Thom van Dooren to Join MESH after Receiving Humboldt Research Award
The Humboldt Research Award is awarded to internationally leading researchers of all disciplines in recognition of their academic record to date. One of this year’s recipients is Australian anthropologist, cultural scientist and writer Thom van Dooren. The award includes a research grant of €60,000, enabling van Dooren to join MESH (Multidisciplinary Environmental Studies in the Humanities) for a year starting in 2025.
Thom van Dooren is Professor of Environmental Humanities in the School of Humanities (Gender and Cultural Studies) and Deputy Director of the Sydney Environment Institute at the University of Sydney. His research is based in the broad interdisciplinary field of the environmental humanities, with particular grounding in environmental philosophy, cultural studies, and science and technology studies. His focus is on the many philosophical, ethical, cultural, and political issues that arise in the context of species extinctions and human entanglements with threatened species and places.
Apart from collaborating with the research initiative “Sharing a Planet in Peril” (SAPP), van Dooren will work in close cooperation with the new BRIDGES Hub for Planetary Wellbeing of UNESCO, the English Seminar II within the framework of the teff-Academy (Teacher Academy for a Future in Flux) and the BMBF project “Eco-critical Literacy in Literary and Musical Practices of Arts Education.” He will also collaborate with the project “Cultural Evolution in Changing Climate: Human and Earth System Coupled Research” (HESCOR), funded within the framework of the “Profilbildung NRW” initiative, involving MESH along with archaeology and climate sciences.
