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Phil Tovey

@beingphilt.bsky.social
37 followers 52 following 13 posts

Director, Nature-Centric Approaches to System Risk ASRA | Former Head of Futures @Defra | Researcher in eco-phenomenology and human augmentation in riverine temporalities | River Tone, Somerset.

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Phil Tovey @beingphilt.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Come and join us, 24 Sept, to hear our latest research on systemic risk and nature-centrism: www.asranetwork.org/news/through...
asranetwork.org
Through Fur, Claw and Whisker: Lessons from Risk Assessment Beyond…
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ASRA @asranetwork.org · 08/09/2026
At Lancaster University’s ‘Nature in Translation’ Conference, ASRA's @beingphilt.bsky.social & @adjuvant.bsky.social will present an innovative method of understanding nonhuman perspectives of systemic risk, piloted in our Risks Beyond Human Eyes project. wp.lancs.ac.uk/animalsintra...
wp.lancs.ac.uk
Conference
Natures in Translation: AI, Ethics and Environmental Conservation Lancaster University, UK 1-2 October 2026 Conference funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and BRAID Abstract submissi…
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ASRA @asranetwork.org · 06/08/2026
We’ve just confirmed a brilliant line-up of speakers for our webinar, Through Fur, Claw and Whisker: Lessons from Risk Assessment Beyond Human Eyes. Check out the speakers and sign up: www.asranetwork.org/news/through... @robdphillips.bsky.social @brontiemaria.bsky.social @beingphilt.bsky.social
Through Fur, Claw, and Whisker: Lessons from Risk Assessment Beyond Human Eyes. 24 September, 14:00 BST, Webinar.

A line art drawing of the River Tone on a light gray background. Photos of a deer, the River Tone, and a kestrel overlay the illustration.
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ASRA @asranetwork.org · 20/08/2026
We collected ‘animal testimony’ to understand what systemic risk looks like for the nonhumans living alongside the River Tone in the UK. Find out how we did it, lessons learnt, and explore participants' experiences: www.asranetwork.org/news/turning... @beingphilt.bsky.social @adjuvant.bsky.social
A photo of an otter next to a blurry pieced-together image of an otter. This is Otter 2's 'animal testimony': “Like the world is repeatedly exploding and then very slowly reforming"—a passing train felt through paws, whiskers, whole body.⁠⁠"
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ASRA @asranetwork.org · 23/07/2026
A wonderful cartoon from First Dog on the Moon in The Guardian yesterday captures the essence of our Risks Beyond Human Eyes project. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... Learn more about the project in our webinar: unfoundation.zoom.us/webinar/regi... @beingphilt.bsky.social
The first panel of the First Dog on the Moon cartoon in the Guardian. A dog in a lab coat asks an otter with a brainwave checking hat on: "How do animals feel about stuff and is this the most important question of our age? Probably (yes)Second panel of the cartoonThird panel of the cartoon.
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Phil Tovey @beingphilt.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Pleased to share another more-than-human method for working with nonhuman animal experiences of risk www.asranetwork.org/news/turning...
asranetwork.org
Turning Animal Testimony into Evidence
Making visible the seam between animal testimony and human risk analysis.
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ASRA @asranetwork.org · 06/07/2026
What do risks feel like as an otter or as a kestrel? Great BBC coverage of the Risks Beyond Human Eyes project about participants’ experiences of living as a nonhuman inhabitant of the River Tone. Listen back: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... @beingphilt.bsky.social @adjuvant.bsky.social
bbc.co.uk
Somerset volunteers go wild for animal research project
A group of researchers take on a new approach to protecting animals - by attempting to live like them.
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ASRA @asranetwork.org · 02/07/2026
Great to see our Risks Beyond Human Eyes project covered by @yeomans.bsky.social for The Times. The project assessed how the risks facing River Tone, in the UK, can be understood through the eyes of the river's nonhuman inhabitants. Led by @beingphilt.bsky.social www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...
thetimes.com
Wildlife researchers pretending to be otters and worms
As they swam, slithered and ran near the River Tone, the participants were encouraged to experience how the animals sense the world around them
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Phil Tovey @beingphilt.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... thanks #BBCRadioSomerset
bbc.co.uk
Somerset volunteers go wild for animal research project
A group of researchers take on a new approach to protecting animals - by attempting to live like them.
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Phil Tovey @beingphilt.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Wonderful article by @patrickbarkham.bsky.social ft. our research with the people of #RiverTone. Over a periods of weeks, they worked deeply with five nonhuman animals - stepping into their world - to reveal risks we had never considered before. www.theguardian.com/environment/... @asranetwork.org
theguardian.com
‘Emotional and horrific’: volunteers ‘live’ as Somerset animals to study wildlife risks
People trained to experience world as otters, salmon and other River Tone creatures for pioneering research
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ASRA @asranetwork.org · 16/06/2026
If you’re curious about working with non-human perspectives in risk analysis, join our webinar to hear learnings from our project: Risk Beyond Human Eyes. September 24 🗓️ 14:00 BST ⏰ Online 🛜 Register: unfoundation.zoom.us/webinar/regi... @beingphilt.bsky.social @adjuvant.bsky.social
Through Fur, Claw, and Whisker: Lessons from Risk Assessment Beyond Human Eyes. 24 September, 14:00 BST, Webinar.

A line art drawing of the River Tone on a light gray background. Photos of a deer, the River Tone, and a kestrel overlay the illustration.
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Reposted by Phil Tovey
ASRA @asranetwork.org · 11/06/2026
How can we collaborate with nonhumans to better assess systemic risks facing rivers? 🦦🦌 We’re exploring this question in our latest research project: Risks Beyond Human Eyes. Read the first blog in a new series exploring different elements of the project. www.asranetwork.org/news/learnin...
The Animal Collaboration Guide (ACG). © UWE and ASRA [2026]Clatworthy dam impounds the headwaters © River Tone [2024]
Close-up of the River Tone. © European Otter of River Tone [2026]
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Phil Tovey @beingphilt.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
researchgate.net
(PDF) Anthropocentric bias in visioning and the multispecies alternative
PDF | Pre-Print: Visioning, alongside other techniques for producing futural knowledge, isrecognised as being central to establishing an alternative... | Find, read and cite all the research you need ...
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MrsVeriTea @mrsveritea.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Repost with your home river. The River Tone
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Phil Tovey @beingphilt.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
accelerator.chathamhouse.org/article/phil... some thoughts on the work we’re doing in #ASRA. Grateful to the wonderful team @chathamhouse.org for the opportunity
accelerator.chathamhouse.org
Systemic risk, eco-artists, and accessing non-human perspectives by Phil Tovey
Continuing our series of interviews with leaders in their respective fields of the climate and nature transition, this month we sat down with Phil Tovey, who's working to implement nature-centric appr...
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Phil Tovey @beingphilt.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
If you live around #rivertone in Somerset come join us for an amazing community led research project luma.com/jrbn6mih #systemicrisk #morethanhuman #umwelt
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Phil Tovey @beingphilt.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
#Lichen
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Phil Tovey @beingphilt.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
fojournal.org/strategy-rep... the artwork and stunning production in issue No.2 of the @designmuseum.bsky.social's #FuturesObservatoryJournal is really something to be treasured, alongside the essential more-than-human ideas and inspiration it contains. Joy to contribute to the strategy section.
fojournal.org
The Natural Contract - Future Observatory Journal
What new policies or frameworks are required to encourage more-than-human design as a broadly applicable approach? We explored that question with a roundtable of experts, and our conversation is disti...
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Joseph Rowntree Foundation @jrf-uk.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
Learning institutions are emerging to address the climate and ecological crisis. 🌱 @kerifacer.bsky.social and colleagues at the Black Mountains College reflect on what it means to develop an anchor educational institution for ‘ecological imagination’: www.jrf.org.uk/imagination-....
jrf.org.uk
Educating the ecological imagination: the work of Black Mountains College
Learning institutions are emerging to address the ecological crisis, but they need a robust infrastructure to sustain longer-term initiatives and innovation.
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