Jonathon Turnbull

Jonathon Turnbull is a cultural and environmental geographer affiliated with the Department of Geography at the University of Cambridge, where he is a PhD candidate. His research focuses on radioactive resurgence in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, exploring narratives of nature’s recovery and the ethical implications of nuclear ecologies. He is a member of the Vital Geographies research group and has held academic roles including Dissertation Supervisor (BA Geography, University of Oxford) and editorial roles with Routes: The Journal for Student Geographers. His work bridges environmental humanities, digital geographies, and post-humanist theory, with a focus on dogs, wolves, and human-nature relations in contested landscapes.

Education: PhD in Geography (ESRC funded), University of Cambridge (2018–present); MSc (Distinction) in Nature, Society and Environmental Governance, University of Oxford (2017); BA (First Class) in Geography, University of Oxford (2015).

Research Interests: More-than-human geographies, nuclear ecologies, digital ecologies, post-humanism, animal studies (dogs/wolves in Chernobyl), and the Ukrainian Environmental Humanities. He collaborates with filmmakers, artists, and international researchers to explore topics like contaminated care, weird ecologies, and pandemic-era human-animal relations.

Awards: Over 15 grants and honors, including Cambridge Festival production grants, ESRC funding, and the AJ Pressland Prize for Ukrainian language excellence. His work has been featured in outlets like The Ecologist, BBC, and cultural festivals.

Grants & Projects: Digital Ecologies (international research group), Ukrainian Environmental Humanities Network, Terraforming Terra (Norway), and The Dogs That Survived documentary. He has organized conferences on topics like digital animal encounters and serves on editorial boards for journals and magazines.

Labs/Teams: Co-founder of Digital Ecologies research group; collaborator with the Clean Futures Fund’s Chernobyl dog project; affiliated with the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and Wageningen University.