Elle teaches in the English program, and has particular interests in the textual representation of Antarctica, narratives of human-animal encounter, and the relationship between literature and science (her first degree was in physics). She is the author of Reading Popular Physics (Ashgate 2007), and co-editor of the forthcoming collections Considering Animals (Ashgate 2011) and Imagining Antarctica (Quintus 2011).

In 2004, Elle travelled to Antarctica on the expedition ship Aurora Australis as an Australian Antarctic Arts Fellow. Her current research into human-animal encounters in the far south is supported by an ARC Discovery Grant. She regularly contributes to the University’s Bachelor of Antarctic Studies, and is the Arts and Culture editor of the new Polar Journal.