ASLE-UKI Online Seminar Series.
ASLE-UKI starting running regular online seminars in February 2021 as a response to the global pandemic. These have been very popular and we intend to continue running them into the future. This page provides information about our upcoming seminars as well as an archive of previous seminar topics. Seminars are normally held in January, March, May, and November and are open to all, although advance registration is usually required.
We welcome ideas for future seminars. If you would be interested in organising a seminar, or for any other queries, please contact the seminar series coordinator, Dr. Andrew Jeffrey.
Seminars are free to attend, but there are some costs involved in their organisation. If you enjoyed the seminar, please do consider making a small donation to help cover our costs.
Next Seminar
29 January 2026, 3:00-7:00pm GMT
ASLE-UKI Online Seminar Eighteenth-Century Literature and Environment
Date and Time: 29 January 2026, 3:00-7:00pm GMT
Convenors: Brycchan Carey (Northumbria University) and Tess Somervell (University of Oxford)
Register at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/asle-uki-seminar-eighteenth-century-literature-and-environment-tickets-1717297626429
Eighteenth-century literature has not always been the first port of call for environmental criticism, but a new wave of ecocritics are drawing attention to the period’s sustained engagement with both the natural and built environments.
The eighteenth was the century of both the agrarian and the industrial revolutions in which the coal-powered steam engine was invented, sustained population and economic growth commenced, and European empires massively scaled up the colonial exploitation of people and resources.
Eighteenth-century authors reflected these changes, sometimes welcoming and sometimes excoriating them. But whether in prose, verse, or on the stage, eighteenth-century literature was fully engaged with environmental change.
In this double-session seminar, eight leading scholars, all contributors to the forthcoming Cambridge Companion to Eighteenth-Century Literature and Environment,will share their research and lead discussion into literature and environment in this period. Please join us for what promises to be a fascinating insight into new approaches to the eighteenth century.
Session One 3pm – 4.45pm GMT
Brycchan Carey (Northumbria University): ‘Religion and the Natural World’
Eric Gidal (University of Iowa): ‘Landscape’
James Metcalf (University of Manchester): ‘Georgic and Pastoral’
Nicolle Jordan (University of Southern Mississippi): ‘Gardens and Farms’
Break 4.45pm-5.15pm
Session Two 5.15pm – 7pm GMT
Alessio Mattana (University of Turin): ‘Nonfiction prose and Environment’
Annette Hulbert (Willamette University): ‘The Environment and the Rise of the Novel’
Jodie Matthews (Manchester Metropolitan University): ‘Water’
Tobias Menely (University of California, Davis):‘Human and Nonhuman Life’
Future Seminars
Creative and Critical Practice
Convenor: Richard Kerridge
Confirmed Speakers: TBC
Date: TBC
If you would be interested in organising an ASLE-UKI Online Seminar, please contact the seminar series coordinator, Dr John Miller.
Previous Seminars
Ecopedagogy as Method: Knowledge, Practice, and Transformation (12 December 2025)
Convened by Laura Albertini (University of St Andrews) with contributions from Laura Albertini, Hugh Dunkerley, Petra Hansson, and Jasmin Kirkbride.
Temperate Rainforests (30 October 2025)
Convened by Vera Fibisan (Sheffield University) and John Miller (Sheffield University) with contributions from Mandy Haggith, Tom Kaye, and Solvejg Nitzke.
The Animal and the Other (9 April 2025)
Convened by David Tierney (Liverpool University) and Vera Fibisan (Sheffield University) with contributions from Marco Caracciolo, Samantha Hind, and Rob O’Connor.
Common Ground: Explorations of Soil across Research Disciplines (19 February 2025)
With contributions from Adenike Amoo, Indigo Gray, Alex Hibberts, Owen Hurcum, and Jacob Wylie.
Psychedelic Ecologies (17 January 2025)
Convened by John Miller and Peter Sands with contributions from Richard Doyle, Neşe Devenot, and Christine Hauskeller.
Petroculture and popular music (9 October 2024)
Convened by John Miller (Sheffield) and Josie Taylor (UCD) with contributions from Ben Kritikos, Rachael Finney, Sam Solnick, Matthew Cheeseman, Beate Peter, and Annette Davison and Lara Ryazanova-Clarke
Literature and Climate Trauma (15 May 2024)
Convened by Ray Davenport with contributions from Matthias Stephan, Sarah K. Jackson, and Ray Davenport.
Ice Ecocriticism (6 March 2024)
Convened by Vera Fibisan and David Tierney with contributions from Daniel Abdalla, Sarah Hymas, and Svenja Engelmann-Kewitz.
Petro-Noir (7 December 2023)
Convened by Ruth Hawthorne with contributions from Sharae Deckard, Nathan Ashman, and Ruth Hawthorn.
Cute Ecologies (7 November 2023)
Convened by Hannah Boast with contributions from Joshua Paul Dale, Isabel Galleymore, and Caroline Harris.
Global South Ecologies (2 June 2023)
Convened by Ana Victoria Mazza with contributions from Lenka Filipova, Mònica Tomàs, Saba Pirzadeh, and Ana Victoria Mazza.
Victorian Ecologies (26 March 2022)
Discussed ecocritical approaches to Victorians and their relationship to the world around them. Convened by Sophia Jochem with contributions from Mary Bowden, Megan Kuster, Francesca Mackenney, and Joan Passey.
Environmental Displacement (17 March 2022)
Papers discussed the meaning of displacement in a warming world. Convened by Jasmin Kirkbride, Demi Wilton, and Vera Fibsian with contributions from Jos Smith, Charne Lavery, and Giovanni Bettini.
Farming, Literature, and Environment (18 November 2021)
Talks on framing, rewilding, and writing, convened by Pippa Marland with contributions from Ewan Allinson, Terry Gifford, Patrick Laurie, Lynn Cassells, and Sophie Yeo.
Early Modern Ecologies: Green Heritage (19 June 2021)
Ecocritical approaches to Shakespeare, Spencer, Milton, and others, convened by Todd Borlik and Rosie Paice with contributions from Claire Eager, Bonnie Lander Johnson, Jennifer Munroe, and Rosie Paice.
Blue Extinction: Biodiversity Loss in Aquatic Environments (27 May 2021)
A day of talks convened by Vera Fibisan at the University of Sheffield. Participants: Killian Quigley (The University of Sydney), Tom Bristow (James Cook University), Maria Beger (University of Leeds), Steve Mentz (St. John’s University), Dolly Jørgensen (University of Stavanger), Dr Tom Webb (The University of Sheffield).
‘In Vitro Meat: Ethics and Culture’ (1 February 2021)
An afternoon of talks convened by the Sheffield Animal Research Centre (ShARC). Participants: Joshua Bulleid (Monash University), Nora Castle (University of Warwick), Josh Milburn (University of Sheffield), John Miller (University of Sheffield), Alexandra Sexton (University of Sheffield), Neil Stephens (Brunel University London).