ProfNoel Castree

I am Adjunct Professor of Society & Environment and former Acting Dean, Acting Deputy Dean and Associate Dean (Research) in the former Faculty of Arts & Social Science at UTS. My research and teaching have largely focused on how people perceive and interact with the material world. They have been motivated by concern about the escalating scale, scope and magnitude of human impacts on the Earth. I was educated at the universities of Oxford (BA Honours) and British Columbia (MA, PhD). Prior to joining UTS, I was a Professor of Geography at the University of Wollongong (Australia). I am currently a Professor of Geography at Manchester, where I've worked for many years, punctuated by leaves of absence to take up roles in Australia.

The discipline of Geography provides a rich arena for exploring the dynamics of people-environment relationships. These dynamics now preoccupy researchers across very many disciplines and interdisciplines as the Earth is forced out of its Holocene (inter-glacial) state towards an uncertain future. I have spent most of my career in departments of Geography, and continue to publish in the discipline as well as to coedit the journal Progress in Human Geography (Sage publishers) and the Key Ideas in Geography book series (Routledge). I am also the founding editor of Environment & Planning F: Philosophy, Theory, Models, Methods and Practice (Sage publishers, launched in 2021), a whole-of-Geography peer review journal (the first issue appeared in late 2022).

However, my research and teaching interests increasingly span several fields and I draw on thinking in philosophy, sociology, cultural studies, media studies,  legal studies, global change science and other fields to make sense of human perceptions and uses of a fast-changing planet. This is why my adjunct title is, somewhat immodestly, professor of 'society and environment'. My most recent publications have appeared in the journals Anthropocene Review, Environmental Humanities, WIREs Climate Change and Ambio - among others. 

My recent research examined whose knowledge of global change will shape human responses to looming environmental problems. I have recently authored a book entitled What Future For the Earth? Speaking for People and Planet in 'The Age of Consequences' (Routledge, 2026, https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781003010616/future-earth-noel-castree). I have also co-authored The Anthropocene, with Martin Mahony (Routledge, 2026).

My current focusses on the 'AI industrial complex' or 'stack'. This includes but goes beyond the environmental impacts of the industry. My understanding of AI is shaped by my deep knowledge of critical political economy and Science & Technology Studies. So, while it is a new empirical focus, my analytical and normative approach draws on work undertaken throughout my career.

I enjoy all aspects of academic life: teaching, research and service to colleagues. I regard it as a privilege to work in a public university with so many gifted people..