CV - Sofia Greaves

 

​I am a transdisciplinary researcher and artist working at the intersection of environmental studies, STS, and urban planning. My research has explored cultures of science and technology in urban environments across time from different perspectives. Phd with the University of Cambridge (H2020-ADG) studying how science and technology advances in Modernist architecture/engineering (1850-1945) and therefore urban planning, depended upon the excavation and artistic representation of ancient cities. Postdoctoral research with the Postgrowth Innovation Lab (H2020-STG) studying how collaborations between artists and scientists generate innovation, engage publics in “wicked problems”, and stimulate behavioural change.     

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BIOGRAPHY

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25/11/2021 – 02/10/2024: Postdoctoral Researcher. Postgrowth Innovation Lab.
H2020-ERC-2020-STG; Grant agreement: 947713.

* Awarded British Academy “Knowledge Frontiers” Grant (Co-applicant): International Interdisciplinary Research Projects 2024.“Towards Post-growth Cities. Cultural Politics of Transport Transitions in Barcelona and London.” Award Reference: KF8\230018. £298,546.00

* Visiting Scientist. Joint Research Centre & European Commission 01/03/2023 - 01/07/2023
Directorate S: Innovation in Science and Policymaking

Research collaboration with the SciArt Project studying how transdisciplinary collaborations foster innovation.
Ethnographic research, Interviews with scientists, policymakers and artists working with the JRC & Commission
https://science-art-society.ec.europa.eu/news/postgrowth-greaves-jrc

 

* Lecturer on environmental urbanism “postgrowth” & the history of urban planning
For students, practitioners and organisations including: Architectural Association, FEEL Project, Interreg Europe and Energy Cities; European Commission, Societat Catalana d'Ordenació del Territori (SCOT); Placemaking Europe; Doughnut Economics Action Lab; further details under public speaking

 

* Arts based Workshops for academics to promote interdisciplinary thinking & collaboration
- 20 international scholars, 3 day workshop:“Visualising Scientific Landscapes. Knowledge is Water” 11/04/2023
- 15 international scholars, 1 day workshop: Transforming Transport. Comic book workshop.” Imagining collective sustainable mobility futures. 28/07/2022
- 45 international Phd candidates, 1 day: Exploring the practice and possibilities of Arts-based research. 17/06/2024

* Curator. Exhibition highlighting marginalised perspectives on “innovation” and its impacts. “Water Reorganises the Land.” Lithium extraction in the Atacama Desert from the perspectives of bacteria and flamingos; Maori testaments on sea level rise in New Zealand.

 

* Scientific Committee, European Society for Ecological Economics & Degrowth Conference 2024
Handling 1300 abstract submissions. Reviewing, managing & programming arts and urbanism submissions ; responsible for organising four special sessions: “Spaces for Degrowth: Transforming existing spaces and infrastructures for degrowth as a challenge of the re-politicisation of spatial planning”; Theorising Degrowth Transformations from the Peripheries; “Degrowth Journal. Slow Science & Open Access Publishing”; “Maniquesto: Creating an Agenda for Art-Science research and policymaking.”

* Masters thesis supervision, MA Political Ecology, University of Barcelona (UAB) “Clay as Commons. How can participatory arts-based methods using clay facilitate the expression of marginalised communities and contribute to community healing and integration?”
* Masters thesis mentoring, MA Sustainable Business Development (GLOCAL) “A Framework for Reviewing Degrowth Alignment in European Bio-Design Organisations.”
 

* Editor, Degrowth Journal. Peer-reviewed, open-access, international, transdisciplinary journal focused on advancing environmental research for planetary wellbeing. Managing submissions, review processes, journal presence at conferences and administration. Compiling first Arts Special Issue.

* Peer reviewer, Journal of Responsible Innovation
 

02/06/2020 - 25/11/2021: Research Associate. Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge
* Lecturing on public health and Fascist urban planning, Department of Classics & Ancient History. 25 students.
* Undergraduate supervision, “Rome. Reception and Memory.” 01/10/2020 - 13/03/2022. 25 students

* Undergraduate supervision, “Cultural politics.” 01/10/2019 - 13/03/2022.

* Undergraduate thesis supervision, “Mussolini and Fascist Mosaics in the Foro Italico.”

2017-2022: Phd Researcher. Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge
How public health, science and technology advances in Italy influenced and depended upon the excavation of archaeological remains. Archival analysis of medical textbooks, excavation material and planning documents inter alia
Grant agreement: 693418.
Thesis: “Ideal Cities. The Ancient City and the Modern City in Italy (1860-1914).”

Matriculation 01/10/2017; Defence 02/06/2021; Awarding Ceremony 21/05/2022 (Covid)
 

* Visiting Researcher. British School at Rome. Rome, Italy
Archival research, presentations, research collaborations with resident fellows
01/04/2018 - 01/07/2018; 01/04/2019-01/07/2019
 

* Scientific Committee. Rome and the Colonial City Conference, Rome, Italy, 2020.
Reviewing submissions, graphic design and production of all conference materials,
Copy-editor & Editor: Conference Proceedings

 

16/09/2016 - 14/09/2017: MA: Modern, Fine Art & Decorative Design. Sotheby’s (Distinction) London
Thesis exploring how theories of psychoanalysis impacted representations of classical cities; “Being Modern and British: Cities and Classicism in Giorgio de Chirico, Edward Wadsworth and John Armstrong.”
        * Awarded full funding: Gordon Laing Scholarship, Sotheby’s Institute. 25/04/2016. £26,000
        * Awarded Director Commendation for highest MA result

 

01/10/2012 - 19/06/2015: BA: Classics. University of Durham (First). Durham

         * Awarded Maltby Exhibition Prize, best finalist dissertation. 23/06/2015. £250
        * Awarded Maltby Exhibition Prize, second highest examination results in cohort, 15/07/2014. £200
Thesis: Fascist planning: “Romanità: New Identity through Urban Space in Mussolini’s Roma Resurgens.”

 

LECTURING, CONFERENCE SPEAKING

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Paper Presentation & Roundtable. S+T+ARTS Symposium. “SciArt collaboration and Postgrowth: Innovation and Impact beyond Economic Value.” HacTe (Barcelona hub of Art, Science and Technology), Barcelona. 29/10/2024. 150 attendees

Panelist: AESOP Planning Conference. “Postgrowth Planning: Transformation or Revolution?”
SciencesPo, Paris, France. 09/07/2024. 50 attendees.

Panelist: Planning Dialogues. “Combining Art and Science in Planning.” In collaboration with the Centre for Research on Transport, Territory and Environment, University of Porto, Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism at the University of São Paulo, Department of the Built Environment at Aalto University, Finland and KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. 17/04/2024 85 view on YouTube
 

Presentation and Workshop: Energy Cities, FEEL Project, Interreg Europe, Valencia
“Postgrowth Planning” Transition to the Frugal City: business model; public acceptance and adoption.
Frugal cities through Energy Efficiency and Low-tech communities. 06/11/2023 - 09/11/2023.
35 participants, 12 partners: cities and regions representing 8 countries.

 

Presentation and Roundtable: Catalan Society for Urban Planning; Societat Catalana d'Ordenació del Territori (SCOT), Barcelona
“A Post-growth Perspective on Territorial Planning.” (Una Perspectiva Postcrecimiento sobre la Ordenación del Territorio). In Spanish and Catalán, roundtable with practitioners. 10/03/2023. 200 attendees
 

Panelist: Public Participation and Deliberative Democracy Festival, European Commission "Art and Postgrowth Planning." with F. Fagani, G. Tartari, G. Zenga and G. Pulcher, 20/10/2022.
 

Presentation: Placemaking Europe, Pontevedra “Postgrowth Innovation.” Session, “Digital Dynamics, Urban Experimentations, Tangible Experiences, Enabling Environments.” 22/09/2022. 50 attendees
 

Paper and Workshop: Doughnut Economics Action Lab. “Doughnut Cities within an History of Urban Design.”  Gave interactive online workshop with 100+ participants. 360 views on YouTube
 

Lecture: Architectural Association School of Architecture, London
“Ideal Cities in architectural theory and practice. Vitruvius, Colonialism and Degrowth (27BCE – 2050)”
18/10/2024. 20 students

Lecture: Architectural Association School of Architecture, London
“Utopian traditions. Plato through Ursula Le Guin and the Free Market (403BCE - 2050)”
22/11/2024. 20 students

Chair: European Society for Ecological Economics Discussion on “Limits” in nature and creativity with environmentalist Giorgios Kallis and pianist Ábe Rábade. 06/2024. 1300 physical attendees, 530 views on youtube
 

Seminar: Cambridge Archaeology Seminars. “Ideal Cities, Ancient Cities, Postgrowth Futures." 15/11/2022.
30 students

Conference Presentation: Shrinking Cities. Wuhan University: "An introduction to Post-growth Planning." Postgrowth Era. Shrinking Cities & Regeneration. Online Symposium.  11/05/2023. 15 students

Lecture: Resilienze SciArt Festival, Le Serre di Bologna. “Carbon Neutral Cities and their Inhabitants”; “La Città Neutrale e i Suoi Abitanti.” 07/06/2023. 50 students

Lecture: European Commission and Joint Research Centre "Post-growth. Researching the Potential for Arts and Science Collaborations to Lead us to Futures beyond Capitalism." 21/04/2023.
30 scientists, policymakers and artists working on Agricultural Policy, Cropmodelling, Energy Efficiency and Renewables, Knowledge Management for Policy, Scientific Development Unit, Indigenous Data Governance, Complex Energy Systems, Education for Climate Coalition.
 

Lecture: Science and Art in Education Community of Practice, “Art-Science and Innovation” 15/06/2023.

 

Seminar: Web2Learn Open Social Learning “Environmental Citizen Sensing: Social participation, Arts and Technology.” 06/12/2022 72 students
 

Conference Paper: “Mythmaking and the Circular Economy.” Special Session: Postgrowth Innovation
European Society for Ecological Economics, Pisa, 14/06/2022. 30 attendees
 

Conference Paper: "Re-imagining the Grid in the Nineteenth Century. To be, or not to be Rome.” Rome & the Colonial City Conference, The British School at Rome, Rome, 31/01/2020. 60 attendees
 

Conference Paper: The Sanitation Campaign against Cholera in Naples (1860-1910).” Epidemic Urbanism: Reflections on History (What Insights…might Inform our Understanding of COVID-19?)
Columbia University/Morgan State University, Online Symposium, 29/05/2020. 1300 views on YouTube
 

Conference Paper: "Città Ideali: le Convergenze tra Obiettivi dell’Urbanistica e Motivazioni Archeologici a Roma, 1870-1914.” Reconstruire Rome Conference, École Française, Rome, 30/10/2019. 50 attendees
 

Paper: "Subversive Classicism. Giorgio de Chirico and the British Modernists.” Classical Reception Seminar Series, Cambridge, March 2019. 50 attendees
 

Paper: "Ideals of the Ancient City. Urban planning in Paris, Barcelona, and Naples."
Faculty of Classics, Classical Reception Seminar Series, Cambridge, March 2019. 30 attendees
 

Paper: "Futurism and the Ancient City." Graduate Interdisciplinary Seminar, Cambridge, March 2019.
30 attendees
 

PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT

 

1. Greaves, S. 2023. July 29. “Letter to the Editor. The future of the Anthropocene.” The Economist
    

2. Greaves, S. 2023. April 13. “The Myth of Sisyphus & The State of Carbon Removal Report.” Degrowth.info
    

3. Greaves, S. 2022, June 6. “Vertical taxis. Is it Worth Privatising the Sky?” The Conversation 3000 reads
    

4. Greaves, S. 2023, February 24. “Sustainability is Not a “Problem” for Technology to Fix.” TELOS Magazine
    

5. Greaves, S. 2023, February 2. “The Myth of Sisyphus & The State of Carbon Removal Report.” Resilience.org/Post Carbon Institute
    

6. Urbanistica Podcast, “Postgrowth Planning & Placemaking.” with Mustafa Sherif
    

7. Postgrowth Planning Podcast, “Becoming a Postgrowth Planner: the Arts.” with Christian Lamker

 

PUBLICATION RECORD
 

Policy Reports

 

1. Greaves, S. 2024. SciArt: Understanding Transdisciplinary Innovation beyond Economic Value. Research Report (120pg).
   Publisher: European Commission & Joint Research Centre
   Forthcoming. Open-access, February 2025.

 

Monographs
 

1. Greaves, S. Public Health, the Ancient City and Modernity: Italy 1860 - 1914. (400pg)
   Publisher: Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Classical Series.
   Forthcoming. Open access, July 2025.
    

Peer-Reviewed Book Chapters
 

1. Greaves, S. 2021. “Cholera and the Ancient City in Naples (1860-1914).” In Morgan, C., and M. Gharipour (eds.), Epidemic Urbanism. How Contagious Diseases have Shaped Global Cities, 53-61. ISBN 9781789384703
    

2. Greaves, S. “Spatial Critiques of Growth.” In Pansera, Lloveras, Robra, Suarez-Eiroa, Schramm, Greaves, Fortuny, Becker, Keurhorst, & Bergamo. (2023). Critiques of Growth: An Introduction. University of Vigo. doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10356894
    

3. Greaves, S. 2022. “Ildefonso Cerdà and the Eixample grid plan, Barcelona (1859). To be or not to be Rome?” In Greaves, S., and A. Wallace-Hadrill (eds.), Rome and the Colonial City. Oxbow Press. 327–352. doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2gvdnpg.22
    

4. Greaves, S. and Wallace-Hadrill, A. 2022. “Introduction. De-colonising the Roman Grid.”  In Greaves, S., and A. Wallace-Hadrill (eds.), Rome and the Colonial City, 1-24. doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2gvdnpg.7 
    

5. Greaves, S. 2022. “Roman Planning as a Model for Urban Modernity in Liberal Naples.” In Ottewill-Soulsby, S. and J. Martínez-Jiménez (eds.), Remembering and Forgetting the Ancient City. Oxbow Press. 137–164. doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2gvdnnz.13
    

6. Greaves, S. “Semiotic Critique of the Circular Economy as a Myth.” In Hanaček, K., Tsagkari, M, and B. Roy (eds.) Degrowth. Dialogues for Degrowth: Interdisciplinary Perspectives for Sustainable and Inclusive Futures. Edward Elgar Publishing. Forthcoming January 2025.
    

Peer Reviewed Journal Papers

 

1. Greaves, S., and Doezema, T. “Imagining Nature–Culture Hybridity: The Historical Coproduction of Knowledge and Politics in the Circular Economy.” Nature and Culture, Vol 19, 3 (2024
    

Book Reviews

 

1. Greaves, S. 2023. “The Lives of a Roman Neighbourhood. Tracing the Imprint of the Past, 500 BCE to the Present.” The Classical Review, 1-3. doi.org/10.1017/S0009840X23001944
    

Papers Submitted

 

1. Greaves, S., Pansera, M., and Lloveras, J. “SciArt at the Joint Research Centre. Post-normal Science and Institutional Change.”
   Submitted July 2024, Journal of Research Policy
   Preprint available: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4911341
    

2. Greaves, S., Wilberg, S., Mäntysalo, R., Carlotta von Schönfeld, K., and S. Eräranta, “Combining “Science” and “Art” in Planning: aiming for convergence or collaboration?”, in K. Carlotta von Schönfeld and S. Eräranta (eds.) Planning Dialogues. Exploring Change in Planning Practice and Academia with Voices Across Generations and Expertises. Manuscript submitted to publisher.

 

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
 

• Associate of LSE Cities: 2024 - present

• Member of the Postgrowth Cities Coalition: 2023 - present

• Member of the European Community of Art and Science Practice: 2023 - present

• Member of the European Society for Ecological Economics: 2022 - present

• Member of the Municipal Degrowth Network: 2021 – present

• Editor, Degrowth Journal: 2021 - present    

 

LANGUAGES
 

• Italian: mother tongue

• English: mother tongue

• Spanish: C1

• Galician: basic spoken, excellent comprehension skills

• French: basic spoken, excellent comprehension skills