Key details
Dr Vanessa J Taylor
Senior Lecturer in Environmental History
Dr Taylor works on the environmental and social history of modern Britain, with a particular interest in water, energy and the politics of rivers.
Her recent research includes a collaborative project working with historians and sociologists on the role of energy transitions in changing forms of daily life on the AHRC research project: 'Material Cultures of Energy: Transitions, Disruption, and Everyday Life in the Twentieth Century'.
Before this, she examined the history and politics of the Thames environment for the ESRC project 'Running the River Thames: London, Stakeholders and the Environmental Governance of the Thames, 1960-2010'.
She is currently writing a book on rivers to be published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
Recent publications include:
- Vanessa Taylor, ‘Anthropocene Women: Energy, Agency and the Home in Twentieth-Century Britain’, in R. Sandwell and A. Harrison Moore (eds), In a New Light: Histories of Women and Energy (Montreal/Kingston ON: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2021). ISBN 9780228006190
- Vanessa Taylor, ‘Water and its Meanings in London, 1800 to 1914’, in B. Luckin and P. Thorsheim (eds), A Mighty Capital under Threat: The Environmental History of London 1800-2000 (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2020). ISBN 978-0-8229-4610-6
- Vanessa Taylor, 'Whose River? London and the Thames estuary, 1960-2014', The London Journal, Special Issue: 'London's River? The Thames as a Contested Environmental Space', Guest Editors: V. Taylor and S. Palmer, 40:3 (2015), 244-271. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1179/1749632215Y.0000000006
Recognition
Vanessa Taylor is a member of the European Society for Environmental History and the Oral History Society.
She has peer reviewed for the Journal of Epidemiology and Public Health, Society & Natural Resources, The London Journal, Environment and History, Social History of Medicine, Palgrave Macmillan and the European Science Foundation. She is a member of the Arts and Humanities Research Council Peer Review College (2017-20).
Research / Scholarly interests
Recent research includes a collaborative project working with historians and sociologists on the role of energy transitions in changing forms of daily life on the AHRC research project: 'Material Cultures of Energy: Transitions, Disruption, and Everyday Life in the Twentieth Century'.
She continues to explore the political and environmental history of water and rivers, and its relationship to current environmental pressures.
Vanessa welcomes research enquiries relating to environmental history, especially histories of water, energy and everyday life.
Key funded projects
Dr Taylor was a Carson Fellow at Rachel Carson Center, Munich, in July 2017, working on energy and gender.
She was a Research Fellow (2014-16) on 'Material Cultures of Energy: Transitions, Disruption, and Everyday Life in the Twentieth Century', funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council ('Care for the Future: Thinking Forward through the Past' Programme).
Vanessa was Co-Investigator (2011-13) on 'Running the River Thames: London, Stakeholders and the Environmental Governance of the Thames, 1960-2010'. Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, this examined the post-war history of conflicts over control of the Thames.
Recent publications
Article
Taylor, Vanessa Jane and , (2020), Gender and agency in the Anthropocene: energy, women, and the home in Twentieth-Century Britain. Rachel Carson Center (RCC). In: , , , “Women and Energy,” edited by Abigail Harrison Moore and Ruth Sandwell, RCC Perspectives: Transformations in Environment and Society. Rachel Carson Center (RCC), Munich RCC Perspectives: Transformations in Environment and Society, 2020/1 (1) (1st) . pp. 11-15 ISSN: 2190-5088 (Print), 2190-8087 (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.5282/rcc/9065).
Chappells, Heather and , Taylor, Vanessa (2019), Introduction. Rachel Carson Center. In: , , , . Rachel Carson Center, Rachel Carson Center Perspectives, 2019 (2) . pp. 5-10 ISSN: 2190-5088 (Print), 2190-8087 (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.5282/rcc/8735).
Taylor, Vanessa and , Chappells, Heather (2019), What consumers in the past tell us about future energyscapes. Rachel Carson Center. In: , , , . Rachel Carson Center, RCC Perspectives: Transformations in Environment and Society, 2019 (2) . pp. 11-21 ISSN: 2190-5088 (Print), 2190-8087 (Online) (doi: http://doi.org/10.5282/rcc/8736).
Book section
Taylor, Vanessa and , (2021), Anthropocene women: energy, agency and the home in Twentieth-Century Britain. McGill-Queen’s University Press. In: , , In: Abigail Harrison Moore, Ruth W. Sandwell (eds.), In a New Light: Histories of Women and Energy. McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal & Toronto, Canada (1st) . ISBN: 9780228006190 (doi: ).
Taylor, Vanessa and , (2020), Water and its meanings in London, 1800–1914. University of Pittsburgh Press. In: , , In: Bill Luckin, Peter Thorsheim (eds.), A Mighty Capital under Threat: The Environmental History of London 1800-2000. University of Pittsburgh Press, . pp. 155-176 . ISBN: 9780822946106 (doi: ) NB Item availability restricted.
Taylor, Vanessa and , (2017), Watershed democracy or ecological hinterland? London and the Thames River Basin, 1857-1989. University of Pittsburgh. In: , , In: Martin Knoll, Uwe Lübken, Dieter Schott (eds.), Rivers Lost – Rivers Regained: Rethinking City-River Relations. University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh (1st) . pp. 63-81 . ISBN: 9780822944591 (doi: http://www.upress.pitt.edu/BookDetails.aspx?bookId=36677).