Oscar Hartman Davies

Geography (2019 cohort)

I am an environmental and cultural geographer interested in digital environmental governance. My doctoral research focuses on two interrelated themes. I investigate the political, ethical and ecological implications of enrolling animals in marine monitoring, as biosensors or sentinels for sensing environmental change. Secondly, I am developing a novel framework for understanding the digitisation of marine knowledge production and governance. I am particularly interested in how these processes change the relations between regulatory bodies, marine resource users, and species of conservation concern. These two themes merge in my current research on the governance of bycatch in commercial fisheries.       

Across my work I draw on the fields of more-than-human geography, science and technology studies, and political ecology. I am also interested in developing new interdisciplinary approaches to conservation science, which I have explored as a Visiting Researcher at the Helsinki Lab of Interdisciplinary Conservation Science and through my involvement with the Digital Ecologies research cluster. During the spring and summer of 2022 I have been a visiting scholar at the Oslo School of Environmental Humanities.

Prior to starting a DPhil in 2019, I completed an MSc in Nature, Society and Environmental Governance at SoGE. I have later taught on this course, as well as the MSc in Biodiversity Conservation and Management and the BA in Geography. In addition to academic work, I have worked with the Canadian Government to develop a systematic framework for integrating Indigenous and Scientific knowledges in conservation decision-making, and I am a co-founder of Youngwilders, a not-for-profit that works with landowners in the UK to restore habitats and provide environmental leadership opportunities for young people.