Brian O'Neill

Brian F. O’Neill is a sociologist, writer, and photographer. Currently, he is a Research Fellow at the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Policy & Governance. He has held lecturing positions and been a visiting scholar at universities in the United States and France. His expertise lies in the fields of water and ocean/coastal politics, urban social problems, and issues surrounding the so-called "Anthropocene," all topics he has published on in peer-reviewed outlets like Environment & Planning E: Nature & Space, The Sociological Quarterly, Environmental Justice, Global Environmental Change, Nature Water, Coastal Studies & Society, and more. In one of his forthcoming book projects, he articulates a critical study of the history and policy coalitions of climate adaptation, read through the case of ocean desalination. In another, he develops a grounded notion of ocean justice focusing on the politics of that term and the struggles of diverse peoples. He is also an active bookmaker, interested in the intersections of visual ethnography, non-fiction writing, and photographic narratives.