We are proud to host our first SGSAH Earth Scholar Janet Sit, co-supervised by Dr Emily Doolittle (RCS) and Dr Luke Rendell (St Andrews). Born in Hong Kong and based in Toronto, Janet is a PhD candidate at the University of California San Diego Music Department with a background in zoology and music. Her cross-disciplinary research explores decentering terrestrial references to underwater/near-water perceptions and histories within ocean humanities frameworks and her scuba diving experiences. Her artistic practices include acoustic/electronic compositions, sound installations and scholarly writing. Parallel to exploring music and sound in her works, Janet seeks to engage diverse audiences to support dialogue and community-building on environmental and social matters.  

Janet’s Earth Scholar project, Ties and Tides of Kinship: Speculative World-Making in Scotland’s Multispecies Waters, investigates human-multispecies encounters in Scotland’s marine ecosystems. Combining cold-water diving, field recordings, archival research, and interdisciplinary collaboration, the project results include a participatory sound installation and online educational resources. Weaving marine ecologies, ocean humanities, and sound art, this project aims to nurture speculative world-making and play-making, inviting diverse audiences to imagine and engage with waterscapes in co-creative, co-imaginative explorations.  

You can read more about Janet’s Earth Scholarship here. You can hear more about her work at this Exchange Talk (available also on the RCS youtube channel after the talk has taken place).