Dr Lucy Sabin (she/her)

I do research on topics related to environmental justice using community-oriented and arts-based methods. Currently, I’m investigating the social and cultural dimensions of nature recovery and rewilding. My interests include ecological knowledge and experiences of weather and atmosphere. Ask me about interdisciplinary exchanges, communication design, and creative approaches in research.

Timeline

2025- Research Fellow, Digital Humanities Lab, University of Sussex. I'm researching community experiences of wild spaces using creative and participatory methods including walking interviews and deep mapping. Our goal is to understand and document how nature recovery makes local people feel. It's part of an EU-funded project called RURALEX that explores how ecological knowledge is shifting due to urbanization.

2024-25 Postdoc, Dept. of Ethics, Amsterdam UMC. I spent a year exploring how scientists enact care for the environment in their everyday work-life. This involved interviews with experts but also making a zine, short film and podcast for early career researchers. I started the EcoFeministArtScience (EFAS) Collective, and co-edited Chemical Exposures: Toxicity in the Anthropocene (out soon with UCL Press).

2020-2024 PhD, Department of Geography, University College London. For my doctorate, Aerography: air quality and creative practice, I investigated lived experiences of air pollution, with case studies spanning urban, agricultural, and coastal settings. In addition to writing academic papers, I produced a portfolio of creative work. One of my highlights was a residency and solo exhibition at the University of Bern.

2020-21 Creative Associate (Digital), Modern Art Oxford. Working closely with the curators at MAO defined my approach to art as research. I led the community exhibition Breathworks, supported by The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities, received a DYCP Award from Arts Council England, and featured on BBC R4. I also co-taught the MA in Graphic Design Arts University Bournemouth.

2018-20 Master of Research (MRes), Communication Design, Royal College of Art. My journey from web design to research begins. I was teaching yoga at the time and often thinking about breath, so for my dissertation I researched ways of mapping air pollution. This involved interviewing artists and scientists alongside experimenting with art installations and co-design workshops.

Want to know more?

You are welcome to contact me. Happy to chat about collaborations, commissions, events, or licensing my images for your next publication.