Biography
Dr Jeremy Walker completed his doctorate in 2007, which traced a history of the conceptual and metaphorical exchanges between systems ecology, neoclassical economics and classical theromodynamics from the 1870s to the 1970s, as a prelude to a critique the neoliberal era’s orthodox commitment to infinite growth in ‘equilibrium’ conditions. He has been Lecturer in Environment, Culture and Society at UTS since 2008 and currently teaches introductory courses in global political economy, environmental studies, and science and technology studies.
As a researcher, Jeremy has broad interests in political philosophy, economic history, and the intellectual interactions between the natural and social sciences, especially where the life sciences and neoliberal governance interacts, from synthetic biology and global ecological management through to new theories and practices of labour, growth and crisis. This interest extends to modes of resistance, for example as expressed in new religious or environmental justice movements, or the return to political theology, or biotech-art.
At present, Jeremy is working on a project called Mapping the Emerging Bioeconomy (supported by a UTS Early Career Resarch grant) which looks at the rise of ‘resilience’ and post-equilbirium complexity theory in financial, military and ecological crisis response, the financialisation of conservation and markets for ecosystem services, and the emerging ‘biobased’ economy of ‘green’ production via synthetic and industrial biotechnology.
Jeremy has co-authored cross disciplinary papers on the chemicalisation of Hawkesbury River biota with UTS researchers from the Faculties of Science and Design, and the Institute for Sustainable Futures (supported by a UTS Challenge grant).
His interest in the convergence of financial markets, development and for-profit biodiversity conservation has resulted in invitations to participate in two cross disciplinary research projects in France, from 2011-2013: ‘Conserving Nature and Managing its Services: Scientific, Political and Philosophical Issues’ ( funded by Centre Nationale de la Recherches Scientifique) and ‘A Geographical Approach to Ecosystem Services’ (funded by Agence Nationale de Recherche).
