Well done, Doctor Sharon!

Last month, SVP’s Sharon Gardham was awarded her PhD for her thesis entitled Becoming Good Neighbours: How the model of English common land can inspire equitable and sustainable multi-species relationships.

Sharon’s thesis explores how English common land can inspire us to live better with our neighbours, including other-than-human ones, especially when we are losing more green spaces and more species.

Using Rodborough Common (pictured) as a case study, Sharon’s thesis examines how shared land, memory, and everyday encounters can shape multi-species relationships. 

Through interviews, history, ecology, and lived conservation practice, the research shows that commons can thrive when care, openness, and respect for past and present commoners guide how land is used and managed.

Sharon’s work with SVP on the Landscapes of the Lark festival and the Garden Guardians project played a vital role in shaping her research, with active conservation, public engagement and academic practice combining to produce a rounded and practical guide to living better with the earth.

The full text of the thesis is available here.

Well done Dr. Sharon – we’re very proud of you!