Key details
Dr Victoria Leslie
Research Fellow
Victoria Leslie is a researcher, author and arts practitioner, whose works sits at the intersection of environmental storytelling, ecocriticism and cultural values. She is currently co-leading participatory and arts-based research approaches to explore coastal community resilience for UKRI-funded Transformative Research Action for Resilient Coastal Communities (TRACC) project. Victoria has collaborated on two previous UKRI-funded transdisciplinary, environmental research projects. The most recent, SMMR Diverse Marine Values, implemented a suite of creative methods, including creative writing, filmmaking and photo-essay to explore place-based values. She was recently awarded internal funding to explore speculative futures for sustainability transformations with Professor Valerie Nelson, and is a member of the Political Ecology, Culture and Arts research group.
Victoria is author of a short story collection, Skein and Bone (Undertow Books) and novel, Bodies of Water (Salt Publishing) and a finalist for several international fiction prizes. Her scholarship and practice have been supported by grants from the Society of Authors, the University of Portsmouth (Themes Research and Innovation Fellowship) and fellowships from the Hawthorden Foundation and the Kone Foundation, Finland. She has also co-curated project exhibitions at M Shed, Bristol Museums and the Royal Geographical Society.
Responsibilities within the university
Work package co-lead for UKRI-funded Transformative Research Action for Resilient Coastal Communities (TRACC) project
Awards
2017: Finalist British Fantasy Award for Best Novella
2016: Finalist World Fantasy Award for Best Collection
2014: Finalist Shirley Jackson Award for novelette
Recognition
ASLE-UKI (Association for the Study of Literature and Environment) member
Research / Scholarly interests
Victoria’s research interests span environmental literature, place writing, folklore studies and New Woman literature, with a particular focus on marine and littoral space. Her doctoral research explored the relationship between water, femininity and folklore in late nineteenth-century literature, examining fin de siècle re-imaginings of a coastal migratory legend. As a researcher and writer, she is interested in revisionist and intertextual approaches to narrative craft. Much of her recent scholarship explores the role of storytelling, and arts-based research within environmental decision-making contexts and she is especially interested in speculative futures and climate imaginaries as mechanisms for anticipation and preparedness.
Key funded projects
2021 - 2024: Co-I for a UKRI-funded project, “Integrating diverse values into the sustainable management of marine resources in the UK” (ESRC and NERC), particular focus on diverse values and arts based research, total award £1.8M funded through the SMMR programme.
2016 - 2019: Commissioned artist for a joint UK Research Council (AHRC / ESRC / NERC) funded project titled, WetlandLIFE, led by the University of Greenwich, funded under the Valuing Nature programme, exploring mosquito management and place-based values, total value of award £1.3M.
Recent publications
Article
Leslie, Victoria and , (2024), Book Review: Empirical Ecocriticism: Environmental Narratives for Social Change. Routledge. In: , , , . Routledge, Green Letters: Studies in Ecocriticism, 29 (1) . pp. 94-95 ISSN: 1468-8417 (Print), 2168-1414 (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/14688417.2024.2405851) NB Item availability restricted.
Leslie, Victoria and , (2022), A review of Mapping Fairy Tale Space: pastiche and metafiction in borderless tales. The Chichester Centre for Fairy Tales, Fantasy and Speculative Fiction. In: , , , . The Chichester Centre for Fairy Tales, Fantasy and Speculative Fiction, Gramarye (21) . pp. 96-98 ISSN: 2050-2915 (Print), (doi: https://www.sussexfolktalecentre.org/wp-content/uploads/Mapping-Fairy-Tale-Space.pdf) NB Item availability restricted.
Leslie, Victoria and , (2021), A review of The Broken Spell: Indian storytelling and the romance genre in Persian and Urdu. The Chichester Centre for Fairy Tales, Fantasy and Speculative Fiction, University of Chichester. In: , , , . The Chichester Centre for Fairy Tales, Fantasy and Speculative Fiction, University of Chichester, Gramarye (20) . pp. 106-108 ISSN: 2050-2915 (Print), (doi: https://www.sussexfolktalecentre.org/wp-content/uploads/Broken-Spell.pdf) NB Item availability restricted.
Leslie, Victoria and , (2021), A review of By the Fire: Sami folktales and legends. The Chichester Centre for Fairy Tales, Fantasy and Speculative Fiction, University of Chichester. In: , , , . The Chichester Centre for Fairy Tales, Fantasy and Speculative Fiction, University of Chichester, Gramarye (19) . pp. 92-93 ISSN: 2050-2915 (Print), (doi: https://www.sussexfolktalecentre.org/wp-content/uploads/Sami-Folktales-and-Legends.pdf) NB Item availability restricted.
Leslie, Victoria and , (2021), A review of Merpeople: a human history. The Chichester Centre for Fairy Tales, Fantasy and Speculative Fiction, University of Chichester. In: , , , . The Chichester Centre for Fairy Tales, Fantasy and Speculative Fiction, University of Chichester, Gramarye (19) . pp. 104-105 ISSN: 2050-2915 (Print), (doi: https://www.sussexfolktalecentre.org/wp-content/uploads/Merpeople.pdf) NB Item availability restricted.
Exhibition
Leslie, Victoria , Hughes, Erika, Sayyidah, Salam (2024), Echoes of the Shore: New Horizons for Marine Research and Management. Exhibition Guide. Diverse Marine Values website. In: , , , . Diverse Marine Values website, Echoes of the Shore: New Horizons for Marine Management and Research Exhibition Guide (doi: https://www.smmr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Echoes-of-the-Shore-Exhibition-Guide.pdf) NB Item availability restricted.
Monograph
Payo-Payo, Marta and , Leslie, Victoria (2025), Transdisciplinary Communication and Climate Information: Reflections from the Sustainable Management of UK Marine Resources Programme. Zenodo. In: , , , . Zenodo, Transdisciplinary Communication and Climate Information: Reflections from the Sustainable Management of UK Marine Resources Programme . pp. 1-36 (doi: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15924332).