Dr Siddharth Unnithan Kumar

About me:

After training in mathematics, I have worked closely with (and have had the contours of my mind shaped by) geographers, ecologists, anthropologists, and Indigenous scholars, among others. This has been anything but a linear journey; at present, I am drawn to understanding how humans relate with each other and with the more-than-human world, and how concepts and perceptions of the world influence (and, in turn, are influenced by) how one lives and acts in the world.

I think that mathematics can play a much richer and more thoughtful role in environmental research than its current applications suggest. Mathematics has long developed in close reciprocity with physics; as a result, mathematical methods have been transplanted from the physical sciences with little modification for an ecological context. However, the lens of particle mechanics and the 'animal economicus' which presently pervade quantitative models in ecology, while valuable to some degree, need not be the only (or most suitable) approach to studying, and living with, the ecological relations in which one is embedded.

By examining how conceptual relationships in mathematics correspond closely with those in other disciplines (such as topological concepts in the social sciences); by investigating the implicit hierarchies of knowledge and power which underlie the historical and present applications of mathematics; by inquiring into how mathematics manifests in the human mind and relies on the cultural and ecological world for its coherence; and by attending to lived experience and the intelligence of the body; I hope to develop new ways of doing mathematics, inspired by ecological thought, which can be in service to the needs of this time. These ideas are further articulated here.

In February 2024, I started a three-year postdoctoral position with the University of Exeter's RENEW programme, working with Kevin Gaston and Peter Challenor to develop the uses of mathematics in ecology. In particular, bringing mathematical methods into correspondence with embodied experience of nature through the concept of a 'personalised ecology'; and writing a mathematical model for the spatial prioritisation of nature recovery.

None of this is a solitary endeavour; I am grateful to my friends, family and teachers, without whom this journey would not come into being. Among those who have been inspiring for my work are: David Abram, John O'Donohue, Marilyn Strathern, Thích Nhất Hạnh, Tim Ingold, E. Richard Atleo, Allegra Wint, Jalaluddin Rumi, Sam Cushman, and Port Meadow.