Ecologies
Historic Houses, Global Crossroads Research Blend 2
Historic Houses, Global Crossroads Research Blend 2: Ecologies
RB2 is generating eco-cultural and bio-prospecting histories of the many ‘exotic’ plants, animals and trees brought from Asia, Australia and the Americas that make Mount Stewart and Clandeboye famous. We are building histories of the ‘plant hunters’ who were commissioned to collect the plants and trees, supported and funded by wider scientific and acquisitive networks, examining ‘arboreal empire’ (Arnold, 2020), the creation of plausible ‘neo-Europes’, the transferability of species, the ideology of ‘improvement’ in tension with ‘green imperialism’, developing awareness of finite resources.
RB2 is uncovering how local expertise was used, generating new data on global plant disease networks, and exploring how the ecological histories of each site impacts interdisciplinary debate on climate adaptation and global commodity exchange. We are examining reverse arboreal colonialism and processes whereby the ‘exotic’, ‘wild’ and ‘invasive’ became part of ‘common environments’, such as Mount Stewart’s Gulf Stream ecosystem, home to 70,000 migrating seabirds.
Banner Image: Flock of brent geese flying over Strangford Lough, County Down | ©National Trust Images
Research Programmes
Diplomacy and Treaties
International collaboration revealing globally significant cultures of diplomacy between the Crown, the Haudenosaunee and their neighbours in North America.
Resource Use and Environmental Futures
New research on the roots of American Republican environmentalism, Canada’s green future, and sustainability in the space sector.
Digital Storytelling
Digital resources that involve the public, advance research, energise teaching, and drive knowledge exchange, built in partnership with the UK’s foremost research software engineers.
Political Ecologies
Timely interventions that examine the power relations between Indigenous actors and the world’s most pressing environmental challenges.
Globalising Archives, Museums, and Heritage Sites
Connecting significant national collections with their global Indigenous histories.
