Dr Anna Pilz is an independent researcher currently working as an academic developer at the Institute for Academic Development at the University of Edinburgh. Her research specialism is in Irish and Scottish writing of the long nineteenth century, with a particular focus on narratives of environmental change in relation to woodlands (e.g. 'Narratives of Arboreal Landscapes' in A History of Irish Literature and the Environment, 2022) and coasts (e.g. co-edited Special Issue on Scotland's Coastal Romanticisms, 2024). She also works on Irish women's literary history, challenging established literary histories (e.g. co-edited Special Issue on Irish Women Writers' Collaborations & Networks, 2023). She's held research fellowships in Ireland, Germany, and the UK, including at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society and, most recently, as Marie Curie Fellow in the School of Literatures, Languages, and Cultures at Edinburgh.
Research interests:
I am current exploring Romantic-era travel writing about Ireland and Scotland's Atlantic coast. I seek answers to the questions what that body of work can tell us about the relationship between people, place, and environment, and in what ways travel narratives shape ecological awareness and imagine futures. I am drawing on wide-ranging archival resources and conceptual frameworks from ecocriticism, cultural geography, environmental history, and infrastructure studies.