Courses and Academics

This page will provide information for current and aspiring students (undergraduate and postgraduate) interested in the relationships humans have with other animals. The table below is a summary of our database of courses, modules and academics willing to supervise Masters and doctoral theses on related topics.

Please help us to make this list more comprehensive so it can become a useful resource for anyone considering a research career in this area or for anyone who is simply interested in learning. If you would like to add your name and/or course to the list, please send an e-mail with as much information as possible to animalsinsociety@-NOSPAM-gmail.com [remove -NOSPAM-]

Please note, courses that involve vivisection or other harmful treatment of animals will not be included.

PhD studentships 

If you know of any relevant PhD studentships, please e-mail us so that we can advertise them on this page.

New: PhD studentship in Politics – University of Leicester. The Department of Politics and International Relations and the Centre for Animals and Social Justice are pleased to offer a funded studentship for October 2012 entry to the Department’s Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) programme. The studentship is fully funded by the College of Social Science, the Department of Politics and International Relations, and an external partner – the Centre for Animals and Social Justice – and, subject to satisfactory progress, will pay full-time UK/EU fees for three years together with an annual maintenance grant. Deadline: 28th May 2012. More information.

Courses and modules

UG = undergraduate

Course title/specialisms University Department/Faculty Level Contact/Information
Animal Geography University of Exeter, UK Geography UG Yr 3 module Henry Buller
Critical Animal Studies: Animals in Society, Culture and the Media Lund University, Sweden UG course Helena Pedersen, course website
Anthrozoology University of Exeter, UK Anthropology MA Samantha Hurn, course website (NB: course is moving from TSD to Exeter in October 2012)
Animal Assisted Therapy: Animals as co-therapist in Health Settings Universidad del Turabo, Gurabo, Puerto Rico Counselling Psychology Graduate programme Ursula Aragunde Kohl
Human/Animal/Machine Leeds University, UK English UG Yr 3 module Graham Huggan
Postcolonialism, animals and the environment Leeds University, UK English MA module Graham Huggan
Reading Animals Bath Spa University, UK English Literature UG Yr 2 module Greg Garrard
Sex, gender, species Goldsmiths, University of London, UK Department of Visual Cultures MA module (Contemporary Art Theory) Lynn Turner
Sociology of Human-Animal Relations University of Manchester, UK Sociology UG Yr 3 module Richie Nimmo
Osteoarchaeology University of Sheffield Department of Archaeology MSc course Umberto Albarella

Academics

Dr Fiona BecketDr Tom TylerHistory, Philosophy and Religion, Oxford BrookesE-mailPhD supervision. Interested in the ambiguous roles that non-human animals have been required to play, frequently unacknowledged, in the texts of philosophy and critical theory. Also interested in the variety of anthropocentric assumptions that permeate, but are rarely intrinsic to, a wide range of philosophies.

Name Location Contact Information
Dr Samantha Hurn Anthropology, University of Exeter, UK E-mail PhD supervision, NB: Sam will be moving from University of Wales (Trinity Saint David) to Exeter in October 2012. Her contact information will change.
Prof Graham Huggan English, Leeds University, UK E-mail PhD supervision on animals in literature
Dr Alasdair Cochrane Politics, University of Sheffield, UK E-mail PhD supervision: animal ethics, animals and political theory, animal rights, the relation between human and animal rights
Dr Robert McKay English Language and Linguistics, University of Sheffield, UK E-mail PhD supervision on animals in literature
Prof Erica Fudge Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Strathclyde, UK Website PhD supervision on animal studies, Renaissance studies, and twentieth- and twenty-first-century literature, ideas, and animals.
Dr Greg Garrard Humanities and Cultural Industries, Bath Spa University, UK E-mail PhD supervision on animals in literature
Dr Lynn Turner Visual Cultures, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK E-mail PhD supervision on “the question of the animal” in relation to continental philosophy, feminist theory and contemporary art, film and literature
Dr Lourdes Orozco Workshop Theatre, University of Leeds, UK E-mail PhD supervision animals in theatre and performance, animals in popular culture, practice as research: projects on animality
Prof David Clough Theology and Religious Studies, University of Chester, UK E-mail PhD supervision on animal studies: animals in Christian theology and ethics
Dr Richie Nimmo Sociology, University of Manchester, UK E-mail PhD supervision on human-animal relations; animals and ‘the social’; nonhuman sociality and culture (especially comparing social science ontology with ethology and primatology); anthropocentrism and posthumanism; culture/nature boundary crossing and hybrid relations; the dairy industry, farming and human-animal relations
Dr Maggie Studholme Sociology, Politics and International Studies, University of Bristol, UK E-mail PhD supervision on the social construction of human-animal relations
Dr Fiona Becket English, Leeds University E-mail PhD supervision on eco-criticism and green cultural critique
Dr Tom Tyler History, Philosophy and Religion, Oxford Brookes E-mail PhD supervision. Interested in the ambiguous roles that non-human animals have been required to play, frequently unacknowledged, in the texts of philosophy and critical theory. Also interested in the variety of anthropocentric assumptions that permeate, but are rarely intrinsic to, a wide range of philosophies.