![Jonathan Prior PhD](https://profiles-cardiff.imgix.net/attachments/1882?w=200&h=200&auto=format&crop=faces&fit=crop&q=90")
Overview
I am a human geographer with a broad research interest in nature-society relations. My work is interdisciplinary in approach, spanning environmental philosophy, sound studies, and landscape research. My current research interests include:
- The geographies of environmental and wildlife sound archives, with a focus on The World Soundscape Project (Canada), and European wildlife sound archives
- Environmental values of landscape conservation, restoration, and rewilding strategies, in particular the aesthetics and ethics of ecological restoration
- Phonographic methods in the social sciences, including field recording, listening walks, and sound mapping
Publication
2024
- Hunter, H., Jasper, S. and Prior, J. 2024. Digital sonic ecologies: Encountering the non-human through digital sound recordings.. In: Turnbull, J. et al. eds. Digital Ecologies: Mediating More-Than-Human Worlds.. Manchester: Manchester University Press, pp. 50-69.
2023
- Prior, J. 2023. Rewilding and Olfactory Landscapes. In: Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos, A. et al. eds. SMELL. Law and Senses London: University of Westminster Press, pp. 171-190., (10.16997/book68)
2022
- Prior, J. and Brady, E. 2022. Environmental aesthetics and rewilding. In: Boe, S., Faber, H. C. and Kasa, E. eds. Wild: Aesthetics of the Dangerous and Endangered.. London: Bloomsbury, pp. 11-30.
2020
- Ward, K. J. and Prior, J. 2020. The reintroduction of beavers to Scotland: rewilding, biopolitics, and the affordance of non-human autonomy. Conservation and Society 18(2), pp. 103-113. (10.4103/cs.cs_19_63)
- Brady, E. and Prior, J. 2020. Environmental aesthetics: a synthetic review. People and Nature 2(2), pp. 254-266. (10.1002/pan3.10089)
- Bates, V., Hickman, C., Manchester, H., Prior, J. and Singer, S. 2020. Beyond landscape’s visible realm: Recorded sound, nature, and wellbeing. Health and Place 61, article number: 102271. (10.1016/j.healthplace.2019.102271)
2019
- Prior, J. and Smith, L. 2019. The normativity of ecological restoration reference models: an analysis of Carrifran Wildwood, Scotland, and Walden Woods, United States. Ethics, Policy and Environment 22(2), pp. 214-233. (10.1080/21550085.2019.1625549)
2018
- Brady, E., Brook, I. and Prior, J. 2018. Between nature and culture: The aesthetics of modified environments.. Global Aesthetic Research. London: Rowman & Littlefield International.
2017
- Prior, J., Gallagher, M., Needham, M. and Holmes, R. 2017. Listening differently: a pedagogy for expanded listening. British Educational Research Journal 43(6), pp. 1246-1265. (10.1002/berj.3306)
- Gallagher, M., Kanngieser, A. and Prior, J. 2017. Listening geographies: Landscape, affect and geotechnologies. Progress in Human Geography 41(5), pp. 618-637. (10.1177/0309132516652952)
- Prior, J. 2017. Sonic methods in geography. Oxford Bibliographies (10.1093/obo/9780199874002-0172)
- Gallagher, M. and Prior, J. 2017. Listening walks: a method of multiplicity. In: Bates, C. and Rhys-Taylor, A. eds. Walking Through Social Research. Routledge Advances in Research Methods London: Routledge
- Prior, J. and Brady, E. 2017. Environmental aesthetics and rewilding. Environmental Values 26(1), pp. 31-51. (10.3197/096327117X14809634978519)
- Prior, J. 2017. Sonic environmental aesthetics and landscape research. Landscape Research 42(1), pp. 6-17. (10.1080/01426397.2016.1243235)
- Prior, J. and Walton, S. 2017. The Bristol and Bath railway path: an ecopoetic sound collaboration. GeoHumanities 3(1), pp. 246-249. (10.1080/2373566X.2016.1273076)
2016
- Prior, J. 2016. Urban river design and aesthetics: A river restoration case study from the UK. Journal of Urban Design 21(4), pp. 512-529. (10.1080/13574809.2016.1187557)
- Prior, J. 2016. Environmental ethics: An overview for the twenty-first century [Book Review]. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning 18(2), pp. 255-257. (10.1080/1523908X.2015.1059320)
- Prior, J. and Ward, K. J. 2016. Rethinking rewilding: A response to Jørgensen. Geoforum 69, pp. 132-135. (10.1016/j.geoforum.2015.12.003)
2014
- Gallagher, M. and Prior, J. 2014. Sonic geographies: Exploring phonographic methods. Progress in Human Geography 38(2), pp. 267-284. (10.1177/0309132513481014)
2011
- Garrett, B. L., Rosa, B. and Prior, J. 2011. Jute: Excavating material and symbolic surfaces. Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies 7(2)
Articles
- Ward, K. J. and Prior, J. 2020. The reintroduction of beavers to Scotland: rewilding, biopolitics, and the affordance of non-human autonomy. Conservation and Society 18(2), pp. 103-113. (10.4103/cs.cs_19_63)
- Brady, E. and Prior, J. 2020. Environmental aesthetics: a synthetic review. People and Nature 2(2), pp. 254-266. (10.1002/pan3.10089)
- Bates, V., Hickman, C., Manchester, H., Prior, J. and Singer, S. 2020. Beyond landscape’s visible realm: Recorded sound, nature, and wellbeing. Health and Place 61, article number: 102271. (10.1016/j.healthplace.2019.102271)
- Prior, J. and Smith, L. 2019. The normativity of ecological restoration reference models: an analysis of Carrifran Wildwood, Scotland, and Walden Woods, United States. Ethics, Policy and Environment 22(2), pp. 214-233. (10.1080/21550085.2019.1625549)
- Prior, J., Gallagher, M., Needham, M. and Holmes, R. 2017. Listening differently: a pedagogy for expanded listening. British Educational Research Journal 43(6), pp. 1246-1265. (10.1002/berj.3306)
- Gallagher, M., Kanngieser, A. and Prior, J. 2017. Listening geographies: Landscape, affect and geotechnologies. Progress in Human Geography 41(5), pp. 618-637. (10.1177/0309132516652952)
- Prior, J. 2017. Sonic methods in geography. Oxford Bibliographies (10.1093/obo/9780199874002-0172)
- Prior, J. and Brady, E. 2017. Environmental aesthetics and rewilding. Environmental Values 26(1), pp. 31-51. (10.3197/096327117X14809634978519)
- Prior, J. 2017. Sonic environmental aesthetics and landscape research. Landscape Research 42(1), pp. 6-17. (10.1080/01426397.2016.1243235)
- Prior, J. and Walton, S. 2017. The Bristol and Bath railway path: an ecopoetic sound collaboration. GeoHumanities 3(1), pp. 246-249. (10.1080/2373566X.2016.1273076)
- Prior, J. 2016. Urban river design and aesthetics: A river restoration case study from the UK. Journal of Urban Design 21(4), pp. 512-529. (10.1080/13574809.2016.1187557)
- Prior, J. 2016. Environmental ethics: An overview for the twenty-first century [Book Review]. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning 18(2), pp. 255-257. (10.1080/1523908X.2015.1059320)
- Prior, J. and Ward, K. J. 2016. Rethinking rewilding: A response to Jørgensen. Geoforum 69, pp. 132-135. (10.1016/j.geoforum.2015.12.003)
- Gallagher, M. and Prior, J. 2014. Sonic geographies: Exploring phonographic methods. Progress in Human Geography 38(2), pp. 267-284. (10.1177/0309132513481014)
- Garrett, B. L., Rosa, B. and Prior, J. 2011. Jute: Excavating material and symbolic surfaces. Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies 7(2)
Book sections
- Hunter, H., Jasper, S. and Prior, J. 2024. Digital sonic ecologies: Encountering the non-human through digital sound recordings.. In: Turnbull, J. et al. eds. Digital Ecologies: Mediating More-Than-Human Worlds.. Manchester: Manchester University Press, pp. 50-69.
- Prior, J. 2023. Rewilding and Olfactory Landscapes. In: Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos, A. et al. eds. SMELL. Law and Senses London: University of Westminster Press, pp. 171-190., (10.16997/book68)
- Prior, J. and Brady, E. 2022. Environmental aesthetics and rewilding. In: Boe, S., Faber, H. C. and Kasa, E. eds. Wild: Aesthetics of the Dangerous and Endangered.. London: Bloomsbury, pp. 11-30.
- Gallagher, M. and Prior, J. 2017. Listening walks: a method of multiplicity. In: Bates, C. and Rhys-Taylor, A. eds. Walking Through Social Research. Routledge Advances in Research Methods London: Routledge
Books
- Brady, E., Brook, I. and Prior, J. 2018. Between nature and culture: The aesthetics of modified environments.. Global Aesthetic Research. London: Rowman & Littlefield International.
Research
Research interests
My primary focus is studying the relationship between environmental values and the production of environmental policies, as a means to understand what motivates and underpins different ways of conceptualising the more-than-human world (animals, plants, ecological processes) when humans seek to implement conservation, ecological restoration, or environmental management strategies. In particular, I am interested in the role of environmental aesthetic values in policy making.
My second area of research focuses on the intersections between sound and geography. Here, I am working on ways in which geographers can better attend to the sonic components of environments. As part of this, I am developing phonographic methods (listening, soundwalking, audio recording) for geographical and broader social science and arts research. My sound projects can be accessed online.
Media
- Interview with Salomé Voegelin for the Listening Across Disciplines project: "How would I begin to describe the qualities of the sound of thousands of worker wood ants moving across a woodland floor"?
- "Rewilding: Reintroduction extinct species back to Britain will be 'enormous' challenge, study finds", The Independent, 29 August 2015
Biography
Qualifications
- Fellow of The Higher Education Academy, 2016
- PhD Human Geography, University of Edinburgh, 2012
- MScR Human Geography, University of Edinburgh, 2007
- MA (distinction) Environment, Development and Policy, University of Sussex, Brighton, 2005
- BSc (hons.) Biological Sciences, University of Exeter, 2004
Career
- Senior Lecturer in Human Geography, School of Geography and Planning, Cardiff University (2021 - present)
- Lecturer in Human Geography, School of Geography and Planning, Cardiff University (2014 - 2021)
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow, The Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, University of Edinburgh (2013 - 2014)
- Human Geography Teaching Fellow, Institute of Geography, School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh (2012 - 2013)
Honours and awards
- Winner of the Landscape Research Group Doctoral Student Award, 2012 (Thesis: The roles of aesthetic value in ecological restoration: Cases from the United Kingdom)
Committees and reviewing
- Chair of the School of Geography and Planning Ethics Committee
Supervisions
I am interested in supervising PhD students in the areas of:
- Environmental conservation, ecological restoration, and rewilding policy, from a social scientific/humanities perspective
- Environmental aesthetics and ethics
- Sonic geography
Current supervision
Mehrnoosh Mansoorgarakani
Research student
Contact Details
PriorJ@cardiff.ac.uk
+44 29208 74600
Glamorgan Building, Room Room 1.79, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3WA
+44 29208 74600
Glamorgan Building, Room Room 1.79, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3WA
Research themes
Specialisms
- Aesthetics
- Environmental philosophy
- Environment and culture
- Environment policy
- Cultural geography