Joshua Russell

Dr. Joshua Russell’s research and teaching explore how people learn about and relate to animals and the environment. With a background in environmental education and human–animal studies, his work examines the social, emotional, and ethical dimensions of human–animal relationships and their connections to broader environmental concerns.

Much of Dr. Russell's scholarship focuses on children’s relationships with animals, particularly experiences that involve death, loss, or suffering. These include encounters such as the loss of companion animals, participation in hunting and fishing, agricultural uses of animals, and broader environmental realities such as species decline and climate change. Dr. Russell also draws on queer theory and ecofeminism to critically examine the values and moral directions shaping environmental education, wildlife conservation, and animal studies.

Awards

• Tom Regan Visiting Research Fellowship, Culture and Animals Foundation
• Community Grant, Vogt Foundation
• Research Grant, Culture and Animals Foundation
• Human-Animal Studies Fellowship, Animals & Society Institute
• John Livingston Ecological Conscience Award, York University
• Adrienne Pocock Memorial Award, York University

Publications

Russell, J. (2025). ‘Less partial and less distorted:’personal and professional reflections on Annette Gough’s contributions to environmental education. Environmental Education Research, 31(10), 2011-2022.

Russell, J. (2021). Queer Ecopedagogies: Explorations in Nature, Sexuality, and Education. Springer Nature.

Russell, J. (2020). "Telling better stories: Toward critical, place-based, and multispecies narrative pedagogies in hunting and fishing cultures." The Journal of Environmental Education, doi: 10.1080/00958964.2019.1641064

Russell, J. & Fawcett, L. (2020). “Childhood animalness: Relationality, vulnerability, and conviviality” In A. Cutter-Mackenzie, K. Malone, & E. Barratt-Hacking (eds)., International Research Handbook on ChildhoodNature. Springer Publishing.

Russell, J. (2019). "Attending to nonhuman animals in pedagogical relationships and encounters." In T. Lloro-Bidart & V. Bansbach (eds)., Animals in Environmental Education. Palgrave Macmillan. 

Russell, J. (2018). "Animal narrativity." In J. Castricano and L. Corman (eds)., Animal Subjects 2.0. Wilfrid Laurier University Press.

Russell, J. (2017). ““Everything has to die one day:” children’s explorations of the meanings of death in human-animal-nature relationships.” Environmental Education Research, 23(1), 75-90.