Creative feminist theories and approaches to energy geographies
Giulia Mininni, University of Manchester
With over 20 participants, the UKRI/ERC funded Gender and Precarity at Energy Frontiers (GENERATE) project at the University of Manchester, hosted a vbibrant session on ‘Creative feminist theories and approaches to energy geographies’.
We explored big questions around gendered energy precarity, energy poverty, and social reproduction across diverse contexts, and had inspiring conversations about how #creative #feminist #methods can open up new intersectional and interdisciplinary ways of doing research.
What’s next? Stay tuned as we’re about to launch a call for papers for a special issue! Keep an eye on and follow @GENERATE for updates.
Exploring Endocrine Geographies: Reflections from the 2025 RGS-IBG Conference in Birmingham
Jay Sinclair, Durham University
On the train heading to the RGS-IBG conference in Birmingham, I spent the journey going through the conference program and deciding which sessions to attend. With so many fascinating panels, talks, and workshops to choose from, I used the journey to map out a schedule to make the most of my time at the conference, and having the GFGRG travel award meant I could participate fully without having to worry about travel costs. As my first time attending the RGS-IBG conference, I wasn’t sure what to expect, so I decided to try and attend a bit of everything: a session on emerging research in feminist geographies, the political geography plenary, a workshop on queering methods in geography, and paper presentations on fantasies of escape.
The energy in these sessions was thrilling, and attending such a diverse array of panels not only broadened by perspective on current trends in geographic research, but also helped me situate my own research on endocrine-disrupting pollution in Teesside within broader feminist, queer, and trans cultural-political geographies. It was amazing to be able to bring this perspective into my presentation during the panel on geographies of trans creativity, where the thoughtful and inspiring contributions of the other presenters sparked a lively discussion on the value of trans perspectives for geographic scholarship. Many of the contributors and audience members of this panel had also been part of the Queer Geographies Writing Retreat in Leeds the week before, organised by the Space, Sexualities, and Queer Research Group (SSQRG), which created a sense of continuity in our conversations and offered such a valuable opportunity to strengthen my connections with researchers working in closely related areas.
From the conference overall, I got the sense that there is a growing interest in hormones across the discipline, even though much of the current literature on hormones comes from outside geography. I was really encouraged to see these conversations emerging because hormones and endocrine-disrupting chemicals carry high stakes in today’s political and environmental context: access to hormones is increasingly gatekept for those that need them, while environmental exposures to xenoestrogens (synthetic estrogens) from industrial pollution often go unchecked. My conversations with researchers also thinking along these lines, including Cordelia Freeman, helped me bring these ideas together and inspired me to further develop the conceptual framework for my PhD through the lens of ‘endocrine geographies,’ which considers hormones and endocrine-disrupting chemicals as co-modulators of the endocrine system.
The RGS-IBG conference was a transformative experience that introduced me to the social and collaborative side of geography, broadened my understanding of the field, and really opened my eyes to the exciting possibilities for developing my research within the wider geographic community. This experience shows just how much of a significant impact small grants like the GFGRG travel award can have for early career researchers, making conferences accessible and allowing us to participate in emerging and politically crucial conversations. Moving forward, I am really excited to develop this ‘endocrine geographies’ framework and carry the insights gained from the conference into my upcoming fieldwork, where I plan to collaborate with queer and trans participants to explore their experiences of hormonal environments in Teesside. I’d like to extend a massive thanks to the GFGRG for making this experience possible and supporting early career researchers in making meaningful contributions to feminist and gender geographies.
Jay Sinclair (he/they) is a first year postgraduate researcher at Durham University, undertaking doctoral research in Human Geography. Jay’s research explores the bodily and gendered impacts of endocrine-disrupting pollution in Teesside.
To contact Jay, email jay.sinclair@durham.ac.uk.
