I’m currently a postdoctoral researcher in the field of environmental humanities. My research interest lies with biodiversity, its loss, and what we can do to prevent this. As a doctoral researcher at the Universities of Bristol and Bath Spa (funded by UKRI), I studied all sorts of narratives on wildlife decline and extinction, and related environmental issues. My PhD thesis combined the fields (critical) extinction studies and ecocriticism, and focused on insect declines, storytelling and care, and the question of value and (in)attention when it comes to wildlife extinction. This thesis is available to read online, and you can also have a look at my publications list for new OA chapters and articles based on my PhD.
Literature was my first academic love, and I hold an MA (by research) in Comparative Literary Studies from the Universities of Utrecht and Amsterdam, and a BA in English from the University of Groningen and University of York, UK. Before moving to Bristol, I did research on the effects of climate change fiction on readers. Information on related publications and conference presentations can be found here.
During my PhD, I was a graduate teacher for Critical Issues (English), Sustainable Development (Bristol Futures), and the unit Critical Political Ecologies of Extraction and Conservation (Geography). I also did some work as a coordinator for UoB’s Education and Sustainable Development Network and completed a research placement with the heritage organisation Bathscape.
In what now feels like a previous life, I worked as a tutor (ESL/NT2) in secondary and higher education, communications assistant, editor, translator, and in the publishing industry.
Eline D. Tabak 