Dr David A G Clarke

My research interests lie in the philosophy of environmental and sustainability education, creative research methods, as well as political ontology in formal and informal education, policy, and research. To this end my research traverses many areas of education, including how experience, nature, place, and childhood are conceptualised in education discourse. I see education and research as necessarily responding to the materiality and politics of what is widely being called the Anthropocene.

I am the author of the book Practising Immanence: Living with Theory and Environmental Education (Routledge, 2023).  I co-edited the book New Materialisms and Environmental Education (Routledge, 2023). I have published articles in Qualitative Inquiry, Cultural Studies <-> Critical Methodologies, the Journal of Autoethnography, The Qualitative Report, Environmental Education Research, the Journal of Environmental Education, the Australian Journal of Environmental Education, Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, and the Ontario Journal of Outdoor Education. I have contributed to UNESCO reports and made sustained contributions to environmental education research internationally.

Before starting at the University of Cumbria I held research and teaching positions at the University of Edinburgh, University of the Highlands and Islands, and the University of Brighton. I have worked for a number of organisations focusing on outdoor, adventure, and environmental education in the UK and abroad in both the private and charitable sectors and I have led educational overseas expeditions to the Nepalese and Indian Himalayas, China, Mongolia, and Borneo.

I currently teach undergraduate and postgraduate courses in social research methods, outdoor and environmental education, and supervise postgraduate research students in projects related to education and health and wellbeing. I have previously contributed to primary and secondary initial teacher education programmes and postgraduate courses in the philosophy of education, environmental sustainability education, and social theory. I have shared perspectives on teaching practice in blogs and podcasts for the Times Higher Education supplement.

I completed my PhD at the University of Edinburgh in 2018, on Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari's philosophy of immanence and practise in environmental education research.

• PhD Education - University of Edinburgh
• MSc Outdoor Education (with distinction) - University of Edinburgh
• Postgraduate Certificate of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education - University of Brighton
• BA (Hons) Adventure Education - University of Chichester

Responsibilities & affiliations

• Centre for National Parks and Protected Areas
• Human Nature Relations Theme
• European Educational Research Association Network 30: Environmental Sustainability Education
• Environmental Sustainability Education Research Development Network
• Edinburgh Environmental Humanities Network
• Centre for Creative-Relational Inquiry (University of Edinburgh)

My research interests focus broadly on the blurring of environmental education research-practice, philosophical theory, and life experiences. More specifically I am interested in the relationship between education and environmental ethics, animism, and alternative ontologies; the philosophy of affect in relation to environmental degradation and climate change; immanent ethics and immanent ontology in all areas of education; and creative practices of inquiry for affective encounters, especially writing as inquiry - or what I have termed 'living with theory'.

Research Projects:

• British Academy ODA International Interdisciplinary Research Projects (2023) (£214k): Outdoor Tourism and the Changing Cultural Narratives in Vietnamese Ethnic Minority Communities. Co-Investigator with Jamie Mcphie, Myles Lynch, Lisa Fenton, and Tran Hoai
• Principles Teaching Award Scheme (PTAS) (2021) (£15k) Keeping the Door Open: Curating, developing and evolving University of Edinburgh teaching in spaces and places within the city and beyond. Co-Investigator at the University of Edinburgh.

I am open to prospective PhD applicants. Please email me your PhD project proposal. Please note, I view educational research-practice as situated in and necessarily responding to the Anthropocene era. I am hopeful to work with candidates in the following areas:

• Creative-relational approaches to environmental education/health and wellbeing research/experiences of policy/political ontology/being alive
• Practitioner inquiry and participatory action research in environmental education and health and wellbeing research/experiences of policy/political ontology/being alive
• Narrative, autobiographical, and autoethnographic inquiry in environmental education/health and wellbeing practice/research/and policy
• Philosophical inquiry, writing as inquiry, thinking with theory, and post-qualitative inquiry
• Immanent ontologies, including animisms, feminist new materialisms, and posthumanisms
• The work of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari in relation to education and the act of living
• The work of Tim Ingold in relation to education and the act of living
• Research into the methods and methodologies of environmental education research
• Other speculative, philosophical, and futurist research concerning both theory and practice of living in the Anthropocene

 Past PhD Examinations:

• Dr Andrew Gillott - Thesis title: Where Are All the Bodies Buried? Towards a Creative-Relational Inquiry (University of Edinburgh)
• Dr Jack Reed – Thesis title: From virtual worlds to the Outward Bound Trust: A study of contemporary residential outdoor adventurous education in postdigital space (University of Edinburgh)

Knowledge exchange:

• Contributor to Working Group 3 of the UNESCO International Science and Evidence based Education (ISEE) Assessment: https://mgiep.unesco.org/iseeareport
• Guest Editor for Environmental Education Research: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/ceer20/26/9-10?nav=tocList
• I have peer-reviewed for the following publications:
  • Science Education
  • Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy
  • International Journal of STEM Education
  • History of Education Review
  • Environmental Education Research
  • Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning
  • Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education
  • Book reviewer for Springer
  • Book reviewer for Palgrave Macmillan

Peer-reviewed Articles

• Clarke, D. A. G. (2023). Haecceity altercation: thisness as pedagogy. Qualitative Inquiry. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10778004231172224 
• Clarke, D. A. G. (2022). A political ecology of ecologies: Walking in Glen Almond with students and immanent ethics. Journal of Autoethnography. 2(3), 411-414. Available at: https://online.ucpress.edu/joae/article-abstract/3/3/411/189870/A-Political-Ecology-of-EcologiesWalking-in-Glen?redirectedFrom=PDF
• Jukes, S., Clarke, D. A. G., Mcphie, J. (2021). The wisp of an outline ≈ Storying ontology as environmental inquiry↔education :–). Australian Journal of Environmental Education. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/australian-journal-of-environmental-education/article/wisp-of-an-outline-storying-ontology-as-environmental-inquiryeducation/32474643006B6603E894D39DC8BBBBF6
• Bittinger, R., Clarke, D.A.G., Erb, J., Hauser, H., & Wyatt, J. (2021). Intimacy as Inquiry: Collaborative reading and writing with Deleuze and Guattari. Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies. 21(6), 480-490. Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/15327086211037761
• Clarke, D.A.G., & Mcphie, J. (2020). Tensions, knots, and lines of flight: Themes and directions of travel for new materialisms and environmental education. Environmental Education Research. 26(9-10). Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13504622.2020.1825631
• Clarke, D.A.G., & Mcphie, J. (2020). New materialisms and environmental education: Editorial. Environmental Education Research. 26(9-10). Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13504622.2020.1828290
• Mcphie, J., & Clarke, D.A.G. (2018). Nature matters: Diffracting a keystone concept of environmental education research - just for kicks. Environmental Education Research. Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13504622.2018.1531387
• Clarke, D. A. G., & Mcphie, J. (2016). From places to paths: Learning for sustainability, teacher education and a philosophy of becoming. Environmental Education Research, 22(7), 1002-1024. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13504622.2015.1057554
• Mcphie, J., & Clarke, D. A. G. (2015). A walk in the park: Considering practice for outdoor environmental education through an immanent take on the material turn. The Journal of Environmental Education, 46(4), 230-250. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00958964.2015.1069250
• Clarke, D. A. G., & Mcphie, J. (2014). Becoming animate in education: Immanent materiality and outdoor learning for sustainability. Journal of Adventure Education & Outdoor Learning, 14(3), 198-216. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14729679.2014.919866

Books:

• Clarke, D. A. G. (2023). Practising Immanence: Living with Theory and Environmental Education. Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Practising-Immanence-Living-with-Theory-in-Environmental-Education/Clarke/p/book/9781032561912 

Edited Books:

• Clarke, D. A. G., & Mcphie, J. (2023). New Materialisms and Environmental Education. Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/New-Materialisms-and-Environmental-Education/Clarke-Mcphie/p/book/9781032461625

Peer-reviewed Book Chapters:

• Mcphie, J. & Clarke, D.A.G. (2024). Distributed Assemblages of Cognition and Mental Health and Wellbeing (Or) How TikTok ate my Mind. In: Boyd, C. et al. (Eds.). Routledge Handbook on Spaces of Mental Health and Wellbeing. Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003345725-29/distributed-assemblages-cognition-health-tiktok-ate-mind-jamie-mcphie-david-clarke
• Mcphie, J. & Clarke, D. A. G. (2021). Human-Nature Relationships: Navigating a Privileged White Landscape. in G. Thomas, J. Dyment, and H. Prince Eds. Outdoor Environmental Education in Higher Education: International Perspectives. Springer. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-75980-3_4
• Mcphie, J. & Clarke, D. A. G. (2019). Post-Qualitative Research in Outdoor Studies. In B. Humberstone and H. Prince Eds. Research Methods in Outdoor Studies. Routledge. Available at: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780429199004/chapters/10.4324/9780429199004-18
• Clarke, D. A. G. (2017). Educating beyond the cultural and the natural: (re)framing the limits of the possible in environmental education. In: K. Malone, S. Truong, and T. Gray ed. (2017). Reimagining Sustainability Education in Precarious Times. Springer, London. Available at: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-10-2550-1_21

Peer-reviewed Reports:

• Kraftl, P., McKenzie, M., Gulson, K., Accioly, I., Blackmore, J., Burke, C., Perrota, C.., Clarke, D.A.G., Daniels, H., Fregoso Bailon, R.O., Goodyear, V., Goodyear, P., Gunasekara, I., Hartong, S., Hickman Dunne, J., Howard. S., Lupinacci, J., Mcphie, J., Mannion, G., Nxumalo, F., Parnell, R., Pykett, J., Ratuio, P., Sefton Green, J., Selwyn, N., Stovall, D., Southgate, E., Talbert, R., Teelucksingh, C., Tucker, R., Uduku, O., Wilson, A. and Wood, A. (2022). ‘Learning spaces: built, natural and digital considerations for learning and learners’ in Bugden, S. and Borst, G. (eds.) Education and the learning experience in Reimagining education: The International Science and Evidence based Education Assessment [Duraiappah, A.K., Atteveldt, N.M. van et al. (eds.)]. New Delhi: UNESCO MGIEP. Available at: https://d1c337161ud3pr.cloudfront.net/files%2F8469b7d1-c42d-446c-97f5-87775cf28f49_ISEE%20Assessment%20-%20Working%20Group%203.pdf

Articles:

• Clarke, D. A. G. (2015). Outdoor learning and the UNESCO ESD agenda: Could we do more? Horizons: Professional development for outdoor practitioners. Issue 71, Autumn, pp.30-31. 
• Clarke, D. A. G. (2014) The potential of animism: experiential outdoor education in the ecological education paradigm. Pathways: Ontario Journal of Outdoor Education. 26(2), pp.13-17. 

Book Reviews:

• Clarke, D. A. G. (2019). Particular Resonances: A Review of Jonathan Wyatt’s Therapy, Stand-Up, and the Gesture of Writing: Towards Creative- Relational Inquiry. The Qualitative Report. 24(11). Available at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol24/iss11/8/
• Clarke, D. A. G. (2018). Review of the book Place in Research. Theory, Methodology, and Methods, by E. Tuck & M. McKenzie. Environmental Education Research. 24(1). pp.146-149. Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13504622.2016.1262331?src=recsys

Other publications:

Clarke, D. A. G. (2019). Practising immanence:(still) becoming an environmental education academic. Unpublished PhD Thesis. University of Edinburgh. Available: https://era.ed.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/1842/35533/Clarke2019.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Conference presentations:

• Clarke, D. A. G. and McPhie, J. (2024). Keynote address: Issue with ‘connection to nature’: Exampling alternative philosophies for outdoor education. The 1^st Learning Annual Conference of China Outdoor Education. 17-20 November, Aranya, China.
• Clarke, D. A. G.  (2023). Keynote address: Animism and the politics of nature: Creative practices for worlding-with. 10^th International Adventure Conference, Adventure Tourism Research Association. 7^th-9^th June. Treuchtlingen, Germany,
• Clarke, D.A.G., & Mcphie, J. (2023). Perturbing the Theory/Practice Divide in Environmental Education Research to Arrive at Situations Thinking. European Conference on Educational Research, European Educational Research Association. 22^nd-25^th August. Glasgow, UK.
• Mcphie, J., Clarke, D. A. G. (2023). The Ideological Susceptibility of ‘Nature’: How Common-sense Notions of ‘Nature’ are Open to Far-Right Capture in Informal Environmental Education. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting. 13^th-16^th April. Chicago, IL. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPslpQvkG2Y 
• Mcphie, J., Clarke, D. A. G., & Fenton, L. (2021). The Ecology of Language: Concept Conservation and Control in a World of ‘Climate Catastrophe’. RGS-IBG Annual International Conference, Royal Geographical Society,  31^st August – 3^rd September. London. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP1hiw9Kpi0&t=1s
• Clarke, D. A.G (2019). Ecobiography, posthuman-postnature? Immanent life writing in the Anthropocene. 3rd European Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, University of Edinburgh, 12-14 Feb 2019.
• Bittinger, R., Clarke, D.A.G., Erb, J., Hauser, H., & Wyatt, J. (2019). Becoming Intimate-Activist Reader-Writers with Deleuze & Guattari. 3rd European Congress of Qualitative Inquiry. University of Edinburgh, 12-14 Feb 2019.
• Clarke, D.A.G., & Mcphie, J. (2019). The diffractive practitioners: collaborative writing-thinking-doing with students, concepts, and Walney Island. Environmental Arts Collaboratory hosted by the Biosocial Research Lab. Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK, 22nd January 2019.
• Bittinger, R., Clarke, D.A.G., Erb, J., Hauser, H., & Wyatt, J. (2018). Becoming Intimate (Readers) with Deleuze & Guattari. European Congress of Qualitative Inquiry. Leuven, Belgium, 9^th February, 2018.
• Mcphie, J., & Clarke, D.A.G. (Invited Guest Speakers) (2016). Multiple Natures in Environmental Education Research. Environmental Sustainability Education Research Summer School I: Doctoral studies in environmental and sustainability education: contextualizing the process. European Educational Research Association and Homerton College. August 2nd to August 5th at Homerton College, Cambridge.
• Clarke, D.A.G. (2016). Outdoor Learning and the Material Turn: Considering pedagogies of experience, place and sustainability through new materialist philosophy. Outdoor Environmental Education Research Seminar 2016, Broomlee Outdoor Education Centre, Scottish Borders, 13-15^th April, 2016.
• Mcphie, J, & Clarke, D. A. G. (2014) A walk in the park: Considering practice for environmental education through an immanent take on the ‘material turn’. Under Western Skies conference, Mount Royal University, Calgary, Alberta, CA, 9-13 September 2014.
• Clarke, D. A. G. (2014). Outdoor Learning and Education for Sustainable Development: What are the links? Institute for Outdoor Learning South East Regional Conference, Plumpton College, Lewes, East Sussex, 19th November, 2014.
• Clarke, D. A. G (2014) Becoming animate in teacher education: Immanent materialism and Learning for Sustainability. South Downs National Park Student Conference, Midhurst, West Sussex 9th July, 2014