Advancing Feminist and Creative Methods for Sensing Air and Atmosphere

The environmental emergencies of our time require thinking and working across disciplines, engaging communities and privileging multiple forms of knowledge, from the sensual to the scientific. Whether by forming new networks across cultural, academic and public spheres, or utilising citizen-science and open data practices, researchers are challenging black-boxed environmental knowledge making. However, doing so does not come hand in hand with equity and justice, and creative-arts practice is rarely recognised as a legitimate contribution to environmental monitoring programmes.

The aim of this fellowship is to advance feminist and creative methodologies for citizen-led research on i) air quality in the Global South and ii) weather patterns in the Global North. In addition to exploring the value of creative and feminist approaches for environmental sensing in an era of climate change, the fellowship will enhance the capabilities of the PI through developing new skillsets and networks, growing academic and non-academic partnerships and supporting the PI's first significant community-driven research in the Global South.

Air quality science has made vital contributions to public health. Yet, often the readings of expensive instruments overshadow testimonies by communities or attempts to foreground the aesthetics of air in the lived experience of bodies. These issues are exacerbated by the notion that quantified datasets are the ultimate arbiters of environmental relations. This fellowship will evolve an Argentina based collaboration between the PI, anthropologist Dr. Débora Swistun (UNDAV), residents of Villa Inflamable (the 'Flammable town', situated next to the largest petrochemical facility in Argentina) and the artistic Aerocene Community, among others, to develop a model of air quality sensing informed by feminist principles and creative-arts methods. This will involve co-authoring an 'Air Sensing Handbook' to guide citizen-led air sensing; codesigning air quality monitoring devices with Aerocene and Villa Inflamable community members and using participatory workshops to elicit embodied and historical knowledge on air quality.

Increasingly abnormal weather systems as well as proposals to engineer 'better weather' demand renewed public engagement with weather. These issues are addressed in open-weather, a feminist and creative practice-driven initiative co-founded by the PI and activist Sophie Dyer. Using DIY radio technology, open-weather facilitates direct access to transmissions from weather satellites. Having validated the project's hardware requirements through a residency in 2020-21, the fellowship will enable the PI to codesign new software for citizen-led weather monitoring and grow open-weather on an international scale through cultural venues and community science networks.

The fellowship will be delivered through three work packages of activities:
1) Sensing Air Quality in the Global South: developing feminist and creative methods for community-led air sensing in Villa Inflamable, Argentina.
2) Weather Monitoring in the Global North: developing feminist and creative methods for citizen-led weather monitoring in the USA, UK and CA.
3) Reporting and Advocacy: surveying the field and sharing creative, feminist approaches to citizen-led environmental sensing through cultural venues and community science platforms.

Working with two partners (Aerocene; Public Lab) and two collaborators (Sophie Dyer; Dr. Débora Swistun) activities will:
i) Develop emerging research methods through participatory feminist workshops informed by creative and codesign practices
ii) Build new research networks through public events, exhibitions and open-access resources
iii) Engage international, academic and non-academic partners and audiences
iv) Enhance the research capabilities of PI by supporting PI's first community-driven research in the Global South and first management of a larger research grant