Laura Butler
Laura Butler is a PhD Candidate at the Australian Centre for Culture, Environment, Society and Space (ACCESS) at the University of Wollongong, and the inaugural ACSPRI Fellow (2024-2025). Laura’s PhD thesis is investigating biosecurity awareness and action in peri-urban horticulture in Australia’s Northern Territory, spotlighting how invasive plant management can learn from horticulturalists on Darwin’s urban fringe.
Session
Research methodologies are increasingly recognising the agency and significance of non-human entities in shaping socio-environmental dynamics. This presentation will explore the developing field of more-than-human participatory research methods, which challenge traditional anthropocentric approaches by actively involving non-human participants such as plants and animals in research processes. Drawing upon post-humanist principles, more-than-human participatory research methods seek to foster more inclusive dialogues between humans and non-human beings. By integrating the perspectives of non-human participants, more-than-human participatory research methods such as multispecies walking interviews and sensorial ethnographies aim to reveal complex socio-ecological relationships that are often overlooked in conventional research methods. In this presentation, I draw on fieldwork from my ongoing PhD research investigating weeds and horticulture in peri-urban Darwin, Northern Territory, to highlight how more-than-human participatory research methods can foster a deeper appreciation for diverse ways of knowing and being - an important contribution in addressing socio-environmental challenges in the 21st century.