Dr Emily Holmes

Emily Holmes is a human geographer with expertise in the emotional dimensions of land-based work and agri-environmental policy development. Her PhD research at Swansea University focussed on the emotional entanglements that shape how climate change is lived, negotiated, and governed in Wales’s land-based sector. In her research, Emily incorporated seasonal walking interviews with land-based workers, interviews with land-based sector leaders, field observations, and documentary data, to trace emotional patterns influencing everyday and political decision-making.

Emily’s academic background includes completing an MSc in International Environmental Studies at NMBU in Ås, Norway, and a Postgraduate Certificate in Environmental Law at Estácio in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where her research explored the legal and experiential dimensions of food-system transformation in the context of a changing climate.

Emily’s academic approach is grounded in practical land-management experience. Prior to her PhD she worked for a countryside trust that manages 290 hectares of woodland, meadows, and historic features across a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Emily is particularly interested in supporting policy-relevant research which considers how environmental policies are lived and felt by those who are tasked with delivering them.

Agri-Environmental Policy & Governance

Emily takes part in a Defra-funded research project in the School of Geography and the Environment, investigating the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) Pilot and Environmental Land Management (ELM) test and trials. This work employs participatory methods to assess how new agri-environmental schemes can be designed to be both effective for farmers and beneficial for nature.

• Pigott, A., Nuuttila, H., Thomas, M., Smith, F., Bohata, K., Murray, T., Palser, M., Holmes, E. and Elias, O. (2024) “No one talks about it”: using emotional methodologies to overcome climate silence and inertia in Higher Education. Frontiers in Sociology, 9, 1456393. 
• Holmes, E. (2019) It’s a Pug’s Life: Hidden Inequalities and Violence in the Global Production Network of Pugs Purchased in the UK. NMBU Student Journal of Life Sciences, 9.
• Holmes, E., Brožová, E.A., Thapa, P., Støylen, T.E.H. (2018) Giving Voice to the Voiceless: The Forest that Became a Person. NMBU Student Journal of Life Sciences, 8.