Dr Leona Watson

Her doctoral research at Durham University investigated the regulation of key bio-physical flows of water, manure, blood, urine and industrial waste products in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century British townscapes, revealing remarkably well organised and effective systems of environmental regulation.

At the universities of York and Bristol, she worked on two AHRC-funded post-doctoral, environmental history research projects: 1) ‘Local Places, Global Processes’, on twentieth-century Kielder, in the North Tyne valley in Northumberland, revealing how local people’s economic, social and cultural lives were reshaped by successive environmental changes; and 2) ‘The Power and the Water’, on the environmental history of north-east England’s River Tyne (1529-2015), reconnecting the sub-themes of the river’s fish life, sanitation, pollution, riparian industry, riverine knowledge, regeneration, conservation, recreation and environmental governance. In 2015-16, she worked on an EPSRC-funded water sustainability project with civil engineers and social scientists, ‘TWENTY65’.

Leona is Co-Investigator on a three-year, AHRC-funded project, ‘Past Floods Matter’, working on historic flood mitigation and the Internal Drainage Boards (1770s to present) and she is also researching the environmental history of English brewing as a biotechnology, 1603-1830.