Dr Christopher Bear
Last modified: August 19, 2025
About
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
About the organisation(s) I've worked for
Organisation name:
Cardiff UniversityAbout my experience and expertise
Personal statement:
My research interests centre on the relationships between humans, animals and technologies, particularly in relation to the food system. These interests have been developed through a wide range of empirical contexts, ranging from fisheries to dairy farming.
I am currently working on two research projects: ‘Young people, alternative proteins and pedagogies for sustainable futures,’ in collaboration with Dr Verity Jones (UWE Bristol) and funded by British Academy/Leverhulme Trust; and ‘Transparency solutions for transforming the food system (TITAN)’, funded by Horizon Europe/Innovate UK. I previously completed ESRC-funded research on the adoption of robotic milking technologies in the dairy sector.
Key topic areas of research or interest:
- Human-animal-technology relations
- Animal geographies
- Alternative proteins
- Edible insects
- Changing place of animals in the food system, including perspectives of (e.g.) consumers, farmers and policymakers
- Transparency of the food system
Collaboration opportunities:
Research collaborations (especially relating to animals in the food system – ethics, contested expertise – particularly in relation to dairy farming and alternative proteins)
Publications:
Learning to care in the food system: education for sustainable development resources, food and farming animals. Environmental Education Research http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2025.2504532
Posthumanism and Geography. In: Wharf, B. ed. The Encyclopedia of Human Geography http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25900-5_177-1
What are the priority research questions for digital agriculture?. Land Use Policy http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105962
Making insects tick: responsibility, attentiveness and care in edible insect farming. Environment and Planning E http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2514848620945321
Approaching insect death: understandings and practices of the UK’s edible insect farmers. Society and Animals http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15685306-00001871
Beyond resistance: Geographies of divergent more-than-human conduct in robotic milking. Geoforum http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2019.04.030
Other projects and networks:
Young people, alternative proteins and pedagogies for sustainable futures (https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/research/explore/find-a-project/view/2579918-young-people,-alternative-proteins-and-pedagogies-for-sustainable-futures)
Transparency solutions for transforming the food system (TITAN) (https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/research/explore/find-a-project/view/2688591-transparency-solutions-for-transforming-the-food-system-titan)
