WEIRD Researchers on Queer Farming, Crip Temperatures, Trans Methodologies, and Deaf Futures

In March, PhD researcher Athulya Purushothaman (Athu) took part in the Trans Studies Research Residency at Karlstad University, hosted by Wibke Straube, with Luca Tainio, Iwo Nord, Flora Löffelmann and Toby Odland. Athu presented their PhD project, The Way We Grow, which explores queer farming initiatives globally, with a trans farm in India as its main ethnographic focus. The group discussed what queer farming can reveal about sustainability and sustainable transformations, how the term travels across contexts, and how Athu might position themselves more autoethnographically in the research. They also explored fieldwork methods, care, time and the commons, and creative ways of presenting the work through poetry, painting and documentary. The group’s thoughtful feedback helped refine the research questions, identify new readings, strengthen plans for fieldwork and build connections with trans scholars working across sustainability, rurality and everyday life.

From 20 April to 1 May 2026, Athu took part in the PhD course Transformative Research for Sustainability Challenges at Wageningen University. The course gave them space to think more carefully about what makes research transformative, and about how their own position shapes the questions they ask, the methods they use and the stories they tell. For Athu, this was especially relevant to working with queer, trans, disabled, caste-marked and place-based ways of knowing that do not always fit easily into dominant academic frameworks. The course also helped them reflect on autoethnography, emotion, conflict, co-production and the ethics of using documentary film in queer and trans farming spaces.  

From April 13 to 16, Mae Van Veldhoven attended the Leeds Disability Studies Conference, their first conference as a PhD researcher. They experienced it as a privilege to be a part of so many stories during this, while also presenting their own research in the assigned space for disability and environment. Their first work will be on crip temperatures – an initial mapping research to see how people with different disabilities respond to the environmental crisis in the context of heat waves. In the same panel, they also presented on misfitting and eco-ableism, together with WEIRD research assistant Helena Kärppä. Here, some initial findings were shared from an ongoing literature review on the framing of agency in the context of disability and the environment. 

Some of the other topics that specifically resonated for Mae were neuro-queering, indigenous perspectives on disability justice, and the framing of menstruating bodies as uncontrollable. Being among likeminded and likebodied individuals during this conference was incredibly inspiring to Mae. Additionally, local queer bookstore allowed us to spread the WEIRD word through our stickers. as seen in the first picture! 

But, Mae’s journey did not stop there. They travelled, alongside Athu, to the Netherlands for the Transformative Research PhD course taking place at Wageningen University. Hosted by Josie Chambers, Anouk de Plaa, Esther Turnhout and other incredible instructors, this course created a space to reflect on the transformative aspects of research, as well as your own role as a PhD researcher. From grounding yourself in societal change and power dynamics, to research and transformation, the materials invited critical questions about doing research in the context of sustainability challenges. Armed with newfound questions, reflections, inspiration and creative energy, Mae will align their research design with the input from this course.  

On May 13, PI Guido Caniglia and postdoctoral researcher Ely/iott Mermans were invited to present WEIRD research project at the General Seminar of the Institute for History and Philosophy of Sciences and Techniques in Paris, France (IHPST). Guido and Ely/iott showed how Disability, Queer and Trans methodologies can help to transform environmental research and policies, and why it matters to Philosophy of Sciences. The talk was followed by a discussion with other researchers and attendees.

From May 26 to 27, postdoctoral researcher Maija Koivisto attended the in Vienna, which brought together deaf researchers, developers, and organizational representatives working at the intersection of technology and deaf studies. This conference is unique in that it is a 'deaf space', meaning the environment is shaped by deaf people and sign language, and only deaf people can attend. The organizers’ goal is to foster networking. In her opening remarks, Robin Angelini, one of the organizers, noted that deaf technologies are not about access or fixing things, but that technology is created on deaf terms — that is, as if the world were full of deaf people. She used the metaphor that, instead of EARth, there would be EYEth. 

Maija participated by chairing one session and leading a participatory workshop titled Deaf People's Contributions to a Just and Sustainable Future. This explored how deaf people's experiences, particularly in terms of embodiment, collectivity, and non-normative ways of perceiving and communicating, can broaden our understanding of sustainability. 

A key takeaway from the conference regarding the WEIRD-disability track perspective was that approaches developed from deaf perspectives challenge narrow, ableist assumptions and emphasize interdependence, collectivity, deaf embodiment and the importance of sign language-based design in creating fairer, more just sustainable futures.

This article was written by Athulya Purushothaman, Mae Van Veldhoven, Ely/iott Mermans, and Maija Koivisto, and edited by Helena Kärppä.