Cecile Menard

Cecile’s research examines how academic careers and knowledge are shaped by institutional structures, exclusionary funding systems and labour precarity.

Her work brings together two interconnected strands. First, she examines how scientific models and research agendas are shaped by historical assumptions, research infrastructures, and geopolitics. She collaborates internationally on research examining neocolonial dynamics in cryospheric science, including current work on Himalayan research exploring how inequalities in funding, power dynamics within research teams, and data governance shape who produces knowledge about mountain environments.

Second, Cecile examines power dynamics beyond cryospheric science, focusing on the working conditions and structural marginalisation of long-term casualised academics in higher education. Her research shows how funding criteria, precarious contracts, and expectations of unpaid labour in one’s own time systematically exclude many - often intersectionally marginalised - academics from secure employment. This work contributes to ongoing efforts to challenge these conditions and support more equitable academic workplaces.

Prior to this, Cecile trained in cryospheric science and contributed to international research on snow and land-surface modelling, including large Earth system model intercomparison projects.

PhD in snow physics modelling, "Modelling the effects of shrub tundra on snow and runoff", University of Edinburgh, Scotland, 2006-2010

BSc in Geography and Environmental Sciences (Joint Honours), University of Sussex, Brighton, 2003-2006