Dr Siddharth Unnithan Kumar

After training in mathematics, I have worked closely with (and have had the contours of my mind shaped by) geographers, ecologists, Indigenous scholars, and anthropologists, among others.

This journey, which has been anything but linear, is teaching me how mathematics can play a much deeper, richer, and more widely informed role in environmental research than its existing uses suggest, which are largely guided by ideas from physics or economics. Physics often sees a world of particle dynamics, mechanical laws of motion, and determinate objects; economics may look at cost-benefit logics and rational actors; but ecological phenomena are irreducibly more relational, complex, fluid, and alive.

By examining how concepts in mathematics closely relate with those in other disciplines (such as topology in the social sciences); by investigating implicit hierarchies of knowledge and power which underlie historical and present applications of mathematics; by inquiring into how mathematics is a material craft which relies on cultural and ecological worlds for its coherence; and by attending to lived experience and the unfathomable intelligence of the body; I am working to develop new ways of doing mathematics, inspired by ecological thought (especially in the social sciences and humanities), which I hope will be in service to the needs of this time. These ideas, soon to be developed into a book on 'ecological mathematics', are further articulated here.

In February 2024, I started a three-year postdoctorate with the University of Exeter's RENEW programme, and have been fortunate to work closely with Kevin Gaston to develop the role of mathematics in ecology. Our primary focus has been thinking through and modelling the ecology of human-nature interactions (see Kevin’s work on ‘personalised ecologies’), with particular attention devoted to embodiment and sensory perception. With David Baker, we have also written a mathematical model for spatially prioritising nature recovery planning, which we named Ebrel (the Cornish word for the month of April).

None of this is a solitary endeavour - I am grateful to my friends, family, and teachers, who endlessly inspire me and without whom this journey would not come into being. Among those who have been influential for my work are: David Abram, John O'Donohue, Marilyn Strathern, John Law, Thích Nhất Hạnh, Tim Ingold, E. Richard Atleo, Allegra Wint, Yadvinder Malhi, Jalaluddin Rumi, Sam Cushman, and Port Meadow.