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Mingcan Rong

@mingcan-rong.bsky.social
135 followers 173 following 21 posts

PhDing @bristoluni.bsky.social, interested in vegetal geography, STS, plant humanities, botanic garden, rhododendron 🌺 (she/her)

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Reposted by Mingcan Rong
Katherine Arnold @arnoldke.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Very happy to see another article out in the world! Part of a special issue edited by the wonderful @sabinehanke.bsky.social & Anne Sophie Overkamp, from a fantastic (and very hot) workshop we had in Tübingen back in 2024 #envhist #envhum #histsci Available open access: doi.org/10.1002/bewi...
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James Palmer @jamesrpalmer.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Lovely new paper just out in @geoopenaccess.bsky.social by Sarah Hunter and Mia Arundel (@bristoluni.bsky.social) – "We Now Walk Into the Wild: A Rewilding Dialogue". Available Open Access here: rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
We Now Walk Into the Wild: A Rewilding Dialogue
This paper presents a dialogue on the meaning and uses of rewilding, with a focus on Britain, from the perspectives of an ecologist and human geographer. Traversing the concepts of historical baselin....
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Internet Archive @archive.org · 01/07/2026
🌿📚 More than 64 million pages of biodiversity knowledge are freely available through the Biodiversity Heritage Library. As funding challenges put its future at risk, the Internet Archive is proud to help preserve this invaluable resource. 🌎 Learn more 👇 www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
A bonanza for fans of the natural world: the digital library sharing 64m pages of scientific knowledge with everyone
The Biodiversity Heritage Library is an invaluable online archive of historic texts on species living and lost supplied by the world’s leading museums and universities. Now its future is in doubt
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Mingcan Rong @mingcan-rong.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Delighted to present at the Society for Ethnobotany Annual Meeting 2026 in Montpellier, France! It was also a real joy to join the wonderful workshops and exhibitions where I tasted and tried different things. Many thanks to everyone for this inspiring experience! @sebotanystudents.bsky.social
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Biodiversity Heritage Library @biodivlibrary.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
BHL is featured in @theguardian.com's Age of Extinction series. The article highlights the extraordinary value of BHL and the urgent need to ensure it remains free and open into the future. Please read and share: www.theguardian.com/environment/... 🧪 🌎 📖 🔗 🐟 💚
theguardian.com
A bonanza for fans of the natural world: the digital library sharing 64m pages of scientific knowledge with everyone
The Biodiversity Heritage Library is an invaluable online archive of historic texts on species living and lost supplied by the world’s leading museums and universities. Now its future is in doubt
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Mingcan Rong @mingcan-rong.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Experimenting with rhododendron collage ✨🌺🐦🌲🤗💓
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UoBris Centre for Environmental Humanities @uobrisceh.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
TOMORROW Please join us for Global/Local Plant Worlds, our final More-than-Human/ities seminar w/ York University! Come explore human-plant relationality, the role of plants in history, their affects & communication!🌱 17:45–19:15 yorku.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_KnwSS2dZRdaebPC73lZ4BA#/registration
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Mingcan Rong @mingcan-rong.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
Sooooo many pretty Rhododendron davidii at the West China Subalpine Botanical Garden, Sichuan, China 🤩💜 #rhododendron #botanicgarden
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Mingcan Rong @mingcan-rong.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Belated pictures of rhododendrons at Wakehurst on 12 March 🌺💓 #rhododendron
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Sage Brice (she/her) @sagebrice.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
This was a lot of fun! Thanks @mingcan-rong.bsky.social, @samlebutt.bsky.social and colleagues for an enjoyable evening
Photo of a lecture slide, with an image of a small pink ox-tongue fungus protruding from the dark crack between two tree roots. The text reads “Loving oneself and/or multiple others offers viable arrangements for living and dying in community with wider ecologies. The power and the pleasure of such a mycelial love lie in the simultaneity, the coextension, of decay and abundance”
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Mingcan Rong @mingcan-rong.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
Really enjoyed reading this non-fiction graphic book on queer/trans ecologies by @sagebrice.bsky.social! Definitely recommend! 🐧
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Mingcan Rong @mingcan-rong.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
A joint Political Ecologies and Centre for Environmental Humanities symposium, joined by 3 excellent speakers! @uobrisceh.bsky.social
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James Palmer @jamesrpalmer.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
A moment many years in the making – it's time to check proofs of my forthcoming book, Power Plants, due out in June with @manchesterup.bsky.social! Somehow, this has snuck on to the AAG's Winter 2025 books list – which looks great (www.aag.org/new-books-fo...). Preorder by end of Jan for 40% off 🌿🌲🌳
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Oscar @oscarw.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
New paper just published in Synthese: Instrumental Understanding link.springer.com/article/10.1... In this paper I start developing an account of pragmatic understanding fit for an epistemology of scientific instruments, drawing especially on Davis Baird's Thing Knowledge. #philsci #philsky
link.springer.com
Client Challenge
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planthums-uk.bsky.social @planthums-uk.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
Check out our @planthums-uk.bsky.social web pages at kew.org/science/inte... Learn who we are, what we do, and how you can work with us on #PlantHumanities #research @rbgkew.bsky.social @rhulgeography.bsky.social
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James Palmer @jamesrpalmer.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
An unexpected advent surprise - my book is available to pre-order with @manchesterup.bsky.social For those interested in biofuels & the bioeconomy, vegetal geographies, climate politics, or relationships between energy & "human progress" more broadly! manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526192127/
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk
Manchester University Press - Power plants
Power plants - Browse and buy the Hardcover edition of Power plants by James Palmer
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The Plant Initiative @theplantinitiative.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
The article "Plant Humanities Pedagogy: teaching at the intersection of feminist economics and economic botany" from the journal Endeavour by Frederica Bowcutt & Savvina Chowdhury is available free, open-access until Jan 14, 2026. authors.elsevier.com/a/1mA7AabuHw0bl
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Sven Dupré @svendupre.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
Just published! I am so glad to see this in print after more than five years in the making. The Invention of Scientific Conservation @degruyterbrill.bsky.social , edited by Esther van Duijn @rijksmuseum.bsky.social and myself @utrechtuniversity.bsky.social brill.com/display/titl...
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Dr Anna Lawrence @annamlawrence.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
🚨 Job opportunity🚨 We are looking for an editorial assistant to work with me on the RGS journals (TIBG, The GJ, Area & Geo) as we move online systems. 🗓6 months fixed term 🕑0.4 FTE 📍Remote working option ❗️Closing date 11th Dec Please share & apply! Happy to answer Qs. www.rgs.org/about-us/wor...
rgs.org
Editorial Assistant for RGS-IBG Journals | Job vacancy
An exciting opportunity to develop a greater understanding of the academic peer review and publishing process. Part time, six-month fixed term contract.
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Austin Read @austinread.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
amazingly produced zine from queer patch - group of sinophone queer / feminist researchers. look out for launches in various cities across 2026
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Geo: Geography and Environment @geoopenaccess.bsky.social · 27/11/2025
🌺New in Geo🌺 'Cultivating scientific authority: A vegetal geography of Chinese rhododendrons at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh' by @mingcan-rong.bsky.social doi.org/10.1002/geo2... #geosky
Screenshot of a paper abstract in Geo: Geography and Environment by Mingcan Rong (2025) entitled: 'Cultivating Scientific Authority: A Vegetal Geography of Chinese Rhododendrons at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh' with an orange banner at the top.

This paper presents a vegetal geography of Chinese rhododendrons at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE), examining the mechanisms through which RBGE's scientific authority is established in the field of Rhododendron research and conservation. Building on the geographical conceptualisation of relational plant agency, this paper extends it by illustrating that attending to the rhododendron–people–environment relationship sheds light on the ecological–political nature of the Rhododendron species at RBGE, the broader historical contexts that stimulate the accumulation, and the environmental conditions that encourage the maintenance. Drawing on interviews, observation and document analysis, I illustrate the contribution and labour of the underappreciated Chinese collectors in the historical botanical exploration, discuss rhododendron's ‘plantiness’ and examine RBGE's contemporary activities that aim to accumulate and sustain the ex situ rhododendrons both materially and epistemically. I argue that the scientific authority of RBGE has been shaped by the semi-colonial history of China after the First Opium War ending in 1842, the encounters between British botanists and local collectors, as well as RBGE's intentional accumulation and maintenance of rhododendrons and related knowledge, all of which are mediated by rhododendrons' agency and continue to influence today's conservation dynamics.
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Mingcan Rong @mingcan-rong.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
Excited to share my first PhD paper which was based on my fieldwork at @thebotanics.bsky.social and just published on @geoopenaccess.bsky.social yesterday! 🌺
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Mingcan Rong @mingcan-rong.bsky.social · 01/09/2025
My first time organising a session at @rgsibg.bsky.social! Huge thanks to my amazing co-organisers Matthew Beach and Franklin Ginn, all the brilliant speakers across three panels, and everyone coming to our HPGRG-sponsored ‘Practicing Vegetal Geographies: Creativities and Beyond’ session!💚🪴🌺 #RGS
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TIBG @tibg.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
#OpenAccess in TIBG: 'Infrastructure as archive: Examining the colonial geographies of rivers' by @austinread.bsky.social doi.org/10.1111/tran... #geosky #geo
Screenshot of a paper abstract in Transactions by Austin Read (2025) entitled 'Infrastructure as archive: Examining the colonial geographies of rivers' with a red banner at the top. 

Exploring the colonial geographies that have shaped Britain, this paper argues that recent debates regarding the ecological status of British rivers must centre colonialism and racial capitalism as the crucial drivers of river decline and thus prioritise developing anticolonial ecological politics. I anchor this argument in the River Severn in southwest Britain, which, until recently, was fragmented by hydraulic infrastructures such as weirs and canals. I examine here a conservation project that has built fish passes to reconnect the Severn's divided ecologies and unsettle technocratic framings of it as a silver bullet solution that bypasses political quagmires. I point instead to the five centuries of racial capitalist geographies that have shaped the Severn and insist that these cannot be avoided through engineering ingenuity. This paper's arguments are complex because entrenched spatial dichotomies of core/periphery have resulted in a lack of attention to how colonial geographies have shaped British ecologies like the Severn. The central contribution of this article is thus its development of a spatially relational theory and method of infrastructure as a colonial archive that can disrupt dichotomous core/periphery imaginaries and render spatially discontinuous and differential colonial geographies visible. I empirically develop this theory of infrastructure as an archive by deploying it to analyse the records of the Severn Navigation Commissioners (1835–c.1948), the body responsible for the infrastructural disciplining of the Severn.
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IHC @ihchistory.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
📗 Luís Mendonça de Carvalho edited the book ‘The Victorians: A Botanical Perspective. Volume 1’ (Springer), which provides us with a 'unique re-evaluation of the Victorian Age and presents a new historiography based on plants'. 👉 link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
Cover of the book ‘The Victorians: A Botanical Perspective. Volume 1’, edited by Luís Manuel Mendonça de Carvalho and published by Springer.
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UoBris Centre for Environmental Humanities @uobrisceh.bsky.social · 20/06/2025
This week we've been descending into mines, scaling coal-spoil tips, and swimming under waterfalls. Read about our recent CEH field trip in our latest blog post: environmentalhumanities.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/2025/06/20/t... #envhum
environmentalhumanities.blogs.bristol.ac.uk
The Centre that swims together… CEH Field Trip 2025
On the 17-18th of June 2025, members of the Centre gathered for our annual field trip, which took place in South Wales in glorious sunshine.  Our first stop was the Big Pit National Coal Museum in …
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planthums-uk.bsky.social @planthums-uk.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
#GARDENS & #EMPIRES - booking open! International conference @britishlibrary.bsky.social 27-28 June Convened by #BL, @rbgkew.bsky.social & @englishheritage.bsky.social Speakers include @advollyr.bsky.social @sathnam.bsky.social & @corinnefowler.bsky.social Booking: events.bl.uk/events/garde...
events.bl.uk
Gardens and Empires | British Library
The histories of plants and gardens are deeply entangled with the histories of empires. This conference investigates the impacts of these global connection
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Mingcan Rong @mingcan-rong.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
Excited to be organising a session with Matthew Beach on ‘Practicing Vegetal Geographies: Creativities and Beyond’ for the RGS-IBG Annual Conference in Birmingham, 26-29th August 2025. Please take a look at our CFP if you are interested in plants, creativities, more-than-human geography! 🌱
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Claudia (they/she) @claudiaeberger.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
I am so glad to finally have this piece published with the wonderful Heather Rogers. Open access, so no excuse to not check it out. Digital Plant Encounters: Integrating Critical Plant Studies with Digital Environmental Humanities sciendo.com/article/10.2...
sciendo.com
Digital Plant Encounters: Integrating Critical Plant...
The distinction between nature and technology is a western dichotomy that is slowly being eroded. As we are continuously confronted with humanity’s...
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UoBris Centre for Environmental Humanities @uobrisceh.bsky.social · 13/01/2025
🥳 Behold! The CEH Termcard has landed and it's packed full of exciting events -- from workshops to walkshops, lectures to moth expeditions. We're so pleased to have @chrisjpearson.bsky.social back to deliver our annual lecture on the 26 February, along with many other brilliant speakers!
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Jared Margulies @jaredmargulies.bsky.social · 07/01/2025
@ahubschle.bsky.social and I have a new article out in @theconversation.com about how to approach the illegal succulent trade in South Africa through the lens of conservation justice. theconversation.com/south-africa...
theconversation.com
South Africa’s rare succulent plants are threatened by illegal trade – how to stop it
Over 1 million of South Africa’s rare succulents have been illegally harvested since 2019.
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Mingcan Rong @mingcan-rong.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
Our workshop ‘From Archives to AI: Researching and Imagining Socioenvironmental Relations’ will be held at Bristol on 12 Feb 2025, which includes talks by @oliviamason.bsky.social @mattinbiglari.bsky.social @jwyg.bsky.social & a panel discussion chaired by Mark Jackson! 🤩 Please find details below!
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Mingcan Rong @mingcan-rong.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
One more reading for next term’s Plants and Geographies reading group 🤩🍃🌳
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James Palmer @jamesrpalmer.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
I've written a piece on biofuels and the potential for plants to help us rethink relationships between energy, growth and productivity – just out in Environmental Humanities 🌿🌳🌾 Thanks to @dollyjorgensen.bsky.social & Franklin Ginn for making space for this! read.dukeupress.edu/environmenta...
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James Palmer @jamesrpalmer.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
Marion Ernwein and I have a new paper out in EPE: Nature & Space: "Making the mos(s)t of nature? Cleantech, smart nature-based solutions, and the ‘rendering investable’ of urban moss" Hopefully of interest to vegetal geographers and critical NBS scholars 🌿🌱🌳🌍 journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
journals.sagepub.com
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
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