MEET OUR TEAM
ANNE DAFFERTSHOFER
FOUNDER; HOST
Before moving to Edinburgh in 2019, Anne lived in Berlin for five years, during which she studied art history at Humboldt University and worked in various positions in the art world. After completing a postgraduate degree in modern and contemporary art history at Edinburgh College of Art, Anne began her PhD at the University of St Andrews. Her doctoral research explores the notion of 'anthropocene mobilities' in and through contemporary art, with a specific focus on artists born after 1980.
She is particularly interested in ecocritical ways of writing histories of art, environmental history, conceptions of nature and landscape, relationships with the more-than-human, wetlands in art, and also post-growth, slow living and generally holistic approaches to art and life.
Anne is a member of the Association for Art History's DECR project board & was one of the 2023 Scotland-based recipients of the EARTH scholarship (British Council/ SGSAH).
Looking North was born out of Anne's desire to bring together the knowledge and questions from her research, and her wish to connect more deeply with the country and people that welcomed her with open arms: Scotland. She is responsible for conception, planning, artist liaison and fundraising, and is involved in writing event descriptions and hosting talks.
EMMA DODDS
FOUNDER; HEAD OF MARKETING AND DESIGN
Art and nature have been two quiet, steady presences in Emma’s life since she was a little girl splitting her weekends between the galleries of the St. Louis Art Museum and the green woodlands & rolling fields that surrounded her house.
At Loyola University Chicago, Emma fell in love with Art History as a discipline. It was here that she honed her knowledge of the canon and refined her ability to clearly communicate complex ideas through the medium of writing. After a brief post-graduation stint working at a marketing & communications firm, Emma enrolled at the University of Edinburgh’s MA program in Contemporary Art History. Here, Emma was given the freedom to explore her burgeoning interest in the intersection between art, technology and digital culture, culminating in her thesis, "The Technologised Other: Cyborgs, Post-Humans, and the Transhumanist Dilemma of Embodiment in Contemporary Art."
After graduating, Emma & her husband moved south to Cambridge, England. Emma spent a year working at a London-based marketing and communications firm before joining her current company where she serves as the Marketing Communications Manager. In her career, Emma is lucky enough to combine her deep love of writing and appreciation for design with thoughtful, data-driven brand & content strategy.
Looking North has become Emma’s favourite creative outlet. Here, her lifelong passions for art and nature seamlessly marry with her love of storytelling and background in marketing. As the Head of Marketing and Design, Emma not only guides the direction of Looking North brand as a whole, but she also coordinates, drafts and edits all social media and marketing content.
TORI CHAMPION
FOUNDER; FORMER CO-HOST
Tori is a doctoral candidate in the School of Art History at the University of St Andrews. Her research broadly concerns the art of France and Great Britain in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and her primary interests include women as artists and subjects, gendered iconography, the complexities of shared authorship, and the global reach and implications of natural history illustration. Her PhD thesis, currently titled 'Marie-Thérèse Reboul Vien and the Origins of Neoclassicism', will form the first complete study of the life and work of the eighteenth-century French artist-naturalist Marie-Thérèse Reboul Vien (1735-1806). Tori holds a BS in Public Policy Analysis and International Business from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and an MA in Art History from the University of Washington. In the spring of 2021 Tori completed a master’s thesis at the University of Washington titled ‘Le pinceau à la main: The Intertwined Lives and Careers of Madeleine Françoise Basseporte and Marie-Thérèse Reboul Vien’.
Tori has been involved in planning the first two rounds of Looking North, with responsibilities including artist liaison, outreach, fundraising, and the writing and editing of promotional material, in addition to co-hosting the talks. Furthermore, she contributed to the planning and organisation of the in-person screening event at the Byre Theatre in March 2023. In Part III of the Looking North project, Tori will continue to co-host and provide administrative support.
JAMES CROOKS
IT & TECHNICAL SUPPORT
James is the Centre for Energy Ethics' Communications Officer. He reliably sets up our Zoom Webinars, and generously helps us with most things IT and tech-related - in short, without him, each event would be significantly more nerve-wrecking. Moreover, he kindly edits and uploads the recording for each talk, and supports us with his guidance, to-do lists and lovely pre-event chats. We can't thank you enough, James!
