Taylor Butler-Eldridge (He/Him)

Taylor is an interdisciplinary social researcher in the Digital Research group at UKCEH (UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology). He is also part of the RGS Geographies of Health & Wellbeing Research Group and he leads the Outdoor Swimming Research Forum. 

He completed his PhD in Human Geography at the University of Exeter in 2025, where his ESRC-SWDTP funded research explored the socio-cultural relationships between outdoor swimming and environmental health at Windermere. His PhD supervisors were Prof Stewart Barr, Prof John Wylie, Dr Jennifer Lea, and Prof Jo Little - and his PhD thesis was examined by Dr Sarah Bell and Dr Kate Moles.

Taylor also recently completed an ESRC-funded placement as a Communications and Engagement Assistant for The Freshwater Biological Association, a creative collaboration with illustrator Bethan Thorsby on a research zine titled 'Swimming with Care at Windermere', and he hosted the 'Windermere Science Evening: Dips, Depths, and Directions'.

His PhD research examined the diverse health experiences and complications associated with outdoor swimming in Windermere, England’s largest lake in the Lake District National Park. He explored how bodily, socio-cultural, political, and environmental factors shape swimmers’ relational experiences of ‘healthy’ outdoor swimming by drawing on a 12-month wet ethnography conducted at two popular public bathing sites. His research involved observing everyday swimming and lake activities, monitoring water and weather conditions, critically reflecting on my his embodied swim responses, and conducting one-to-one ‘swim-along’ interviews with outdoor swimmers and dippers.

Taylor's research advances work in health geographies and multidisciplinary studies of outdoor swimming and blue spaces, while fostering broader public engagement among existing and emerging communities connected to Windermere. For more information about the project, please visit www.swimdermere.com