologies in Practice‘, University of Bonn.
- March 2021. Co-convenor with Adam Searle and Henry Anderson-Elliott, ‘Digital Ecologies‘, University of Cambridge, virtual session (sponsored by the Vital Geographies research group, the Department of Geography, and King’s College)
- February 2021. Co-convenor with Lauren Van Patter and Jennifer Dodsworth, ‘More-than-human Collaborations’ (sponsored by the Vital Geographies research group)
- Recordings of this event can be found at our YouTube channel
- 2021. Co-organiser with Luke Ilott and Ben Platt, ‘Incorporeal Matter’, AHRC-funded seminar series.
- 2019. Discussant, ‘Desert Island Peace Ecologies’, Advancing Peace Geographies Conference, Coventry University, UK
- 2019. Session Chair, ‘Animal Welfare from Public Perception to Policy: Attitudes, Approaches, Language’, British Academy Animal Welfare and the Posthumanities Workshop, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK
- 2018. Participant and social media co-ordinator, ‘Urban Ecologies: Governing Nonhuman Life in Global Cities project launch event’, University of Cambridge, UK
Teaching
- Dissertation Supervisor, BA Geography, University of Oxford
- Part IA Society, Environment and Sustainable Development
- Part IA Understanding Cultural Geography
- Geographies of landscape
- Geographies of gender
- Part IA Unequal Geographies: Housing and Inequality
- Part IA Contemporary Urban Geographies
- Part II Environmental Knowledges and the Politics of Expertise
- Understanding Animals
- Animal Spaces
- Animal Controversies
Mentoring
- King’s College Mentoring Scheme
- ESRC Mentoring Scheme
- Cambridge Geography Department PhD Mentoring Scheme
- Nature, Society and Environmental Governance MSc Alumni mentor, University of Oxford
- Dissertation café supervisor for University of Cambridge geography undergraduates
- The Linacre Institute, Big Ideas Workshop
External activities
- (2020-) Editorial Board Member, Routes: The Journal for Student Geographers
- (2019-) Contributor & columnist, The Philosopher magazine
- (2019-) Visiting Researcher, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine
- (2019-) Research Team, Clean Futures Fund, Dogs of Chernobyl project
- (2019-) Research Assistant to Professor Timothy Mousseau in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone
- (2018-) Member, Vital Geographies and Political Ecology research groups
- (2018-) Social Media Manager, Urban Ecologies (Twitter: @Uecologies / Instagram: @urbanecologies) & Vital Geographies research group (Twitter: @vitalgeogs)
- (2018-) Member, King’s College Geography Society
- (2018-) Sub-editor & contributor, Anthroposphere magazine
- (2017-2018) Research Assistant to Dr Michael Richardson, Newcastle University – Meat and Masculinities