Dr Ben Smith

I am a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing and a published novelist and poet, specialising in environmental and speculative literature, focusing on future landscapes, climate change and the Anthropocene.

As a writer and researcher I have a particular interest in interdisciplinary practice and a strong track record of working with natural and social scientists to develop projects exploring the role that creative writing can play in tackling major environmental and social issues. I have been a member of the steering committee of the Royal Society's ‘UK Future Earth Early Career Network’ and I was a contributing author on the first Global Tipping Points Report (2023).

My debut novel Doggerland uses the lens of speculative fiction to engage with pressing contemporary issues such as renewable energy, ocean waste, climate change and the scale-effects of the Anthropocene. I use the setting of a North Sea windfarm and a flooded landmass to explore these issues, drawing on research in Environmental Humanities, Cultural Geography, Archaeology and Marine Science. It was published by 4th Estate in the UK, Atlas Contact in the Netherlands and Liebeskind in Germany, and was selected as a Guardian Book of the Year 2019.

I regularly work with artists and filmmakers to develop books, exhibitions and films exploring environmental issues and I welcome new opportunities for collaborative practice.

I am currently working on an AHRC-funded fellowship A History of Storms: New Approaches to Climate Fiction and Climate Literacy, through which I will be developing my second novel, drawing on stories from the Met Office archives, and working with the team at the UK Met Office to develop their new climate literacy strategy.

I teach across the Creative Writing BA and MA curriculum and have experience supervising a wide range of Creative Writing PhD projects.

Research supervision:

I am very happy to work with PhD candidates interested in creative or critical projects in the following areas:

• Environmental Literature - Climate Fiction, Ecopoetry and New Nature Writing.
• Speculative Fiction.
• Creative and theoretical approaches to the Anthropocene.
• Representations of future landscapes, environments and worlds.
• Materiality and Global Systems.
• Environmental History.
• New approaches to environmental philosophy and ecological thought.

I particularly encourage applicants interested in working across disciplines, forms and genres.

If you only have vague ideas in these or related areas, please feel free to get in touch. I may be able to suggest something that would build on your interests.