Dr Delphine Grass, Project Lead
Dr Delphine Grass is Senior Lecturer in French and Comparative Literature at Lancaster University. Her research brings together translation studies, environmental humanities, digital humanities and ecosemiotics to examine translation as a site of biopolitical and ecological negotiation. Her current work analyses AI translation technologies as biopolitical instruments which automate the standardization of linguistic difference and transforms planetary relations. She is the author of Translation as Creative-Critical Practice (Cambridge University Press, 2023).
Dr Celine Germond-Duret, Co-Lead
Dr Celine Germond-Duret is a Lecturer in Environmental Politics and Policy at Lancaster University. Her main focus is the analysis of discourses and narratives surrounding nature, sustainability and development. Her recent work has looked into the concept of blue economy, the notion of ocean justice, and the media and public communication on the sea. Celine is the PI of a British Academy funded project investigating young people’s connection to the coastal environment, and the PI of a project on ocean justice funded by the Leverhulme Trust.
Prof Carolyn Pedwell, Co-Lead
Prof Carolyn Pedwell is Professor in Digital Media at Lancaster. She is a cultural and media theorist with an international reputation for her work on affect and artificial intelligence; digital media and culture; and habits and social change. Her most recent monograph is Revolutionary Routines: The Habits of Social Transformation (McGill-Queens UP, 2021). Her current research explores socio-political, cultural, and affective histories and futures of AI and digital computing.
Prof Becca Franks, Co-Lead
Becca Franks is Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at New York University, where she is the Director of WATR-lab and Co-director of the Wild Animal Welfare Program. Bridging environmental studies and animal welfare science, her research and teaching explore how science can improve the lives of animals and human-animal relations. She has published over 70 scholarly articles, chapters, and commentaries, specializing in animal behavior, quantitative methods, and aquatic animals.
Prof Christine Webb, Co-Lead
Dr. Christine Webb is an Assistant Professor in New York University’s Department of Environmental Studies, where she is part of the Animal Studies program. She is a broadly trained primatologist with expertise in social behavior, culture, cognition, and emotion. Her research also explores how contemporary norms and institutions shape scientific knowledge of animals and the environment, with a critical emphasis on human exceptionalism.
Lauri Torgerson-White, Research Associate
Lauri Torgerson-White is an Associate Research Scientist with New York University’s All Animals Initiative and WATR-lab. Her research explores the intersection of animal welfare and research ethics, with prior work focusing on farmed animals and animals in zoos. She has published on cognition, behavior, and ethical approaches to animal research.
