Eloise Fan awarded Linda Carson Interdisciplinary Award for BES thesis

Recent BES graduate Eloise Fan was awarded the Linda Carson Memorial Interdisciplinary Award for her BES thesis titled Performing arts and climate change: Addressing climate anxiety with forum theatre.

Eloise graduated in October 2024 with a Bachelor of Environmental Studies, Co-operative Program, Joint Honours, Environment, Resources and Sustainability and Theatre and Performance. Her thesis work (ERS 403A/B) was supervised by Dr. Rob de Loë.

The Linda Carson Memorial Interdisciplinary Award is awarded to a full-time undergraduate student or team enrolled in any Faculty who have completed an outstanding interdisciplinary project as part of an honours thesis, special topic, project, or reading course. Selection is based on the submission of a description and details of the project as well as an explanation as to why it is interdisciplinary in nature.

"I am honoured to be a recipient of the Linda Carson Memorial Interdisciplinary Award for my SERS honours thesis on addressing climate anxiety with the forum theatre." says Fan.  "Throughout my research I was and am continually reminded of the urgency and necessity of interdisciplinary, intersectional thinking that centres the arts. My study focused on climate anxiety, which is inextricably linked with the ongoing violence against our ecosystems and the ongoing genocides around the world. The results of my research demonstrate the importance of the arts, including theatre, in creating community solidarity; art is resistance."

Eloise is currently working in the theatre industry as an apprentice stage manager in Toronto. Her most recent show was a life-sized board game turned Theatre for Young Audiences show about sustainability and seventh-generation thinking called The Assembly.

Congratulations Eloise!