Julia Jung and Dr. Astrida Neimanis outside the FEELed Lab at Woodhaven Eco Culture Centre
It was after a meeting with Dr. Astrida Neimanis at a conference in Berlin that Julia Jung felt the push to apply to UBC Okanagan. At the conference, Jung and Dr. Neimanis talked about a project idea that dey had been exploring – how marine governance could benefit from the ethical and deliberate relationship‑building practices of polyamorous communities.
“I thought this project was a great way to bringing together the idea of queer ecologies—thinking about environment and nature through lenses and theories of sexuality and gender,” says Neimanis. “With their background in oceanography, marine science, and marine governance, I thought this would be a great way to rethink interdisciplinary ocean research. I said, you have to come do a PhD with me.”
Jung is now pursuing deir PhD in the Interdisciplinary Graduate program in the Sustainability theme. Dey work with Dr. Neimanis, Director of the FEELed Lab, a professor in Cultural Studies and Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies, and a Canada Research Chair in Feminist Environmental Humanities here at UBC Okanagan.
“I hadn’t thought a place like this existed until meeting Astrida. Hearing about UBC Okanagan, the Interdisciplinary Graduate program, and then learning about the FEELed Lab, I realized it was exactly what I’d been looking for,” says Jung.
The FEELed Lab is a feminist environmental humanities field research facility that aims to create a hub for researchers, students and community members who share common interests in environment and sustainability issues, specifically from feminist, queer, anti-colonial and disability justice perspectives.
Jung says deir research is about relationships – the relationships we form with other people we work with in collaborations, our relationships to the places, ecosystems and species we work with and with ourselves.
“The core of what we do in the FEELed Lab is building community, supporting each other, and thinking deeply about connecting with the land and our obligations as uninvited guests. My research focuses on the ocean and what we can learn from polyamorous communities, but at its heart, it’s all about ethical relating,” Jung adds.
Jung also works as a research assistant and FEELed Lab administrator, supporting Dr. Neimanis on community building in the lab, co-hosting events, and facilitating activities. Dey also manage the website, and coordinate and distribute The FEELed Guide monthly newsletter, which helps keep the community connected to what is happening in the lab.
“We recently transitioned away from Instagram, a move that feels really aligned with our values and with what we want the lab to be and thinking deeply about how we connect with people.”
Jung has also been running a research project that grew out of the Feelers summer camp in June 2025, where participants including artists, researchers, activists and other community members shared skills, teachings, and practices; to collaborate on site-specific research and explored other creative and engaged ways to undertake feminist environmental humanities.
“The Feelers Exquisite Corpse project builds on this art‑science method I was working with before starting my PhD, and that we’re continuing now, focused on climate justice through collaboration between environmental humanities scholars, practitioners, and artists. It feels really special to have the time and the slowness to deepen those ideas and really sit with them. I finally feel like I have the support and the space to do the things I care about, to keep building relationships with people and building communities.”
For the first time, Jung says it feels like dey are in a physical, intellectual and relational place where people genuinely value what dey have to bring.
“Every time I’m down here I feel like I can become more myself. My heart is very much connected to the ocean, but I’m also passionate about how the ocean touches all of our lives, even when we’re far away from it—like me growing up in Bavaria, six hours from the North Sea. I’m still figuring out how to explore that more, and I’m trusting the transformation a PhD is supposed to be.”
Meeting so many artists and practitioners at the FEELed Lab has shown Jung just how many possibilities there really are for what comes next and for how to build relationships across different communities.
“The work in the FEELed Lab and my PhD work come together in this shared commitment to learning how to understand and relate to each other, to the land, to the ocean, and to all the human and non‑human communities that shape the futures we’re trying to build.”