My research on the politics of smell divided the internet – here’s what it’s actually about

In November, I celebrated finishing my PhD. After three and a half years of writing and research, it was an occasion I wanted to share with my academic network, so I posted a photo of myself holding a physical copy of my PhD thesis on X. The post amassed 120 million views and sparked a lot of anger in response to its title: Olfactory Ethics: The Politics of Smell in Modern and Contemporary Prose.

The title received criticism from those who were wilfully misrepresenting the nature of the research.