Lucy Lawrence
Doctoral Student in Literature - Lucy’s thesis is entitled 'Art for Earth’s Sake: Green Aestheticism and the Celtic Revival in Late-Victorian Periodicals'
Research project title
Art for Earth’s Sake: Green Aestheticism and the Celtic Revival in Late-Victorian Periodicals
Supervisors
Dr Ella Mershon + Dr Kirsten MacLeod
Contact details
Email: l.lawrence1@newcastle.ac.uk
Research Interests
- Late-Victorian print culture and periodicals
- Ecocriticism and the environmental humanities
- Aestheticism and decadence
- The history of science
- Archival methods and material culture
- Celtic studies
- Intersections of art, ecology, and empire
A brief outline of my research project
My doctoral project explores how radical periodicals such as The Evergreen (1895–97), The Green Sheaf (1903–04), and The Pagan Review (1892) articulated ecological ideas through aesthetic and countercultural forms. Through archival work, I recuperate long-dormant voices in Celtic print culture, tracing how spiritual, scientific, and artistic movements reshaped environmental discourse at the fin de siècle.
Research activities
Publications
- “Open Ecologies in The Evergreen (1895–97),” Victorian Review (Forthcoming in Vol. 51, No. 2., 2026)
- “Exorcizing the Fog Demon: Eco-Satire and Smoke Abatement in Punch (1880-81),” Victorian Periodicals Review, Postgraduate Forum (Accepted in 2025)
- Research Society for Victorian Periodicals Bibliography, Contributor, (2020–2024)
Conference Papers
- “Dark Humour: Eco-Satire and Smoke Abatement in Punch (1880–81)” – British Association for Victorian Studies, Oxford (July 2025)
- “Pirates and Patriots: Navigating Identity and Empire in The Green Sheaf (1903–04)” – States of [Perma]Crisis, Rome (June 2025)
- “Green Aestheticism in Celtic Little Magazines at the Fin de Siècle” – Periodicals, History, and Change, Leeds (December 2024)
- “Rewriting the Eco-Apocalypse: Serialization and Shiel’s The Purple Cloud in The Royal Magazine (1901)” – Re/Writing Crisis, Newcastle (October 2024)
- “Beyond Organicism: Geddesian Synergy, Social Experiments, and Missionary Aestheticism in The Evergreen” – Research Society for Victorian Periodicals, Stirling (June 2024)
- “‘Amid decay lies the best soil of Renascence’: Scottish Decadence and the Celtic Revival” – PGR and ECR Presentation Group, Newcastle, (February 2024)
- “Edwin James Milliken: Punch Magazine’s Early Interdisciplinary Environmentalist” – Northern Environmental History Network, Durham, (April 2023)
Invited Talks and Outreach
- Guest Lecturer: “Smoke Abatement and the Technocratic Good Anthropocene,” Planetary Imaginations: Literature in the Time of Environmental Crisis, Newcastle University (2024, 2025)
- Invited Speaker: “‘Children of the Dark Star’: Celtic Dreamers and Decadent Ecologies,” Long Nineteenth-Century Studies Group (2024)
- Schools Outreach: Co-developed and delivered Victorian climate change workshops for Year 6 students, Hotspur Primary School (2024)
Teaching and Research Experience
- Learning Support Assistant, Newcastle City Council (2023–24)
Specialised in support for neurodivergent pupils (ages 5–11) - Research Intern, Transforming Transition, Newcastle University (2022)
Contributed to widening participation and first-year module reform - Student Engagement Intern, Newcastle University (2021–22)
Led School-wide data analysis that informed changes to policy and student-led publishing initiatives
Service and Memberships
- Member, Research Society for Victorian Periodicals
- Member, Long Nineteenth-Century Studies Group, Newcastle
- Committee, Northern Environmental History Network (2023–24)
Campaigning and Advocacy
- Fossil Free Careers Organizer, People & Planet (2023–24)
Successfully lobbied Newcastle University Students’ Union to cease promotion of fossil fuel recruitment. Campaign covered by ITV Tyne & Tees.
Selected Awards and Funding
- Renwick Travel Scholarship, British School at Rome (2025)
- Hamilton Prize Runner-Up, Victorian Review Global Essay Competition (2024)
- Travel Grant, Research Society for Victorian Periodicals (2024)
- Robinson Bequest Studentship, Philip Robinson Library (2023)
- Cowan, Johnson & Watson Prize, Best Performance in Drama (2022)
- Newcastle University Postgraduate Scholarship (2022–23)
My academic background
- PhD in English Literature, Newcastle University (2024–2028)
AHRC Northern Bridge Doctoral Studentship | Thesis: Art for Earth’s Sake: Green Aestheticism and the Celtic Revival in Late-Victorian Periodicals - MLitt in English Literature, Newcastle University (2023)
Distinction (81%) | Dissertation: “Amid decay lies the best soil of Renascence”: Scottish Decadence and the Celtic Revival - BA (Hons) in English Literature, Newcastle University (2022)
First-Class Honours (76.8%) | Dissertation: Matrilineal Visions of Regenerative Futurity in Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner’s Iep Jāltok and Alexis Wright’s The Swan Book