Emily Major PhD » Team

Emily Major is an early career researcher who uses Critical Animal Studies, ecofeminist ethics of care, and intersectional approaches with advocacy to promote empathy, compassion, and kindness to nonhuman animals. While she advocates for all species of animals, her current research interests are focused on species of animals that are ostracised in society, such as ‘pest’ or ‘invasive’ species.

Emily recently graduated with her PhD in Human-Animal Studies at the University of Canterbury in Ōtautahi | Christchurch, Aotearoa | New Zealand. Her doctoral research critiqued the mainstream possums as ‘pests’ discourse and considered how principles from compassionate conservation could assist in alleviating the socially sanctioned violence and cruelty that is currently targeted towards the maligned marsupials. Her research involved interviews and questionnaires from people who held ‘fringe’ viewpoints about conservation, possums, and ‘pest’ control in Aotearoa New Zealand. She has experience in qualitative thematic analysis, reflexive analysis, feminist interviewing, and observational fieldwork.

As Emily comes from a working-class background and is a first-generation university student, she recognises the need for higher education to be more accessible, community-minded, and transdisciplinary. To this end, she values grassroots advocacy and sees great potential in bridging the gaps between the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences to find ways of considering animals which centres their interests and rights as a vital aspect of the conversation.

Since graduating, Emily has been active in writing article manuscripts and staying connected within her various roles, such as a committee member of the Australasian Animal Studies Association (AASA), a board member of the New Zealand Anti-Vivisection Society (NZAVS), and a member of the New Zealand Centre for Human-Animal Studies (NZCHAS). She has community experience volunteering with the Jane Goodall Institute of New Zealand and assisted in creating JGI’s ‘Embrace the Wild’ international campaign, which sought to educate and create habitats for animals in any urban or rural space for communities around the globe. In her role as a Research Fellow with PAN Works, Emily intends to use her existing knowledge of compassionate conservation, wild animal ethics, and ecofeminist ethics of care to contribute to conversations about ethics, animals, and society