Current research
My current research reckons with the many forms of violence that are driving current eco-political crises at multiple scales and shaping mainstream narratives of ‘the’ future. The goal of this work is to multiply, seed and nurture pathways towards eco-political futures where plurality can thrive. Most academic and media discussions of ‘the future’ and how to address current crises focus on pathways and ‘solutions’ presented by people and organizations in positions of power. Instead this research program focuses on the futures imagined and created by marginalized communities, along with the strategies for survival and thriving that they’ve nurtured across centuries of oppression.
One of my new projects explores political, ethical and ecological movements towards unconditionality, which question and resist structures that work to frame marginalized people, ecosystems and life forms as ‘disposable’ or target them for elimination. My other current projects involve: challenging emerging politics and cultures of eugenics; gathering, curating and co-creating crip ecological knowledge; and tackling global patterns of sensory harm, violence and/or injustice across species.
For the last decade, I’ve studied how global patterns of plant and animal extinction are driven by interlocking structures of violence and oppression, with a particular focus on diverse Indigenous forms of resistance and ecological politics. You can read more about this work in my new book, Revenant Ecologies, and my other publications.
My earlier research contributions include an internationally-recognized body of work on the role of nonhumans (including emerging technologies) in international politics, security and ethics; innovative planetary and earth-focused approaches to global politics; original contributions to anti-colonial outer space studies; critical approaches to international intervention; critical and anti-colonial conflict studies and more.
Research leadership
As a research professor, a major part of my job is developing and building out new research programs. I’ve ideated, developed, written and managed 16 grants valued at over $2 million, including several large-scale international partnerships, networks/collectives and multi-disciplinary teams.
All of my research programs and projects involve multi-disciplinary, collaborative work that brings together diverse knowledge systems and people, opening up new areas of research and knowledge-sharing.
For instance, in 2018-2023, I served as PI on a research partnership between four universities that directly supported community-based research projects within and across 19 Indigenous communities in Canada, Australia the United States, Malaysia and the Phillippines.
I currently lead an international research team funded by an Insight Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. This team is conducting ground-breaking research on ecological knowledge produced by diverse Autistic/disabled/crip communities, including distinctive bodies of collective knowledge and methods. The work carried out by this team also confronts emerging eugenicist and anti-disability thinking and practice in global ecological discourses and practices.
I have (co-)founded and (co-)led several international research networks and collectives, including the Creatures Collective, an Indigenous/non-Indigenous network of researchers and community-based knowledge-keepers working together to support each other and create anti-colonial responses to extinction.
I have advised universities, funders, policy-makers in the research field, publishers and universities on strategic priorities for future research, emerging research areas (including methods and ethics), policy-related research, inclusivity and anti-oppression in research environments, and barriers to inclusive research (see consulting)
Creating meaningful opportunities for career development for the next generations of knowledge leaders is a priority for me. I have mentored more than 60 people, including through PhD studentships, postdoctoral fellowships, research assistantships, funded collaborations, mentorships and other opportunities.
