Environmental Humanities Network Symposium, October 17, 2026
Updated: Oct 5
Date: Saturday, October 17th, 2026.
Time: 8:30 AM - 5:30 PM - Some sessions by invitation only.
Location: EV3, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario
Discussion Topic
More-than-human Illuminations: Research Creation and Community Partnerships
This plenary dialogue will explore potentialities for environmental humanities partnerships that include research-creation, examining the benefits to students and to co-creating public engagement. In a recent project called More-than-human Illuminations, Dr. Judge created visual artworks in collaboration with the non-humans encountered while walking the River Trail in Blair, Ontario. This project was developed in partnership with Dr. Mike McTavish of rare, a community-driven land trust and research institute stewarding over 1,550 acres of habitat in the Region of Waterloo and Wellington County. More-than-human Illuminations offered opportunities for undergraduate students to explore the environment, gather observations and recordings, and help develop the artworks in the studio with no impact on the surrounding ecosystem. In 2026, Judge and McTavish have partnered again on a two-year project that investigates how to help community members to imagine more-than-human futures by fostering cross-species collaborations that produce artifacts, microhabitats, and narratives for a more-than-human future.
Speaker Information
In a recent project called More-than-human Illuminations, Dr. Judge created visual artworks in collaboration with the non-humans encountered while walking the River Trail in Blair, Ontario. This project was developed in partnership with rare, a community-driven land trust and research institute stewarding over 1,550 acres of habitat in the Region of Waterloo and Wellington County. The Rare Research Department and Dr. McTavish support diverse forms of inquiry addressing environmental questions. More-than-human Illuminations offered opportunities for undergraduate students to explore the environment, gather observations and recordings, and help develop the artworks in the studio. With no impact on the surrounding ecosystem, the completed pieces were installed along the River Trail from October 15 to November 15, 2025, for community members to experience. The making and installation of the artworks were documented through narrated videos. The project’s aim was to illuminate the creative agency of non-humans, make speculative design accessible to all, and ultimately foster stronger relationships between people and the natural world.
In 2026, Dr. Judge and Dr. McTavish (rare) have partnered again on a two-year project called Designing More-Than-Human Futures: Using research-creation to locate opportunities for radical co-existence. With an interdisciplinary research team, they are investigating how to help community members to imagine more-than-human futures where humans can live within environmental limits and prioritize the wellbeing of non-humans as well as themselves, and how research-creation can be deployed to foster cross-species collaborations that produce artifacts, microhabitats or narratives for a more-than-human future. This plenary discussion will explore potentialities for environmental humanities partnerships, including research creation, the benefits to students and co-creating public engagement.
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