Zoe Pearson

Fulbright-Durham University Scholar Award (All Disciplines)

Zoe Pearson is a human-environment geographer and Associate Professor of Geography and International Studies in the School of Politics, Public Affairs, and International Studies at the University of Wyoming, USA. Her research centers on challenges surrounding the control, trade, and use of natural resources.

As a Fulbright Scholar at Durham University, Zoe will study the cultural importance and decline of haaf net fishing—one of the oldest forms of fishing in the UK. She aims to investigate why and how this form of fishing is disappearing, and also to gather oral histories and other materials for an archive to preserve the traditional ecological and knowledge systems, place-based understandings of local heritage, and ways of life that will be lost when haaf net fishing does disappear.

Zoe looks forward to exploring the cities and countryside of northern England and the Scotland/England borderlands on adventures with her family during their time in the UK.